KLR650 Only Thread......

[griffo1962]

Originally Posted by Mala Suerte

+1 on the timing chain jumping a tooth. mine did exactly that, but it was caused by a washer that broke free and floated around until it landed btwn the timing gear and chain. luckily no bent valves.

It would have to have been more than 1 tooth, I put mine back together 1 tooth out once to see what it would run like.... (no good by the way, very hard to start) and I know there is at least 1 owner that runs his timing 1 tooth out all the time.

[willys]

One tooth gives you 7 degrees of timing, more than what is best, Cary used to say 4-5 is prefered, so that's 3/4 roughly of a jump. That is something I want to get into possibly this winter. Trying to figure out where is best and how is best to get that magical 4-5 degrees. Then at the same time, figure out how much is lost by decking our head......augh...I hate math type problems.....lol

[willys]

Originally Posted by RevBill

.. I thought I had already saved some pics of these .. argh .. but I found them again .. here ya go .. KLR-Dakar porn ..

.. tank under development ..


.. in action ..



.. note .. not my pics (above) .. though I wish I had that bike ..

here's my piglet ..

Look closely at their skid plate, almost non existant! Plus look at where they left their petcock hanging out at? Then, why use stock KLR forks? And we upgrade the bike faurther than they have just to ride on the frig'in street! Well, I have any way....lol
I do like that fairing tank combo......damn!!!....Wonder if I have that much patience to make mine like that? Not this winter any way......maybe next? I do have it half done for me fairing wise, XS Twin fairing from Britannia Composites......christ, it's half finished......ya right!!!!

[RevBill]

.. after reading that fuel pump thread I figure there ain't no reason to leave that fuel bung down low .. not as long as you fab up some fuel lines running up the inside of the tank during fabrication or drop some fuel lines down inside after construction ..

.. I would like to know more about how they dealt with l-r fuel access .. if I read anything about it at any time I don't recall how they handled it ..

[Canuman]

I had some of those rocket boxes reserved to do a similar treatment to RevBill's panniers. Then I found they weighed about 18 lbs each before any mounting hardware or rack mods - I think they are made of plutonium. As the Rev says of himself, I'm not exactly Twiggy. I think I'll spare the subframe the additional torture.

[Mr. C]

Originally Posted by willys

I have another question...has anyone opened up their metal tank and welded on extra metal to make a super tanker? For $500 speens, you should be able to have a decent resized tank, no? Or are we also worried about added weight as well....as if weight is an issue with a KLR in the firstplace...lol
I'm just thinking outloud again, that's all....?

Check this out:

http://www.klr650.net/forums/showthread.php?t=23019

[Canuman]

Originally Posted by Mr. C

Check this out:

http://www.klr650.net/forums/showthread.php?t=23019

That's utterly gorgeous fabrication. It should be, he could have built the bike from scratch in a cave using a file and a rock for the time invested. I don't feel too bad about spending the $250 in the IMS to gain the extra gallon now. If KLRs were going for the same price as myrrh, I think it would be worthwhile to do stuff of this nature. He has easily $1500 in labor into the tank at a conservative rate. The tank is now worth half what the entire stock bike would bring. I admire his craftsmanship and passion, but I wonder if this sort of endeavor is appropriate for a utility machine? I'd certainly ride it with a great deal more care having that much in.

[coop74]

Originally Posted by RevBill

.. just to add to the confusion .. if you are going more for "adventure" riding/touring you might want to consider going with a 16 front and 39 rear ..

.. just so it's not "my opinion" .. from one pretty reliable source: "My KLR is now geared up 16-39 (from stock 15-43 ) 60 mph is now 3200 rpm. (was 4,000 rpm)" .. that particular guy is riding with a pretty radical fairing, but the guy that set him up knows what he is doing ..

If you want to play around with gear sizes/ratios you can punch up your own numbers here and see what the changes do for differing size gear combinations ..

http://woodsware.aciwebs.com/gears/gears.asp

.. find the KLR 650 in the drop menu and add your own front and rear gear sizes and you'll see where it puts you .. pretty good site .. you can even check how tire size changes affect your ride too ..

.. hope this answers more questions rather than causes you any grief ..

Here is the real deal... the KLR is not a speed demon. The stock gearing is great for 95% of the time. Get the Eagle mike prevailing (sp) nut thing so you can change the front sprocket. Buy a 14 and 16 tooth sprocket. On the road you can change them in about 20 minutes max. In the end I think you will find 14/43 is great for off road. 15/43 is great for almost everything else, and that 16/43 is good if you live where it is flat or if the wind is blowing at your back.

It is KLR. Dont over think it.

[Aces 6]

Originally Posted by willys

I really like this idea, but, it really upsets me that there isn't an easy way to get at the fuel down low in the side wings so to speak in the tank. If there was a way to get that fuel into the trapped section as they say, it would be a much better design.
OH, just thought of this, why couldn't you put a squeeze bulb fitting attached to each side of the tank wings and then pump that lost fuel into the trapped section? That would solve the problem....no? I don't own a plastic tank so don't know how well it accepts fittings to it for doing just this type of thing. What do you think?
This if possible will make me think hard about buying one of these tanks.

The Rotopax seem the way to go for exra fuel (one of many ways it would seem). I contacted Safari on that exact question; how do you access the trapped fuel....which would be the fuel you need to get to civilization. The answer? Cross-country riding will have the fuel sloshing about thus being usable and on tarmac all the operator would need to do is speed u pand slow down to cause the fuel to slosh (wonder what kind of crud that would bring up to cause rough running and sputtering)......WOW! For that kind of money? Only if I crash and ruin the plastic, then and only then will I consider the Safari tank if cost is pretty much a wash.

[Aces 6]

Originally Posted by RevBill

.. I thought I had already saved some pics of these .. argh .. but I found them again .. here ya go .. KLR-Dakar porn ..

.. tank under development ..


.. in action ..



.. note .. not my pics (above) .. though I wish I had that bike ..

here's my piglet ..

Do you have a link to the KLR/Dakar bike?

[IDRIDR]

Originally Posted by RevBill

.. after reading that fuel pump thread I figure there ain't no reason to leave that fuel bung down low .. not as long as you fab up some fuel lines running up the inside of the tank during fabrication or drop some fuel lines down inside after construction ..

.. I would like to know more about how they dealt with l-r fuel access .. if I read anything about it at any time I don't recall how they handled it ..

I think there's been a few approaches. One just puts the pickup on one side, and tilting is needed to move fuel over. One looked like he put a "T" in the line and put a tube on both sides, but it seems like one would start to suck air before the other. If the petcock has two inlets (on & reserve), use two tubes with one on either side. Is there really no track record of trying this fuel pump approach on the KLR??? If not, that really surprises me seeing how innovative ya'll are!!

[eakins]

all that work and it still looks like the factory forks

Originally Posted by RevBill

.. I thought I had already saved some pics of these .. argh .. but I found them again .. here ya go .. KLR-Dakar porn ..

.. tank under development ..


.. in action ..



.. note .. not my pics (above) .. though I wish I had that bike ..

here's my piglet ..

[Nnordsman]

I have been thinking of mounting a one-gallon rotopax container to the inside of my HT racks on the left side of the bike opposite the exhaust. Does anyone know if there is enough clearance to accomodate the fuel can with the swingarm fully compressed?

Thanks

[XDragRacer]

Originally Posted by Nnordsman

I have been thinking of mounting a one-gallon rotopax container to the inside of my HT racks on the left side of the bike opposite the exhaust. Does anyone know if there is enough clearance to accomodate the fuel can with the swingarm fully compressed?

Thanks

Don't know about Rotopax; the Pioneer (now Kolpin) 1.25-gallon container, with Kolpin pracket, fits fine inside the Cycleracks panniers.





I think the Rotopax, and maybe even current-production Kolpin containers are thicker.

[RevBill]

.. oh don't get me wrong .. I don't .. I'm still running stock .. if I go to an ALCAN Fairing I'll change it over to 16/39 or 15/40 depending on the reliability of the sprockets I can find ..

.. I'm just following in other's footsteps and enjoying the ride .. I don't need a speed-demon for a scooter, those days are long over and I'm just to old for that kinda crap .. just thought I'd share some other information that's out there ..

.. as always .. ymmv .. there are plenty of ways to get it done ..

Originally Posted by coop74

Here is the real deal... the KLR is not a speed demon. The stock gearing is great for 95% of the time. Get the Eagle mike prevailing (sp) nut thing so you can change the front sprocket. Buy a 14 and 16 tooth sprocket. On the road you can change them in about 20 minutes max. In the end I think you will find 14/43 is great for off road. 15/43 is great for almost everything else, and that 16/43 is good if you live where it is flat or if the wind is blowing at your back.

It is KLR. Dont over think it.