2017 KLR 650 Build

[Gallowbraid]

A little personal motorcycle history first. My family got into bikes when my son received a dirt bike as a present from his grandfather. I decided it would be fun to have a bike to chase him around on and bought a barn find 1980 Honda XL 125 from a friend. Rebuilt the carb, put fresh fluids in it and this bike that hadn't been run in at least 10 years sprung to life. Carrying my large self around I think this bike had a top speed of around 50 mph but boy was it fun, I was hooked.

I learned the basics, gained confidence and my riding skill quickly out grew this little scoot. The hunt was on for something bigger. I picked up a 2005 KLR 250 from a gentleman on craigslist who had bought the bike as part of a mid life crisis only to park it in his garage. This bike taught me more about maintenance and doing my own wrenching and saw me through ~55,000 trouble free miles of commuting, exploring off road and running all over the state of Georgia.

Again, I outgrew the capabilities of the bike and needed something that would take me further more comfortably. Enter a 2005 KLR 650 found on Craigslist in the middle of the night.

This bike saw it's odometer hit over 70,000 miles during the couple of years I owned it. There were multi-day trips all over the southeast from Florida to Alabama, North Carolina to Tennessee and up to Virginia. This bike was my trusted steed as I commuted 130 miles a day round trip to work, 5 days a week rain or shine in triple digit temps all the way down to 16 degrees (that day sucked.) Unless there was ice on the roads I was on that bike every single day. I loved it.

Then life happened. I'm not sure why but about the same time I took my new position at work I came up with the idea that I didn't have time to ride any longer. The bike went on craigslist and found a new owner. I was without a bike and didn't ride for over two years. Fast forward to last Saturday. My wife and I walked into a dealership on a whim and I threw my leg over a 2017 Husqvarna 701. I'd been drooling over pictures for more than a year on the internet, but seeing one in person was something else. After a test ride the love of riding rushed back and I knew I needed a bike. After several days debate about the realities of what type of riding I wanted to do the 701 was ruled out (until I win the lottery and can have multiple bikes) and I began to think about KLR's again.

KLRs are the workhorse of the adventure bike world. It's said that they do nothing well, but can do everything. Want to ride around the world? It'll do it. Want to carve through twisty paved country back roads? It'll do it. See that fantastic forest service road up ahead? It'll do it. See that freshly manicured golf course with fantastic rolling hills of green grass...uh, yeah...it'll ride over that too.

So I hunted around, found the bike I wanted and a deal was made. I present to you, [INSERT BIKE NAME HERE], a 2017 KLR 650.

Building a bike isn't much different than building any other off road vehicle. You ride it, find the short comings and items you'd like to change, do some research and then modify the bike accordingly. The greatest difference between the two? Unless you've bought a BMW motorcycle modifying a bike is a lot less expensive than modifying say a Toyota Tacoma.

 

[Gallowbraid]

So having owned a KLR before (and racking up that many miles) I had a good idea what I wanted to change already. First a little KLR history. The KLR was introduced by Kawasaki in 1987 in the single greatest color scheme to ever grace ABS plastics.

Kawasaki then proceeded to manufacture this bike in the exact same manner until 2008. In 21 years of production about the only thing they changed was the color of the plastics. My 2005 was red that had faded to pink. Fading was a common problem with KLR plastics and most owners ended up either heating them with a heat gun (a temp fix to restore the color) or taking krylon fusion or plastidip to them. I did the later with my 05 and converted it from pink to black.

In 2008 Kawasaki changed the front fairings, cowl, dash and head light. They also moved production to India (I think). The 2008's and early 09's were known to drink oil faster than gas and many of the rubber components on the bikes were recalled. Other than the visual styling change and the production location change the bike's mechanical features were left virtually the same. In 2014 1/2 the front forks received stiffer springs and slightly different valving (probably due to Americans getting heavier?). 2016 saw the introduction of a digital camo color scheme which carried into 2017.

And that brings us up to 2017. The mechanical portions of the bike have gone virtually unchanged since 1987. They're dead simple to work on, parts are abundant and they're virtually bulletproof. A fantastic platform. So what am I going to be changing? Here's the list:

Suspension:
- 600lb Spring on stock rear shock

Armor:
- Tusk Crash Bars / Engine Guards
- Ricochet Skid Plate

Tires:
- Dunlap D606 street legal knobby tires

Luggage:
- Tusk Pannier Racks
- Pelican Style 1430 top load cases
- Tusk fender tube bag
- Wolfman Tankbag

Electronics:
- 60CSX GPS
- Some waterproof android device, still researching
- 12V outlets
- Voltmeter
- Air temp thermometer

Lighting:
- 2 flood style light cubes on the forks, still researching

Misc:
- Tusk low profile drain bolt
- Eagle Mike drill through subframe bolt upgrade
- Tusk handlebar risers
- Eagle Mike "Doohickey" replacement with torsion spring
- Tusk folding shift lever
- IMS Super Stock Foot Pegs
- KLR Dash Rally Dash Kit

 

[Gallowbraid]

Reserved for trip report links.

 

[Dave]

And now I'm missing my 2009 KLR...

These are great bikes, I call them "the AK47 of motorcycles" because they are such a simple yet durable bike. The only thing I really despised on mine was the lack of a fuel gauge. Everything else was pretty well sorted out.

Great thread!

 

[100acre]

I still want some type of Enduro/ dual sport bike. Thanks for posting this. Everything is about learning.

 

[Gallowbraid]

So let's talk engine break in. Much like the KLR itself the owner's manual and it's break in procedures haven't been updated since the 80's. A single page that states: Don't exceed 4000 RPM for the first 500 miles and don't exceed 6000 RPM for the next 500 miles is all you get. That's pretty basic as far as instructions go, but it basically rules out interstate travel for the first 500 miles.

So far I've only put about 35 miles on the bike, makes 1000 miles seem like forever from now. Thus far I've been able to maintain RPMs of around 4000 to 4500. Plenty of engine braking to make sure the seals are seating and everything is getting broken in. My plan is to do an oil change at 500 miles and check the valve clearances. I'll do this again at 1000 and then just follow the standard maintenance schedule.

Monday is showing temps in the mid to upper 70's and sunny. Should be able to start closing in on that 500 mile mark then.

Thus far I've tightened up the nuts on the exhaust header as the bike had started back firing when engine braking. This is usually due to a poor seal between the exhaust header and the engine. There's also a buzz behind the dash somewhere that happens between 2000 and 3500 RPM or so. I'm going to wait until I swap the dash/windscreen and see if I can't find it. On my 2005 it was usually the speedo cable rattling around.

 

[Dave]

Does the 2017 have a fuel gauge?

 

[Gallowbraid]

Does the 2017 have a fuel gauge?

It does not. This was a bit of a pet peeve for me to begin with when I got my 2005. It quickly became apparent, however, that no matter how I hard or how gentle I ran the bike I always got the same amount of mileage out of a full tank. I got to where I could just estimate when I would have to switch to reserve and I was almost always right within 5 miles or so.

Some folks switch to an IMS extended range tank (which is clear) so that they can see the fuel level. Others go so far as to mark out the levels by gallon on that tank.

With a range of about 240-250 miles before hitting reserve and another 30 to 40 miles after that you'd be hard pressed to run it out of gas in the middle of nowhere unless you were ignoring your fuel level on purpose. A couple of these:

In your luggage or strapped to the bike and you've got an insurance policy of another 10 to 20 miles depending on the size and quantity.

For the high rollers a 1 gallon rotopax will mount behind most luggage on the side opposite the exhaust and give you another 40 to 50 miles of range.

 

[Dave]

Great info - thank you!

 

[richard310]

Great addition. KLR's are great platforms and you definitely cannot go wrong with them. Lookong forward to the build out!

 

[Gallowbraid]

Today was a garage day. The goodies from the UPS man abound!

So, first up let's get rid of the horrible stock KLR pegs. With their silly rubber coating they're just itching to let your foot slide off while standing on the pegs as you cross a river, or mud...or a puddle in a parking lot. I ordered up some IMS pegs as replacements. Plenty of bite will ensure no foot slippage and they weigh a metric ton so they should lower the center of gravity on the bike. (Ok, maybe not but they are about 10x heavier than the stock pegs).

As long as we're playing motorcycle podiatrist we might as well deal with the stock shifter. For normal folks it's probably fine, but for my size 16 motorcycle boots it sits too close to the peg to be comfortable no matter what adjustments I make. I ordered up a Tusk brand replacement that's a bit longer and much, much more comfortable for me. The only thing I don't like (and I'm being picky here) is that the Tusk lever uses an 8mm bolt and the stock unit uses a 10mm. They should be the same size so I have one less bolt that isn't factory spec to remember. Of course it's not like 8mm is an odd size, several of the handbar controls use 8mm for mounting so there's a socket in the toolkit that'll work for trail side adjustment/repair. Removing the bolt completely is required for replacement and adjustment of the lever due to the indexing of the post.

Ok, so all the foot level stuff is out of the way, let's move on to hands!

For some reason when people hear the term "handlebar riser" they think of short people...but that's not who they're for! As a 6'4" fella when riding standing up (as you often do off road) it can be a struggle to reach down to the bars, maintain grip and stay balanced. Sometimes you can rotate the bars so that the handles are more upright, but usually you need to either swap bars for some with a taller bend ($120+) or add handlebar risers to lift the bars you already have ($18). I added some 30mm risers AND rotated the bars to get things to my liking.

Ever have one of those ergonomic office chairs with 73 different adjustments and you had to spend a day getting them all just right? Having a bike is like that, only worse. (Or you don't worry about it and suck it up and just ride...)

After getting the risers on I sat on the bike for about 20 minutes adjusting controls and making sure that nothing bound up at full lock left/right. Other than a hose coming from the master cylinder that's rubbing and making a screen door style creaking everything is good. I'm going to need to wrap that hose....

 

[Gallowbraid]

The next addition was one I knew I wanted, but I'm a bit disappointed with the execution. Remember way up there in one of the first posts when I said Kawasaki hadn't changed the KLR much since 86? Well the change that did happen in 08 reworked all the plastics on the bike, especially the front fairing.

When you're doing any sort of long distance riding there are four things that come into play when you're focused on eating up the miles:

1. Fuel Range
2. Food/Water (Human Fuel Range)
3. Bathroom Breaks (Human exhaust? Ewww...)
4. Fatigue

The fairing really only affects the 4th one on that list. Now it may not seem like a lot of work to set off down the highway on a bike and go in a straight line for hours at a time...but it is. On a bike you're exposed to everything, the elements, air coming off other vehicles, wind gusts, temperature changes, smells, etc. Having air rushing at your helmet encased head and armored chest at 70+ mph can absolutely wear you out. The front fairing is there to disrupt that air and, when well designed, direct it over and around the rider giving you a "dead" air space in which to sit.

The KLR was designed for the American market by Japanese people who have never seen an actual American. The stock setup for the bike is for someone under 6 foot tall and 160lbs or less. These things I am not. Now on the Gen 1 (pre-2008) bikes there was a solution called the "Wheat Wacker Fairing MOD". Some ingenious fella cut his stock fairing, grafted on a piece of ABS plastic (others used aluminum or thin gauge steel) and made the stock windscreen stand at a steeper angle.

This was a low cost way to direct the air up over most riders. Some riders took it a step further by adding a taller windscreen. I did this to the Gen 1 I had and I went from being able to ride for a couple hours at a time before needing a break to being able to go for 5 or 6 hours without stopping.

Gen 2 fairings don't have this option but still suffer from being designed for short skinny people. The stock windscreen had the air hitting me at the bottom of my sternum. That's not going to work. Enter the KLRdash. Some fella in his garage came up with some metal brackets that raise the stock windscreen (you have 3 selectable heights) and give you a dash for mounting accessories (like a gps). On the internet this seems awesome, so I ordered it too.

Here's the stock fairing.

Too low and angled too far back to be of any use to me. So I opened up the KLRdash (it comes in a manila padded envelope) and took to reading the directions (it's 4 paragraphs on a sheet of paper...no pictures).

I threw the directions away as they were worthless and set out to put screws in various holes and see what happened. After a little bit I got this:

The windscreen sits a little higher and at a taller angle. I also gained the advertised dash space:

So I suppose it does what it's advertised to do. That being said I have some gripes:

1. The hardware is crap. This is low grade, budget hardware store stuff. Does it need to be any better? Probably not, but it just made everything feel cheap. If you're going to source black bolts why not also source black locking nuts? Take that extra step and make it all match! Some of the hardware is phillips and the rest takes an allen wrench...why? Two different hex sizes? WHY?

2. The metal replacement for the stock windscreen (sits down low inside the fairing) doesn't match the curvature of the fairing itself. Can you bend it into place due to it being thin gauge metal? Yes. Should I have to? No. Does it cause fasteners to bind up as you try to insert them? Yes. Is this annoying? Yes. Did I swear? Maybe.

3. With the stock windscreen it raised the dead air space by about 5 or 6 inches. Remember it was hitting me at the bottom of my sternum before? We're collarbone to neck level now, even more annoying. I'll be ordering a taller windscreen to send it on up over my helmet.

I guess my main problem is just the overall cheapness of this product. The fit and finish isn't great, the fasteners maintain the variety of a fruit salad made by a blind man and without an aftermarket windscreen it really didn't do much. All that for $130. Oh well, live and learn. Maybe I'll come up with something better....

Tomorrow I'm going to drill holes in the frame of a perfectly good motorcycle. We'll see how that goes.

 

[Yuman Desert Rat]

Great thread. Subscribed. My buddy picked please an old KLR that was kitted out. Great bike. I have to take a trip up to Portsmooth, VA... It's about 5 hours.
I think you just inspired me to take the ol' Beemer GSA on a nice long ride... it's been a while...

 

[Gallowbraid]

Great thread. Subscribed. My buddy picked please an old KLR that was kitted out. Great bike. I have to take a trip up to Portsmooth, VA... It's about 5 hours.
I think you just inspired me to take the ol' Beemer GSA on a nice long ride... it's been a while...

There's a part of me that really wants a GSA, but having owned and self maintained 3 BMW cars there's another part of me that wants no part of anything with a blue and white roundel on it. They're great looking bikes and wonderfully capable, but there's just something about the KLR that keeps pulling me back in.

There's also an old man in me that wants a loaded out Goldwing. I don't know why...

 

[Yuman Desert Rat]

also an old man in me that wants a loaded out Goldwing. I don't know why

That's why I got a GSA.... Its like a Goldwing and a KLR made a baby.

Never had a beemer car.... the bike is rock solid, though.
I love the KLR. I can see the attraction!

 

[Gallowbraid]

Ok, so another full day in the garage installing all the gifts bestowed upon me by the guy in the brown truck. Today is all about protection. Many of the items I put on today interacted with one another in some way, either sharing mounting points or interfering with one another. As such it took me about 6 hours to do probably 2 hours of work. Oh well, it was done right I suppose.

First up was the Tusk Crash Bars. A scary name for a wonderful bit of protection. These bars mount to the frame in two places and then clamp around it in a third to create a cage of protection around the very fragile side shrouds. Anyone who has dropped a Gen2 KLR without protection will tell you that those shrouds are like fine china under the foot of a large angry bull. These were not a very easy install as there were a lot of clearance issues, alignment problems and fastener concerns. A second set of hands would have helped greatly but in the end I got it done...just not with a lot of pictures. Or really, any pictures...

The only thing of note I can add to the internet of information is that the front engine mount on a 2017 is different from all the other 08+ bikes from what I can tell. Rather than being just a triangular bracket it has two "wings" coming off of it to mount the skid plate to. I don't think any of the other 08+ years have this as I can't find examples of it anywhere. Anyway, these wings get in the way of installing the crash bars, but a little finesse and rotation and the bars will clear them without having to break out the cutoff wheel.

Remember yesterday when I was talking about how the Japanese engineered this bike for Americans without ever seeing one of us? Well those same engineers did have the opportunity to experiment with some metallurgy it seems. Kawasaki was able to combine steel and marshmallow fluff in order to create inexpensive fasteners with the following properties:

1. The ability to twist like a barbers pole when applying even 1 ft lb more of torque than spec'd.

2. The ability to monitor rider stress level and the remoteness of location and pick the most inopportune time to sheer off while rendering any spare bolts in the tool kit useless.

3. The ability to dissolve loctite and rattle loose without so much as a warning.

It's really quite amazing how bad some of the fasteners are on this machine that's capable of hitting highway speeds with a bag of human guts and fragile bones at the controls. Anyway, there are several kits on the market to address the most problem prone bolts on the bike, the subframe bolts. These bolts attach the subframe (holds the seat and rear luggage rack) to the main frame (holds the engine and mounts the forks). There's case after case of subframe bolts breaking while a rider tries to determine why he's slowly sinking toward the rear wheel. Eventually the receding subframe will pull the boot from the air intake off the carb (carb is mounted to the engine, the air box and boot are mounted to the subframe) and the engine will run like crap as it pulls in loads of unfiltered air. Adding panniers (as I'm doing) and riding with a passenger (as I sometimes do) only add more stress to these weak bolts.

As it sits from the factory the bike is rated to handle a load of 410 lbs. I'm 250 lbs so that leaves about 160 lbs left over. Figure in another 20 to 30 lbs of luggage and tools normally and there's not a lot of wiggle room for hitting rough surfaces and straining those fasteners. Plan a multiday camping trip with a tent, sleeping bag, some food and water and you're over the mark quickly. The easiest thing to do is to upgrade the weak bolts with stronger ones. I ordered a kit that replaces the two lower bolts with class 12.9 bolts and has you drill through the frame to replace the two upper bolts with a single class 12.9 bolt of larger diameter. Swapping the two lower bolts is a snap, just pull them out and replace them one at a time to keep everything lined up.

The upper bolts would have been no problem if I had gotten the correct upgrade kit. My kit was designed for a bike without crash bars. Guess what, I was installing crash bars today. So after scouting the local Fastenal for a longer bolt (and striking out) I skipped drilling through the frame and instead upgraded the two stock bolts to 12.9's instead. This is how I ran my '05 and I had no problems. The drill through option is supposed to be about 30% stronger according to armchair engineers on the internet.

After swapping these I moved on to the pannier racks. Again alignment issues and needing a second set of hands kept me from taking pictures. The 2017 has some slight wire harness changes that don't quite match the instructions for the pannier rack install for 08+. I had to extend the blinker wires a bit more than previous years and then everything else pretty much went to plan.

Bike nudity!

Anyway, after getting everything torqued down and applying liberal amounts of blue and red loctite I got it all back together and took a test ride. I have to say I'm enjoying this bike more and more every mile I put on it. Just can't wait for the engine break in to be over. After my next work project I'm going to need to take a day and hit the road.

 

[Chad]

Yes! Keep up the great thread! I'm stoked to see moto content on AAV.

 

[Gallowbraid]

So for those of you following along I wanted to take a second to talk about riding gear. With the weather warming up here in Georgia and with my proximity to some of the best curvy asphalt the state has to offer I'm starting to see quite a few squids come out of hibernation.

Weekends here will see young fellas on their new CBR or Ninja wearing little more than a cheap helmet with cool graphics, a t-shirt, shorts and the latest shoe offering from DC. I'm not saying all these guys are inexperienced, but many are and the results can be disastrous.

So let's start with helmets. There was a helmet manufacturer in the 70's that used the line: "If you have a 10 dollar head then buy a 10 dollar helmet." A helmet may very well save your life in a crash or at least keep you from being a vegetable for the rest of your life. Here's a couple facts about helmets many folks don't realize:

1. Helmets are good for one impact. One. That's it. The foam and materials inside the shell are designed to take the forces of an impact that absorb them before they reach your head lessening the effect on you. When they do this they harden and cannot absorb this energy again (at least not nearly as well). Drop your helmet on concrete or asphalt? You've just lessened it's ability to protect you in a crash. Helmets protect your head, you should protect your helmet.

2. Helmets expire. Just like that gallon of milk in your fridge right now motorcycle helmets expire. It's difficult to narrow down the exact expiration date of a helmet but most high end manufacturers will tell you to replace your helmet 3 to 5 years. Glues, resins and other materials in helmets break down over time and sweat, body oils, UV rays from the sun and heat don't help this process. I've had friends that were riding with a hand-me-down helmet from their brothers or fathers that could have been 15+ years old. Even a 10 dollar helmet can be better in this case.

When buying a helmet you should look at what organizations have certified it. A DOT seal of approval is required for any helmet in the US that can be used on the roadways. This seal is really just a formality and not necessarily the sign of a good helmet. The two certifications I usually look for are SNELL and ECE. SNELL is a non-profit testing group that goes above and beyond what the DOT requires. ECE is the European equivalent of the US DOT group but has much more rigorous testing and compliance levels.

After the certifications you can dive into style, color, venting, features, etc, etc, etc. These are really just personal preference items and the things that will make you look "cool".

So after all that what helmet do I use? I'm a dedicated Shoei fan (more on why in a minute) and wear the Shoei Hornet X2.

Relatively lightweight, good venting, the option to run either the face shield or goggles and a great fit make this my preferred helmet. It's SNELL rated and has a quick release option that allows the helmet to be removed by emergency personnel in case of a crash with minimal stress or movement of the neck. The optically correct shield (doesn't distort your vision like cheaper helmets) and the fantastic aerodynamics round out my reasons for loving it.

As I mentioned I'm a lifelong fan of Shoei. This is primarily due to the fact that one of their helmets helped to save my son's life. As a teenager my son was involved in motocross and raced in different events in Georgia. While practicing on the track at Aonia Pass in Washington, Georgia, he was involved in a crash that left him unconscious and in need of a life flight trip to the trauma center in Augusta. He arrived with bleeding in his brain and abdomen. He spent three days in the trauma center before being discharged. At his final check up after several months of recovery the doctor credited his safety gear (particularly his Shoei helmet and Leatt neckbrace) for saving his life and limiting his injuries. His crash happened on part of the track that isn't visible from the stands, but from what we can tell he took a down hill double and over jumped it. He came down on his front wheel, fully compressed the forks and the force may have caused him to grab his front brake. This caused the bike to somersault and drive him head first into the ground. When we inspected the helmet afterward the foam inside was rock solid and the outer shell had spiderweb cracks throughout. If it can hold up to being driven into the ground with that force and protect the head that was inside that well I'll wear one for life.

Enough about helmets, I'll move on to pants and jackets in another post...

 

[Gallowbraid]

That's why I got a GSA.... Its like a Goldwing and a KLR made a baby.

Someone needs to make a shirt with that. Maybe a graphic of a KLR mounting a Goldwing...

 

[Chad]

Well said on all counts @Gallowbraid ! I have a Shoei Hornet DS that I love. I've also been really enjoying my time in the new Klim Krios..