Klr650 Kawaski

[RONNIE LANDRY]

I Am Looking For Someone That Can Direct Me To Find Someone That Has Taken A KLr650 And Modified It To Max Performance,or Knows Who Has Performance Parts For Sale.

[Sabre]

The KLR has already been modified to max performance by the manufacturer. You can hang all the farkles you want on it to change its look, and you can certainly make it louder (if you're thoughtless), but you can't really give it any more power. Even the guys that have spent some time & money on airbox mods, pipes, carb swaps, etc. will grudgingly admit that there is no real performance change.

The KLR is NOT a performance machine! If you want a more dirt-oriented bike, look elsewhere. If you want a performance street machine or a super-motard, look elsewhere. However, if you want a do-all, dependable, bike that is a blast on dirt roads, fairly competent on the pavement, capable of touring the slab, and with a certain ugly charm, the KLR is for you. No, I have no plans to sell mine!

Expecting it to be more competent than Kawasaki made it is setting yourself up for disappointment. Save your sheckels and put them into a purpose-built machine.

[groundhog]

Ronnie,

I don't have the info you are asking for - yet. However, it seems anywhere I read about getting more out of the KLR I see the same, stock answer. You can't get any more out of it.

I have to disagree. I am one of those guys that hops up my lawnmower - and it is a push mower. If you want to do enough research, work and throw enough money at it you can make any machine better.

I plan on doing some basic mods yet this winter (suspension, brakes, gearing etc.). Next winter it will get the works. I don't know if that will be turbo (kind of like cheating to me), but most likely head flowing, balancing, cams, compression and breathing to match. I have seen dyno reports of guys getting 10 hp or so. Not much in hp, but that's around 25% more power. Of course that power will be peakier and need to be tuned for the rpm that you want it to come on.

As I am just starting the research phase, if you find any good info let me know. I'll do the same.

Groundhog

[Sabre]

Of course, as Groundhog says, you can improve the performance of anything. The point that I didn't quite articulate was that the issue becomes one of cost/benefit analysis. Many people are attracted to the KLR because of its relatively low price. They figure that for the low entry $$ they can then afford to hop it up to realize appreciable performance gains. THEY'RE NOT THERE!

Can you wring a couple of bhp out of the old KLR? Perhaps. Bear in mind that the power engineering hasn't changed appreciably since its original design (which is older than some of the members around here). That is to say, it seems silly to throw lots of resources at the old girl when you can buy off-the-floor bikes that will outperform her in specific applications. A Suzuki DR is much more off-road-worthy. Other bikes are better on the pavement. The list goes on....

Sure, must of us KLR owners have tweaked the suspension and brakes, or fiddled with the drive ratios. Some have put on pipes and rejetted the carb. Most of the mixture mods are done to correct EPA-required leanness, not necessarily to scare a bunch more power out of it. Though many of those who have tried are willing to admit that they really didn't gain anything measurable, another group must rationalize all the dough they've spent and will swear that it's got way more power after the xyz mod they did. Forget seat-of-the-pants impressions of performance gains...go to the guys who can show you printed dyno comparisons. You just aren't going to gain much with the old KLR!

Porting and polishing? Hey, knock yourself out! Of course, you'll never make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. If you want a competetive woods machine, get something else. If you want a competetive moto bike, this ain't it. If you want a competetive supermoto mount, go elsewhere. However, if you want a clunky old design that just keeps churnin' out the grins, have a look at the KLR. The skill of the rider is an order of magnitude more important than any "performance" tweak. Spend the money on a riding school rather than a new cam, and you'll realize immediate and tangible gains.

[groundhog]

Sabre,

Guess I should clarify my post also. I figure that by next winter the motor will need freshened up. So a higher compression piston is relatively free. I have assess to a flow bench and cams aren't that expensive. Opening up the breathing to match the flowed head - not much gain there and probably not worth the money, but what the heck.

If I didn't enjoy tinkering and/or had to pay for these mods I agree, this bike is not the place to spend the dough.

I guess it's the challenge of trying to do something I'm told I can't do!

Anyway, the bike is plenty fun in it's stock form.

Groundhog

[Sabre]

Groundhog, you've summed up the essence of the KLR! It is a great platform for tinkering, to be sure, and you'll have a ball tweaking this and that. My response was based primarily on Ronnie's apparent inexperience with the beast, and felt that he might have had a misperception of what untapped performance lay within her.

Good for you for challenging the world! Although, I must admit to having a chuckle over a recent post elsewhere inquiring about adding RAM AIR to the KLR! ?

If you have access to the equipment, the KLR community at large will certainly benefit from dyno reports of any mods you make. Cheers!

[hart]

got a friend that has a 90 tengai that has been modded,, he says the carb is one major bottleneck. carb, porting, exhaust, maybe piston. shortened the suspension a little. looks like a little street bike. Says it will do a solid 120 mph! unassisted.

Generally I believe you shouldnt touch these things since the tuners just aren't offering much and any changes you make might overstress something else.. unexplored territory!!

Good luck!

[fdr1371]

and with a certain ugly charm, the KLR is for you.

???

Can't wait to get back on mine. Dang winter...

KLR Anonymous:

New Member: "Hi mine name is Dan, and I ride a KLR 650."

Group: "Hi Dan!"

[bigfatgreenbike]

"Guess I should clarify my post also. I figure that by next winter the motor will need freshened up. So a higher compression piston is relatively free. I have assess to a flow bench and cams aren't that expensive."

Here's the problem. The KLR isn't used for racing, anywhere (sure there's a few idiots like me entering Enduros on them, but you can't use more power in the East coast woods anyway). So there is a shortage of people serious about tuning it. Loads of people willing to bolt on a pipe, but people ready to pull a running motor out of a new bike and tear into it, no.

Higher compression piston isn't relatively free when you have to buy four of them (which is the minimum order for a custom piston from Wiseco and most others) because noone stocks high-comp pistons. OEM oversize is all that's on the shelf. You could skim the head and omit the base gasket (have the cylinder cut for an o-ring instead). Then you just need to slot the mounting holes for the cam sprockets to restore the valve timing.

Cams are expensive when you have to have a custom grind made, since Megacycle discontinued their KLR cams a decade ago. Powroll made a stroker kit for a couple years then dropped it for lack of interest. So that's been out of production for fourteen years or so?

As far as needing freshening up by next winter, no. You can count on (with proper routine maintainance) 25-30,000 very hard miles before needing to get freshened up. People doing gentle commuting miles have racked up 80-90,000mi on the original rings and bore. One guy on the DSN_KLR650 list at Yahoo had 98,000mi when he sold it (with a light rod knock). The buyer is still rattling around on it I believe.

But, Racetech makes cartridge emulators for it, and Works makes a shock. The suspension mods made the biggest difference.

[bigfatgreenbike]

Oh, and if the guy with the Tengai is using the stock speedo, "120" is maybe 105. My bone stock '01 KLR did 105 on the stock speedo. Probably 95mph. KLR speedo is notoriously inaccurate. If you're going to measure top speed, use a GPS.

[SuprXnTxn]

i piped my KLR, there wasnt a significant diff, but the throttle response was a little better and the low end was improved slightly. other than that....its true, it just ISNT a performance machine...but i'm still in love w/ mine...i'll never get rid of it!

[brockster]

I bought a '94 KLR650-A8 after Thanksgiving and am very happy with it.

I did a lot of 'net exploring before I dropped green for it.

Here are the sites I used to research the KLR650.

An excellent overview of the KLR650's strengths and weaknesses.

http://www.bigcee.com/klr650faq.html

Their products.

http://www.bigcee.com/

Three KLR Product Vendors

http://www.whitehorsepress.com/index.php?cPath=5_164

http://www.isallgood.com/pages/videos.html

http://sagebrushmachine.com/

General experience and wisdom about what works and does not with adventure touring with a KLR in one rider's opinion.

http://www.advrider.com/Wisdom/Gear.html

This fellow has an EXCELLENT site with fool-proof color pictures and instructions on some wrenching procedures.

http://klr6500.tripod.com/pdfdownloads.htm

Tricks and tips for common cures and modifications

http://www.angelfire.com/co/klr650/page8.html

A nice set of links to other KLR650 sites and to parts sources. <<<HERE

http://www.angelfire.com/mo/motormark/links.html

His link for instructional videos

http://www.angelfire.com/mo/motorma...CheckVideo.html

The company where I bought my used KLR from.

The owner has been into KLRs for years.

http://www.cycle-analyst.com/

Idler shaft lever 'doohickey' wisdom.

http://www.devonjarvisphoto.com/pos...key/readme.html

A few other forums with good KLR and general info

http://www.klr650.net/forum/.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/

http://www.localriders.com/forums/index.php?

https://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/

http://www.4strokes.com/forums/

Find someone to ride with...

http://www.dualsportnews.com/ridebuddies.html

[bigfatgreenbike]

the link for the "idler shaft lever" is:

http://www.devonjarvisphoto.com/posted/KLR650/doohickey/

There are a few other sites out there with excellent info on this, just google "doohickey klr"

[tenntomatohead]

Boy, you guys have burst my bubble. I was hoping to tweek my new 05 klr. Am I just wasting my time? Or can I see any improvement with exhaust,carb and airflow mods?

[KAWHEAD]

My Klr650 Came Out Of The Crate And Directly On To The Dyno. 31.8 Horsepower. Within One Hour, It Was Making 40.8 Horsepower Without Cracking One Gasket. Moose Jet Kit, Supertrapp Can, Swiss Cheese Treatment On The Airbox, Re-route The Breather Away From The Airbox, K&n Filter. Done. Lovely Lazy Four-stroke Wheelies. A Set Of Dunlop 607s And You Have A Commuter Bike That Will Cruise At 80mph All Day Long With Enough Left Over To Pass Anything You Want (within Reason)

Late

[redralph68]

as for the motor you cant get much more out if it many have gained a few HP only to get a big drop on MPG. The best engine mod would be the kit that makes it a 685 and another company builds a complete 750 motor that require much modifying

[Trailryder42]

I Am Looking For Someone That Can Direct Me To Find Someone That Has Taken A KLr650 And Modified It To Max Performance,or Knows Who Has Performance Parts For Sale.

I know this is an old thread, but if you're looking at what the KLR can be modded to the max, go to KLRWorld.com and look up Patman.

[djh65]

I saw a guy who did the dyno test on stock bike then did airbox mod, air filter, pipe and jet kit one at a time and posted results after each change and got as I recall a 4 or 6 hp increase???

David

[djh65]

Anyone know if they make a rear brake line that follows a better path. Closer in to the bike??

Thanks,

David

[Beezerboy]

True, it will never have the power of a xxxx, BUT here's what you want...

http://www.schnitzracing.com/