klr "christening"

[D.J. Rogers]

I "christened" my KLR today with it's first crash, and in doing so learned a couple of valuable lessons: 1. My Y2K KLR will not go everywhere my friend's M38A1 Jeep will. 2. It takes a hell of a lot of effort to right a KLR with full gas when it is wheels up in a ditch half way up a rock-strewn hill. 3. The KLR (with stock tires) does not like hills covered in loose, grapefruit-sized rocks. 4. I do not yet have the skills neccesary to ride a KLR (with stock tires) up a hill covered in loose, grapefruit-sized rocks. The cost of these lessons was, thankfully, low. I broke the L/H mirror off, shattered the L/H handguard and bent the footpeg, clutch lever and shift lever. I bailed as the bike went down when I realized I couldn't save it, but managed to break it's fall enough to keep damage to a minimum. I was able to screw the mirror back into the remaining threads, and will be looking to Acerbis for replacement handguards. This was my first serious off road trip with the beast, and in spite of the crash I had a lot of fun and learned a little more about the bike's capabilities (and my own). I had swapped the taller windscreen for the shorted one before leaving home, and I'm glad I did or I'd be replacing that as well. Next time, the mirrors come off at the trailhead. I attribute my lack of damage to good karma: I freed a bird tangled in some string only a couple of minutes before laying the bike down. I lost some plastic, yeah, but I didn't even scratch the paint. Cheers, D. GBG eh14