I'm one of those serious LD guys. I wasn't in Alberta because I did 3131
miles over the weekend in a pending BBG 3000 ride with another ST1100 rider,
Lee Myrah. I have a 99 KLR that will be really ready to go next week, and I
intend to do some long rides on it. You will find that there are some pretty
serious ld guys that have KLR's. A good many guys on the ST list have them,
and I daresay that there are some Beemer guys that have them as well.
Tim Bernard has shipped me the rest of the "farkles (that's what the ST guys
call all the fiddles we do to our bikes) that I'm going to add. I like this
bike but have not had as much chance to ride it as I'd have liked so far.
That will change this week.
I am not surprised at all that you could do this rally on the KLR. I also
think that there are many ld guys that really don't know what is really
necessary for ld riding. If you look at Leon Begeman's accomplishments on
his 250 "John Deere" Ninja, you get my drift. An ld bike is one that will do
the miles, safely, reliably, and let you enjoy the experience. In my
relatively short time I've learned that it is the rider and the bike that
matter, not just the bike.
A lot of us use the big litre class bikes like the ST because of the easy
power. That shows through in a number of ways. Big horsepower and torque,
big electrical capacity, good comfort. When you ride all night, (I've ridden
mine all night 6 times this spring alone) with the loads and extra equipment
we carry, its just nice to have the bigger bike. (I run 2 110 watt PIAAs,
heated vests, GPS, radio and CB, and V1) However, I will do an IB ride on my
KLR soon, and I know of others that have in the past. In fact I'd have loved
to have seen the looks on some of those faces in Alberta. If I had gone, I'd
have felt guilty as soon as I saw you, because I'd have regretted not taking
the KLR.
While I think that for the most extreme of the rides, 1500 miles in a day,
the KLR would be straining, for nearly everything else I think it would be
dandy! People laughed at Ed Otto on his Helix in the 1995 Iron Butt. They
don't now! I have an Elite 250 that my wife uses, and I know that it could
do the base route in almost any rally. It would be work, but sometimes it is
more fun to show up on something different and play around with the "big
boy's heads".
I got my ST this winter, because I go after the ld stuff fairly seriously. I
hardly ride it unless I go 1000 miles. The KLR is a blast to ride, and I
also keep my speed in better control. Different bikes, both do what they do
very well.
Anyway, congratulations on a good effort. It shows again that the KLR is the
Swiss Army knife of bikes, and perhaps one of the best all round values to
be had. I know that mine's a keeper.
Mike Hutsal
Winnipeg Manitoba
2000 ST1100
1999 KLR 650
1990 K100 RS
1979 R65
1985 Elite 250 (my wife's potential IB bike)
----- Original Message -----
From:
To: DSN_klr650@egroups.com>
Sent: Monday, June 19, 2000 11:05 PM
Subject: [DSN_klr650] nklr: endurance riding
> I have just done the Alberta 2000 ride this last weekend on my A13. I
> got some looks from the serious guys on their ST1100/R1100RT/Trophy
> etc, but what the hey.
>
> The bike is bog stock (have not had a chance to get stuff yet since I
> only got it on the 1st of this month) with an Avon Gripster on the
> back.
>
> I covered 2162.1 km in 25:16 on a ride which criss crossed central
> Alberta. Absolutely no problems with the bike during the event and on
> the 800+km ride there and back. Gas consumption varied depending on
> how the right wrist was orientated, but averaged 20km/litre (56mpg).
>
> I found that it was possible to move all over the place on the bike
> so did not suffer any long term discomforts. It never ceases to amaze
> me.
>
> A question: the gas tank is listed as 23litres with 2.9litres of
> reserve. I found myself going on reserve consistently at 360km and
> then only needing 18/19 litres to fill the tank, with fill ups
> happening pretty well straight away. SO, is the reserve bigger than
> listed or is this a case of fuel needing to be sloshed over from one
> side to the other to get a true idea of where reserve should be
> needed? Comments welcome.
>
> Nick
>
>
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