Wilsons Sandbox

I am new to KLR's and over the last month have gotten a pretty fast education from Elden, Gino, Curt, Jake, Lou, Mariola, the rest of the great bunch at the Canyonlands Rally, and by lurking on the list and the project list . I also did some archieve searches. On my three previous rides around the world I kept seeing KLRs where I had taken my BMW. Everytime I asked the KLR riders what had gone wrong with their bikes, I got a "not much" to "nothing" response, which was pretty impressive, given where I was asking the questions, like in deep mud and sand in Africa, the southermost tip of South America, or on the border of Burma. If I asked the same question of some of my fellow Bavarian riders I was getting a long list, like electrical, drive shaft, shock and transmission failures. I decided to look closer at the KLRs. I've gotten a pretty good list of things I should do and aftermarket parts I want to try on a long ride. Some are "musts" according to a majority of my loose knit group of advisors, others are options which I must weight in terms of $ and personal choice. Where I am having a problem is not knowing where to find the manufacturers or distributors and why one item might be better than another. For instance, I have decided to add a center stand, know that two are out there and where to find them. Right now I am leaning in the direction of one over the other, but have read nothing on whether one or the other breaks, bends, is harder than the other to rock onto, etc. What I would like to ask is if there is anybody out there who would like to help me as a member of a more formal group of advisors? Rather than take up the time of everybody on the list with my newbie questions, some of which I am sure have been hammered to death, I would rather just send the question to a small group. It would not be often. If anybody out there is interested in helping this KLR newbie I would be appreciative. When I decided to make my next long ride with a KLR I felt it was a good choice, and learning what I have in the last month has re-enforced that decision, as has all the help I have gotten to date. I want to thank everybody who has helped get me to this point, including those from the list who have taken the time to detail so much over time. We will be starting with a clean bike, now almost in hand, an A 16, which I am told does not differ from the A 15 other than in graphics. The exact route for the long ride is still in the works due to visas and political instability , but will include some deep sugar sand tracks, mud, gravel, crossing at least two oceans and possibly snow. My guess is 80% will be easy, ie, pavement and high speed gravel. The other 20% will be the ugly stuff. I will go solo, so will need to be considerate of weight and spares. The current schedule has the bike assembled for a late September, early October, test run where I hope to shake it well enough to see what fall apart/off. If you are interested, contact me at globeridergreg@.... I am now in New York but will be at the BMW rally in Redmond, OR July 20 if any of you will be there. Thanks again for all your help to date. Sincerely yours, Gregory W. Frazier Writer/Journalist www.horizonsunlimited.com/gregfrazier __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/

I am new to KLR's and over the last month have gotten a pretty fast education from Elden, Gino, Curt, Jake, Lou, Mariola, the rest of the great bunch at the Canyonlands Rally, and by lurking on the list and the project list . I also did some archieve searches. On my three previous rides around the world I kept seeing KLRs where I had taken my BMW. Everytime I asked the KLR riders what had gone wrong with their bikes, I got a "not much" to "nothing" response, which was pretty impressive, given where I was asking the questions, like in deep mud and sand in Africa, the southermost tip of South America, or on the border of Burma. If I asked the same question of some of my fellow Bavarian riders I was getting a long list, like electrical, drive shaft, shock and transmission failures. I decided to look closer at the KLRs. I've gotten a pretty good list of things I should do and aftermarket parts I want to try on a long ride. Some are "musts" according to a majority of my loose knit group of advisors, others are options which I must weight in terms of $ and personal choice. Where I am having a problem is not knowing where to find the manufacturers or distributors and why one item might be better than another. For instance, I have decided to add a center stand, know that two are out there and where to find them. Right now I am leaning in the direction of one over the other, but have read nothing on whether one or the other breaks, bends, is harder than the other to rock onto, etc. What I would like to ask is if there is anybody out there who would like to help me as a member of a more formal group of advisors? Rather than take up the time of everybody on the list with my newbie questions, some of which I am sure have been hammered to death, I would rather just send the question to a small group. It would not be often. If anybody out there is interested in helping this KLR newbie I would be appreciative. When I decided to make my next long ride with a KLR I felt it was a good choice, and learning what I have in the last month has re-enforced that decision, as has all the help I have gotten to date. I want to thank everybody who has helped get me to this point, including those from the list who have taken the time to detail so much over time. We will be starting with a clean bike, now almost in hand, an A 16, which I am told does not differ from the A 15 other than in graphics. The exact route for the long ride is still in the works due to visas and political instability , but will include some deep sugar sand tracks, mud, gravel, crossing at least two oceans and possibly snow. My guess is 80% will be easy, ie, pavement and high speed gravel. The other 20% will be the ugly stuff. I will go solo, so will need to be considerate of weight and spares. The current schedule has the bike assembled for a late September, early October, test run where I hope to shake it well enough to see what fall apart/off. If you are interested, contact me at globeridergreg@.... I am now in New York but will be at the BMW rally in Redmond, OR July 20 if any of you will be there. Thanks again for all your help to date. Sincerely yours, Gregory W. Frazier Writer/Journalist www.horizonsunlimited.com/gregfrazier __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/