Wilsons Sandbox

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "amigoride" wrote:

> > I bought a A-18 (2004) KLR in November.Where I am I can't ride till > Spring.I am doing some mods. and adding a few accessories.I keep > hearing about "doohickey" failures on these machines. It appears to > be a common occurance in all years.My local Kawi dealer say they

have

> sold "hundreds of klr's" and he has never had a machine come in

with

> this problem."What's up"??? > Has this got something to do with the external adjustment not being > done consistently? Should I just upgrade the darn thing and be done > with it? Is the dealer underplaying a real weakness? > I am comfortable going in and doing this. I've pulled wrenches on > bikes for 25 years.It strikes me as odd that Kawasaki would not

have

> addressed this after all these years if it was such a big issue. > Can someone comment based on experience?

A. Search the list here for "doohickey" and read up on it. There's at least a couple thousand posts on the subject and it should take you about 4 months to get through them all. B. I've been into 25 motors now. I've too have seen an OVER 15% failure rate on springs and doohicky's. It has happened on bikes with very little miles, lots of miles, motors that have been worked on, and brand new like motors that have not been touched since they came from the dealer. It just happens, and there is no question that it does. C. Most bikes do not get ridden hardly at all. These guys of course are NOT going to have bike problems no matter what they are. (except trying to start their bikes after sitting for so long) You can't break a bike that doesn't get ridden. D. Even more guys, that ride or not, do not open up their motors. So they too do not know if the thing is broken or not. I helped one guy dive into his 30,000 mile motor and found no spring at all, and 1/2 a doohickey.............even he didn't know. E. Most dealers don't know crap about bikes, except how much mark up is on them. How to ride them, how to maintain them, and unfortunately, how to work on them. Occasionally you will find one guy that really knows his stuff, and takes pride in his work, but it's rare. But how many mechanics do you know that have done extensive work on nothing but KLR's? A dealer is there to make money, your money. They don't really care if you don't know how to ride, OR if your bike is going to have problems down the road. In fact, the LESS you know how to ride, and the MORE problems that your bike has, the more money they make in labor and parts to fix it again and again. Remember that before you do ANY business with them. MrMoose A8 (Barbie and Ken special)