compression ratios

DSN_KLR650
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Norm Keller
Posts: 712
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2004 7:48 am

if you could have only one modification..?

Post by Norm Keller » Mon Jul 07, 2014 8:24 pm

How about the "why" for the one mod?
 
I asked for one because it seems most interesting to know which single modification people most value.
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John Biccum
Posts: 542
Joined: Tue May 20, 2003 4:21 am

if you could have only one modification..?

Post by John Biccum » Mon Jul 07, 2014 10:03 pm

The ONE mod most needed for my KLRs? A more svelte and skilful operator. I m hitting my limits more that the bikes limits. That said, I recently tried to ride a box-stock KLR from Lansing, MI to Seattle. I found that the ONE mod that I couldn t live without until I got home was higher handlebars. The hunched riding position resulting from the stock bars caused pain in my lower back that became intolerable after a hundred or so miles. But that why is related to my height and arm length. A rider with different dimensions might find the stock bars good to the last drop :) Looking back, I have found that the farkeling of my bikes follows a rather predictable pattern. I first address ergonomic issues, because without those addressed I don t want to be on the bike for long. Next is protection for the bikes fragile bits as I realize that it s going to take a nap at some point, and I d like to be able to RIDE the bike from where that occurs. Then I usually work on suspension or brakes, depending on what is most egregious with the stock setup. Next I ll probably make the bike easier for cagers to see if the bike spends any time on the road. Sometime between much later and never I ll address engine performance since that typically isn t what most in need of the work. In Windows 7 Microsoft shipped something called the Windows Experience Index . That was a crude performance score ranging from 1.0 to 7.9 for various computer subsystems (disk, memory etc) with an overall score. The overall score was NOT an average of the subscores but rather the lowest of the subscores. There was great wisdom with that approach because the slowest subsystem would gate the performance of the entire computer. For example if you had a relatively fast disk and slow memory it made little sense to get a faster disk since the system performance would not change until you addressed the memory issue. Likewise with motorcycles it makes little sense to excessively trick out one subsystem and expect a big increase in the performance of the entire bike. Yet I ve seen otherwise sane folks spend $4K on boring and strokling a DRZ engine only to find that they still are blown past by someone riding a DRZ with a 35 hp stock engine with a better suspension , more aggressive knobbies and a better skidplate. From: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com [mailto:DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com] Sent: Monday, July 07, 2014 6:00 PM To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Re: If you could have only one modification..? How about the "why" for the one mod? I asked for one because it seems most interesting to know which single modification people most value. ---------- ---------- ---------- [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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Paul Whatley
Posts: 40
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2012 1:30 pm

if you could have only one modification..?

Post by Paul Whatley » Mon Jul 07, 2014 10:10 pm

John, How tall are you? I am 6'5".  I wear 36" inseam pants and 36" shirt sleeves. Needless to say, no lowering kit needed. I have not ridden any long distances yet but was curious, especially since my lower back acts up at times. Paul Sent from my iPhones
On Jul 7, 2014, at 10:04 PM, "'John Biccum' johnbiccum@... [DSN_KLR650]" DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
  The ONE mod most needed for my KLRs? A more svelte and skilful operator. I m hitting my limits more that the bikes limits. That said, I recently tried to ride a box-stock KLR from Lansing, MI to Seattle. I found that the ONE mod that I couldn t live without until I got home was higher handlebars. The hunched riding position resulting from the stock bars caused pain in my lower back that became intolerable after a hundred or so miles. But that why is related to my height and arm length. A rider with different dimensions might find the stock bars good to the last drop :) Looking back, I have found that the farkeling of my bikes follows a rather predictable pattern. I first address ergonomic issues, because without those addressed I don t want to be on the bike for long. Next is protection for the bikes fragile bits as I realize that it s going to take a nap at some point, and I d like to be able to RIDE the bike from where that occurs. Then I usually work on suspension or brakes, depending on what is most egregious with the stock setup. Next I ll probably make the bike easier for cagers to see if the bike spends any time on the road. Sometime between much later and never I ll address engine performance since that typically isn t what most in need of the work. In Windows 7 Microsoft shipped something called the Windows Experience Index . That was a crude performance score ranging from 1.0 to 7.9 for various computer subsystems (disk, memory etc) with an overall score. The overall score was NOT an average of the subscores but rather the lowest of the subscores. There was great wisdom with that approach because the slowest subsystem would gate the performance of the entire computer. For example if you had a relatively fast disk and slow memory it made little sense to get a faster disk since the system performance would not change until you addressed the memory issue. Likewise with motorcycles it makes little sense to excessively trick out one subsystem and expect a big increase in the performance of the entire bike. Yet I ve seen otherwise sane folks spend $4K on boring and strokling a DRZ engine only to find that they still are blown past by someone riding a DRZ with a 35 hp stock engine with a better suspension , more aggressive knobbies and a better skidplate. From: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com [DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com] Sent: Monday, July 07, 2014 6:00 PM To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Re: If you could have only one modification..? How about the "why" for the one mod? I asked for one because it seems most interesting to know which single modification people most value. ---------- ---------- ---------- [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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Buddy Eckles
Posts: 51
Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2010 7:55 pm

if you could have only one modification..?

Post by Buddy Eckles » Mon Jul 07, 2014 10:14 pm

How about the "why" for the one mod?
 
I asked for one because it seems most interesting to know which single modification people most value.