[dsn_klr650] got some funny looks [nklr]

[Weaver, Mark]

i love my klr, but it's an utterly different animal than a drz400. my klr weighs 400lbs with a full tank. it's just too frickin' unwieldy for a rider with my skills to do too much steep stuff. on the other hand, i can ride it to utah, or to baja (planning to meet my family in lapaz in feb or march) with all my gear, or i can take it and my wife and stuff for the weekend to my folks house 3 hrs away. any of those things would be a real ordeal with a drz-400. i thought a little about getting one anyway, as a companion for my klr, suited for more serious dirt riding, but then i thought, why stop at 300 lbs, why not just get a real dirt bike and put a baja kit on it for excursions on the occasional "license required" roads, as well as even riding it from home to the nearest good offroading (about 50 miles). unless i find a great deal on a used bike (and i hate buying used stuff), i've pretty well settled on a klx300 as the best combo of light, reasonably powerful, nice handling, room to grow as my skills improve, etc... That should hopefully add to the longevity of my klr too, since i'll be less tempted to do stuff that encourages me to crash it and break stuff. keep in mind, that if you're local riding is less extreme, or you just prefer more wide-open stuff and less steep, twisty, rocky singletrack, the klr works great. i have no complaints about how it works on the kind of off-roading i originally had in mind when i bought it. i just found out later that riding in the dirt is a blast, so i want to do more of it, and i don't want to be limited to the easy trails. the "expert" trails around northern california seem to usually be in much better shape than the beginner and intermediate ones, probably because they get a lot less use, especially from novice riders on klr650's, like me. -mark weaver

> -----Original Message----- > From: Ye Wilde Ryder [mailto:wallace@...] > Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2000 3:21 PM > To: dsn_klr650@egroups.com > Subject: Re: [DSN_klr650] Got Some Funny Looks [NKLR] > > > >I agree with "overweight", and the weight certainly sits high, but I > >don't know about "underpowered". Between the bike, myself > and camping > >gear for a week, I'm talking 700+ lbs; and I've been able to take it > >up some tight, steep sections without any problems. The overwhelming > >reason I bought it in the first place was the size of the gas tank I > >also wanted something I could ride, a long distance if necessary, > >rather than trailer to some good off-road riding. The KLR > does it all > >at a real reasonable cost of ownership. > > richard, very good synopsis; these are the very reasons i'm > considering > KLRs for myself & my SO. right now, it's a real hassle to go > dirtbiking because we have to pack up the bikes, haul them to the > ryding area, then *finally* get to ryde. with the KLR, you just throw > a leg over it & go. > > >If I was going out to buy a DP bike today, I would give serious > >thought to the street version of the DZ400, mainly because of the > >lower weight. But its gas tank would still make me consider the KLR. > > great minds think alike -- i'm also considering the drz400e. > what puts > me off about it is the fact that it's air-cooled... & we live in a > desert. > > gears, > ye wilde ryder

[BCSavWill@cs.com]

Hi, Funny, I was looking at a DRZ 400 E for my SO, it's LIQUID cooled. The DR650SE is certainly air cooled. Brian A14 D17