klr-250

[Mark Wilson]

Hi everybody, I have just put new turn signals on my other bike, and now they wont blink! I replaced the rear ones a few months ago, and they blinked slower than normal. Now that I put some on front, they dont blink at all. The new lights are the mini rubber mounted turn signals from dual star. Thay are small and bright. They look good on the bike, and should hold up well under abuse. The bulb is smaller. The guy I bought the bike from gave me this advice --- That happens more often than you would think. The problem is the small bulbs don't have enough resistance to trigger the flasher( the flasher is in the headlight pod) First try reversing the wires. that might change the resistance. If that doesn't work, your going to have to add resistance inline. I have never had to go this far so what I'm about to tell you is from what I've been told, not what I've done. Go to Radio Shack and get a couple off 100 ohm resisters. They'll have a wire coming out each end. And solder them into the wires coming from your lights. If one doesn't work, you might have to use two or go back and get a higher rated resister. http://www.geocities.com/motormark64/ http://www.angelfire.com/mo/motormark/ KLR-650 A-13 "warthogg" XR250R "superfly" Stone Mountain, Ga ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[Jim Hyman]

Mark, Many turn signal flashers won't work properly unless a certain amount of wattage is 'drawn' through the flasher. The smaller bulbs probably don't draw enough current to power the flasher. Most flashers have a bi-metallic triggering element that heats up when the t/s is on. This heat expands the metal & pulls the internal switch away from the contacts until the switch cools down & makes contact again, hence the on-off flashing. The resistor trick will work once you get the correct 'values' installed. I don't like this setup because it's more prone to failure down the road/trail. If you find replacement bulbs that draw the same amount of current as the original bulbs (and are the same physical size as your new bulb), your flasher should work properly (assuming everthing is wired correctly). An auto parts store can best help you with bulb selection. A simpler solution is to buy a variable load automotive flasher. These can handle a wider range of t/s current. I'd rather solder a new t/s connector (if necessary), and not have to splice 1 or more resistors and protect them from vibration. Professor A9 Federal Way, WA. [USAA] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ --- "Mark Wilson" wrote:

> Hi everybody, > I have just put new turn signals on my other bike, and now > they wont blink! I replaced the rear ones a few months ago, > and they blinked slower than normal. Now that I put some on > front, they dont blink at all. The new lights are the mini > rubber mounted turn signals from dual star. Thay are small > and bright. They look good on the bike, and should hold up > well under abuse. The bulb is smaller. > The guy I bought the bike from gave me this advice --- > > That happens more often than you would think. The problem > is the small bulbs don't have enough resistance to trigger > the flasher( the flasher is in the headlight pod) First try > reversing the wires. that might change the resistance. > If that doesn't work, your going to have to add resistance > inline.

[snip]

> Do any of yall have any better advice?? If not, I'll try > this and see how it works. > This is on my XR, but could happen on the KLR too!!!

[John Shepherd]

Karl, I have both a KLR650 ('96) and a KLR250 ('90) as well as a Y2K Super Sherpa (wife's bike). The KLR250 is technically my 15 year old son's bike but I've spent more time on it than he has so far (he broke his wrist playing soccer). I bought it in May and have put about 1,000 miles on it so far both on and off road. I'll try and address your specific questions as best I can, from my experience. 1) Yes it is a compromise, all dual sports are to some degree. I would NOT say, however that it is mainly designed as a road bike with knobbies. It is lighter (at least 100+lbs) skinnier and has a high revving (13,500 red line) motor. All of these things make it a blast to ride off road! 2) As for "heavy duty" off roading it would depend on your definition. I gave up my definition of "heavy duty" a long time ago as breaking body parts (either mine or my bike's) is much harder to deal with than it once was. But I have definately ridden the 250 over terrain, with relative ease, that I COULD NOT get the 650 over. With full knobbies it will definately go anywhere an XT-350 would go. The seat height is within a couple of inches of the 650 so it will cross all the water you would want to try on the 650. 3) If you really want a "true off roader" as you say you should probably look to KTM or even XR 250's as they will be much more powerful (the KLR250 isn't really underpowered like the Sherpa though)and have a much better supply of aftermarket accessories. 4) The chief advantages of the KLR 250 would probably be cost and the fact that you could still ride it to where you want to ride it as it will handle 65+mph road work quite nicely. Not recommended on a KTM or an XR! Sorry for the lengthy post but I like all my Kawi's a LOT and hope this was helpful. John "Rider" Shepherd (Portland, OR) 1996 KLR 650 A10 2000 Super Sherpa (wife's) 1990 KLR 250 (#1 son's) 1986 Montesa COTA 123 (for sale) 1979 Yamaha DT 125 (#2 son's) PW50 (looking) (daughter's)

--- In DSN_klr650@egroups.com, "Karl Raupp" wrote: > Anyone on this list have both one of these and a KLR-650? I don't know anything about the 250, is it a compromise bike like the KLR-650 in that's its mainly desgined as a road bike, or is it desgined more as an offroader? > Do you do any heavy duty off roading with the 250? I've decided to get a true off roader and keep my KLR-650 as an adventure tourer. How is the little 250 off road? With a set of full knobblies, will it go everywhere say an XT-350 will go? How deep of water will it cross? I'm looking for strickly a woods/trail bike, so how do you think it'll stack up? Any other recommendations for me? There are a few 250's listed locally that are fairly cheap, so it's got me thinking about one. > > Thanks! > Karl > > ______________________________________________________________________ __ > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com