adventure tourer sales up nklr

[Karl Raupp]

FWIW, I'll add my non-owner experiences with the XR650's. It's been a year now since I've ridden with either of these guys so, but the two of them bought brand new XR650R's when they first came out. One of them doesn't want to start warm. It wasn't unusual for the one owner to get off and have the other jump on trying to kick it up becuase his leg got tired. That same guys tranny was loud as hell and did jump out of gear a bit too often. Another bought a XR650L used. Now I know we have no idea of how it was treated with it's first owner, but by 14k kms (8000 miles) he's had a new piston, sleeve (don't know if rebore or brand new jug) and the entire valvetrain has been redone. The last I ever talked to him, he had more catastrophic issues to deal with. Not a happy guy. There is another one with a 650L and he is always tinkering with it. Another has a XR400R and to the best of my knowledge, it has been completely troublefree. I've always had a secret wish for a 650L, but after talking to current owners and seeing what they go through, I wouldn't touch one. I have also never seen a high mileage unit for sale. A guy that used to have a KLR bought a dual sport DRZ400 and loves it. Has been very reliable for him. Just another opinion. Karl

>I was one of the first in my area to own one of these, and had problems >with it since day one.

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[garagedoor79@hotmail.com]

Anyone know how the Pegaso did over there? My train of thought is that since it didn't sell well on this side of the pond, if it did sell well over there, then that would be another stat the manufacturers would look at and possibly use to not bring any of the new duallies over here. If it didn't sell well there, but dually sales are still up, maybe there is hope we'll get some more examples. Karl

> Giant trailie sales are rising faster than in any other sector of > motorcycling, according to the latest figures from the Motorcycle > Industry Association. > > Registrations of new bikes in the category, which includes examples > such as the Triumph Tiger and Honda Varadero, are up 50 per cent on > last year.