p d nerf engine guard

[RM]

On Tue, 23 Jul 2002, frosty wrote:

>So, now would be the time to just hit the delete key rather than feeding the >...

It's more fun to hit Reply.

[Tengai650]

At 5:01 PM -0500 7/23/2002, RM wrote:

>If bikes were cars, none of this would ever be acceptable. KHI foists >this garbage on us because the motorcycling public, who has been >marginalized since day one, accepts it.

Same goes for computers. Mark B2 A2 A3

[dreastman]

I have put on almost 10,000 miles on my A15 in the year and a half that I have owned it. I still have the original brake pads and they are just now reaching their wear limit. I have had none of the problems that were listed in the previous poast and I do ride my KLR about 90/10 which I would say is close to average for MOST KLR owners. I have made very few modifications to my bike but the ones that I have made were made for comfort. I have a dipped corbin and 1.5" lowering links. My bike has been very reliable. ~Dennis~ A15, Concord, NC

--- In DSN_klr650@y..., RM wrote: > > On Tue, 23 Jul 2002, gpokluda wrote: > > >Oh puleeez. Give me a break. Out of the box, the KLR is a good bike. > >Not a great bike, but a good bike that can do a lot of things well. > >Sure it has shortcomings, so does every bike. I also know lots of KLR > >riders who have done nothing to their bikes and have accumulated > >thousands of trouble free miles. > > ...and just how are they using their bikes? > > If you treat your KLR like a Harley, meaning that you ride 20 miles on > pavement on Saturday, polish it on Sunday, and park it for the rest of the > week, then of course it's going to be trouble-free and reliable. > > As an example, how do you think those short-lived Galfer organic/kevlar > pads ever became the darling of the list? It's because, in general, > people aren't doing real mileage on their KLR's. A pad that dies in 4000 > (or less) miles won't get any notice if it takes a year to reach that > figure. > > When you do 2000+ miles a month for 18 months and you USE the KLR as a > dual-purpose motorcycle (as was intended), you become very aware of > something new breaking every 1-2 months and you aren't happy about it. > > Better brakes cost real money, so maybe I can understand that one since > KHI wants to keep prices down and all. Many of the other problems are > just plain chickenshit engineering and a lack of desire to pay one > engineer about three days wages to redesign a faulty part. We should > probably consider ourselves lucky that KHI bothered to ditch the two-part > counterbalancer sprockets and give us a better clutch basket in the 90's. > There were probably some considerable re-tooling costs involved, and I'm > not sure that the old clutch basket had anything wrong with it anyway. > > If bikes were cars, none of this would ever be acceptable. KHI foists > this garbage on us because the motorcycling public, who has been > marginalized since day one, accepts it. > > Gino, I don't know what kind of mileage you put on your KLR or how you > used it, but I'd gather that your tolerance for mechanical woes is fairly > high, or else you didn't stress your KLR very much. > > RM

[dale_johnson13]

=--Snip

> * Dangerous front brake (undersized plus a stretchy brake line)

Need I say anything?

> > * Rear subframe attachments > > * weak headlight adjuster bracket

Had mine break

> * very lossy electrical system (doesn't bother most people, though) > > * brake calipers that seem prone to binding up on their sliding pins

Had this happen too

> * clutch and sidestand safety switches that fail with regularity > > * the doohickey > > * Carb float-bowl vent tube that clogs up in the rain > > * weak handlebars (not an issue if the bike is never dropped)

Had to replace within the first couple months

> * Speedometer that often fails on higher-mileage bikes

this happend first

> * speedometer gear drive that often fails on higher-mileage bikes

taking the hub's splines with it. Then this

> * tweety

Had tweety, got rid of it with an aftermarket then got too many warnings about being loud so now I am stuck with the tweet again

> * Rear preload adjuster that doesn't deal with frequent adjustment

very well. replaced this and now it has happend again

> > * Spring rates which are inadequate for damn near everyone. > > * license plate placement

first adjustment

> > * shift lever weld and quality of materials

many many many problems with this, I now WELDED my shift lever on

> * wheel bearings not fully sealed (not really an issue for a street

rider) Had my rear bearings go and had to replace the rear swingarm

> > * No grease fittings on rear suspension. Requires the rear

suspension to

> be disassembled for lubrication and cleaning in order to prevent

the pivot

> bolts from rusting in place. > > * unusual number of problems with water pump seals and/or impeller. > > * poor quality fasteners for front brake fluid reservoir cap. > > Did I leave anything out?

Dale Johnson A14 with 45000+ miles

[The Mule]

----- Original Message ----- From: "s2mumford" >>Mine > vaporized at about 15k

[steve pye]

----- Original Message ----- From: "gpokluda" > > Oh puleeez. Give me a break. Out of the box, the KLR is a good > bike. Not a great bike, but a good bike that can do a lot of things > well. Sure it has shortcomings, so does every bike. I also know > lots of KLR riders who have done nothing to their bikes and have > accumulated thousands of trouble free miles. > > Are you sure your initials aren't RN... Ralph Nader. ROTFLMAO. > > Gino I have to agree with Gino on this one. The KLR is the best, all-round dual-sport bike in it's price range. I disagree with the list RM provided being called "design flaws". Some people don't like certain aspects of the design. For example, the front brake. There is nothing wrong the stock brakes. If you're not happy with them, that's your opinion, not a design flaw. Are some of the items on RM's list cheap parts? Shift lever, headlight bracket and electircal components to name a few? Yes they are. They were DESIGNED to be cheap on purpose. That's not a FLAW! I have no doubt that KHI could engineer a monster, bullet-proof dual-sport that could go forever on almost zero maintenance and be all things to all people. I just couldn't afford the 50 grand they would cost. I have "fixed" some of these so called flaws that RM mentions, at the cost of..... pennies. The KLR is a cheap bike that turns out to be worth more than the sum of it's parts. Steve A11

[Mark Cheramy]

After a trip to where I bought the bike yesterday and getting thoroughly pissed off at his lack of interest in the diesel like noises of my motor, I tackled the doohickey job myself. Doohickey OK, at about 75% of adjustment at 6,300 miles. My engine sounds horrible though. Took it to another dealer I've had better luck with a little further down the freeway. The said they can't get to it to it for a week, so I'm going to be bikeless for a few weeks. I had originally planned to write this long rant about what a bunch of DH's the service guys at Callaway Motorsports in Riverside Ca are, but I figured what's the point. As a group we have had some crappy experiences getting our KLR's serviced at the dealer and mine would just be more of the same. It was interesting to note, however, what the lead mechanic said when I told him my tensioner might be the cause of the problem. He emphatically stated; "there's no way it could be that, I've been working on bikes for 40 years and I'VE never replaced one!" In the words of Judge Smails "I've sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber, didn't want to do it, felt I - owed it to them"

----- Original Message ----- From: s2mumford Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2002 8:53 AM To: DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com Subject: [DSN_klr650] Voice of reason was Re: doohickey miles > On Tue, 23 Jul 2002, gpokluda wrote: > > >mod. However, I do not feel it is a necessary modification to a KLR > >with less than 20K miles. Heck my 95 had almost 40K and I never thought > >about replacing the lever. SNIP Seems to be the later models that are having the vast majority of the failures. Maybe 99 (A13) and newer? I'm thinking maybe the factory part on the newer years isn't very stout? Or maybe the newer owners are a little more ham-fisted? Mine vaporized at about 15k, the most recent one I have heard of locally (Cheramy's) I think was less than 10k. FWIW I never thought about replacing the lever either, until mine pooped its pants. I rode it 750 miles after I knew it had failed, too, which may have been a bad idea, seeing how I had to rebuild the engine less than 8 months later. Anyone take a poll on the model year of the KLRs with failures? Stu Checkout Dual Sport News at http://www.dualsportnews.com Be part of the Adventure! Visit the KLR650 archives at http://www.xmission.com/~dkenison/cgi/lwgate.cgi/KLR650/archives/ Post message: DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: DSN_klr650-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: DSN_klr650-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com List owner: DSN_klr650-owner@yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[RM]

On Wed, 24 Jul 2002, Steve Pye wrote:

>Are some of the items on RM's list cheap parts? Shift lever, headlight >bracket and electircal components to name a few? Yes they are. They were >DESIGNED to be cheap on purpose. That's not a FLAW!

It's a flaw when a non-abused shift lever breaks off in six months. Cheap by design? I agree. But very much flawed.

[millerized_2000]

It's a hell of a design. Just weld the other side. You'll have it for years unless you break the shaft or the front of it off. I've got mine as a back up. Works great! Plan on using it someday after my replacement breaks. millerized

--- In DSN_klr650@y..., RM wrote: > > On Wed, 24 Jul 2002, Steve Pye wrote: > > >Are some of the items on RM's list cheap parts? Shift lever, headlight > >bracket and electircal components to name a few? Yes they are. They were > >DESIGNED to be cheap on purpose. That's not a FLAW! > > It's a flaw when a non-abused shift lever breaks off in six months. Cheap > by design? I agree. But very much flawed.

[jazranch]

--- In DSN_klr650@y..., "peter sutherland" wrote:

> ready to install but have no instructions. Anyone? It's a 93 KLR

650

> Thanks in advance > > > Peter Sutherland

Here you go, excerpt from article in DSN August 2002, by Darrel Kuhse..... 'Installation of the PD Nerf is a quick and painless process. Just remove the two 3" long engine mount bolts from the lower front of the bike's frame, the 10mm socket head bolt from the reservoir bracket near the steering head, and your ready to mount the PD Nerf to your KLR. The highway peg portion bolts up with the engine mount bolts, and the upper portion bolts to the reservoir bracket on the right side of the bike and directly to the upper frame on the left side. The left side bolt goes completely through an existing hole in the frame and mates with a nyloc nut on the right. No drilling is required and all hardware is included.' Some remove the front fender during installation, some don't... ...at your service...... Slide

> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]