concours regrets?

[Don Montgomery]

> > El Mur. Kamloops, B.C. >

That's some beautiful country and a nice town! Don M

[roncriswell@sbcglobal.net]

But if you really love motorcycles as I do, you can appreciate and like just about all of them (the ones that will start and stay running). Even the ridiculous ones the chopper guys build. But the best all around bike out there considering what it will do and price is ..... as we all know, the KLR. I really like going to Motorcycle museums and seeing what we and others used to put up with. I saw a beautifully restored Indian inline four recently at one. Why didn't they make that bike water cooled? Or the Ariel Square 4? They would have been so much better had they. Both bikes had problems with the rear cylinders overheating. Well duh? It doesn't take being an engineer to figure they would have problems with that. Criswell

On May 6, 2008, at 10:02 PM, oldrider25 wrote: > Short answer: The bike that most closely matches your riding style, > riding preferences, > and physique will be the one you think is better. I like my KLR and > have no regrets selling > my Concours. > > Stream of consciousness: > > I had an '86 Concours I bought a number of years back. I restored > it to original and put a > Givi tail box w/ the optional back rest on it for touring with my > wife. We had that sucker > loaded down with a weekend's worth of gear + 20 bottles of wine > from the Los Olivos, CA > wine country. The bike was great fun when doing the sport part of > sport-touring. As soon > as you got to the tour part, it became uncomfortable. > > I'm 6'0" and have a 32" inseam. I found the legroom too short. The > bars put too much > weight on my wrists (for me) even though I have a 35" sleeve > length. The high freq. buzz > made my fingers numb after an hour or so of fwy riding. The brakes > sucked with no > option to upgrade unlike the KLR that has a 320mm aftermarket > offering. The plastic > fit/finish sucked. But, hey, it was the 1st production year. The > turning radius sucked > also. I also didn't like how I kept riding up on the tank, > squishing my naughty bits (as they > say across the pond). > > The wind protection was excellent. Too excellent. On hot days, you > baked. The heat from > the engine cooked my legs and the lack of a breeze made summer > travel too hot. The > plus side was the rain protection. I rode through some hellacious > rain and barely got wet. > Wind protection for your pillion is another matter. My wife got > *blasted* by the wind at > anything over 80mph. She said she felt like she was going to get > blown off the back of > the bike! > > As for the bike's weight - it's heavy. Just as a comparison, when > test riding the KLR, I > initiated the turn by countersteering. I pushed so hard on the > handlebar I almost wrecked > the bike! I pushed about as hard as I normally had to do on my > Concours to initiate a > quick turn. > > I sold my Connie shortly after buying a KLR. The KLR is the slowest > bike I've ever owned > and I've had cruisers, standards, etc. It's also the most fun bike > I've ever owned. It's > relatively light, very comfortable to ride, and goes everywhere > most street bikes only > dream of going. Riding my Connie on a gravel driveway is nerve > wracking. Riding my KLR > on a gravel road is a piece of cake. When I see a dirt road off the > beaten path, I want to > take it. Riding the KLR, I can. When on the Concours, maybe. Once I > bought the KLR, I > found I hardly ever rode the Concours. > > Going downhill on tight winding roads, the KLR can keep up with > most other bikes. I've > surprised many a sport bike rider by keeping pace. Once the curves > open up, or if there's > a (not so) long straight, or the road levels off, the more powerful > bikes start to walk away. > No worries, I'm still going fast enough to have fun. > > I've ridden both my KLR and my Concours over 400 miles in one day. > 400 miles is an all > day affair when mixing in dirt/gravel roads on the KLR. 400 miles > goes much faster on > the Concours if you're sticking to pavement and going 100+ MPH the > whole way like I did > down US101 one very early morning. These are 2 totally different > bikes - neither is better > than the other. They're just different. > > For me, the KLR is a better fit for my riding style and > personality. It does 95% of what I > want a street bike to do. I commute, tour, and offroad (everything > but single track), on the > bike. I don't ride 2-up these days, either. For me, I have zero > regrets selling my Concours > and keeping my KLR. > > Were I to buy a bike for the other 5%, it would probably be a Honda > ST1100. Hydraulic > lifters, smoother power delivery, higher overall quality, etc. I > like the older ST. > > One more thing. Working on the KLR is a breeze compared to my > Concours. No need to > sync carbs either! > > HTH, > John > > --- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "David C." wrote: > > > > In addition to my '88 KLR I have a 2000 Concours. I got the Concours > > in 2001, to replace a succession of Airhead BMWs, as I wanted > > something a little more reliable and high tech than the old > > Airheads. The Concours has been a good bike, reliable, not horribly > > difficult to work on, not too high tech. There's also a huge support > > group in COG. However, since getting my '88 KLR two years ago, I > > find myself riding the KLR more and the Concours (much) less. Today > > I finished my annual and four year periodic service on the Concours, > > and I noticed I only put 700 miles on it last year. In addition, the > > service has eaten up most of three weekends, and a big part of that > > is removing and replacing stuff (gas tanks, tupperware, bags > > mufflers, brakes, etc) that have nothing to do with the actual > > service. The tupperware is a particular pain to deal with. The > > advantages of the Connie are it's great weather protection and > > relative comfort; I've done a BBG and numerous 600+ mile days on > > it. I have it set up with a Russell seat, extra lights, heated > > grips, etc, and it's a great LD bike. On the other hand, it's a big, > > heavy pig, it's relatively hard on tires (unless you run GL1500 > > tires, and then you give up traction), and there is a lot going on > > under all that plastic. > > > > On the other hand, the KLR seems to do about 90% of everything I > need > > to do with a motorcycle. The seating position is actually more > > comfortable than the Concours, and I suspect if I added a flat > Corbin > > seat (a Russell on a KLR is just wrong) I wouldn't have any trouble > > doing big miles if need be. The KLR is simple, easy to work on, gets > > good mileage, and with the IMS tank I have on it, has excellent > > range. If I sold the Concours I could easily afford a newer, lower > > mileage KLR, and keep the '88 for a spare or sell it for more > farkles. > > > > So, has anyone else sold a Concours or other sport/touring bike to > > make the KLR their primary ride? Any regrets? Anyone want a well > > maintained, relatively low mileage (26K) Concours with all the > farkles? > > > > (The alternative is to sell them both and get a V-Strom....) > > > > Thanks > > Dave C > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]