petcock

[gcgushue]

I have a 2003 KLR and I am a rookie rider. I am 48 years old and thrilled with the bike. I have been riding for a year and I took a basic skills course and a traffic safety course. I bought an '89 GS500E in March, sold it and bought the KLR in July. I was surprised to learn (embarrassingly)that I had to leave the clutch out to start the KLR. Is that normal or was the bike modified? I naively thought that all bikes were set up in a standard fashion and required the clutch to be engaged to start. Thank you in advance for your help. Gord

[Mike Frey]

No, not normal. Your clutch safety bypass switch is either faulty or not adjusted correctly. Good info here: http://www.klr650.marknet.us/safetyswitch.html Mike

----- Original Message ----- From: gcgushue To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, November 03, 2007 11:24 AM Subject: [DSN_KLR650] 2003 KLR I have a 2003 KLR and I am a rookie rider. I am 48 years old and thrilled with the bike. I have been riding for a year and I took a basic skills course and a traffic safety course. I bought an '89 GS500E in March, sold it and bought the KLR in July. I was surprised to learn (embarrassingly)that I had to leave the clutch out to start the KLR. Is that normal or was the bike modified? I naively thought that all bikes were set up in a standard fashion and required the clutch to be engaged to start. Thank you in advance for your help. Gord

[Jeff Saline]

On Sat, 03 Nov 2007 15:24:04 -0000 "gcgushue" writes:

> I have a 2003 KLR and I am a rookie rider. I am 48 years old and > thrilled with the bike. I have been riding for a year and I took a > basic skills course and a traffic safety course. I bought an '89 > GS500E in March, sold it and bought the KLR in July. > > I was surprised to learn (embarrassingly)that I had to leave the > clutch out to start the KLR. Is that normal or was the bike > modified? > I naively thought that all bikes were set up in a standard fashion > and required the clutch to be engaged to start. > > Thank you in advance for your help. > > Gord

<><><><><><><><> <><><><><><><><> Gord, There's a little switch held under the left lever. It has a few wires going to it and a phillips head bolt at each end. It's maybe 3/4" long. You could loosen the screws a turn or so and slide the switch one way or the other. Just slide it a little bit, like 1/16". Then tighten the bolts and try to start the engine. If it doesn't work slide it a bit more and try again. If it still doesn't work maybe try sliding it the other direction. Probably shouldn't take you more than 5 minutes to adjust the switch so it works correctly. When working correctly the starter should crank with the clutch lever out if the transmission is in neutral and with the clutch lever in with the transmission in any gear or neutral. On my bike, until I again decide to adjust the switch I must move the lever out just a tad to get the engine to crank when the lever is pulled in. Maybe I'll take a few minutes to fix it. Best, Jeff Saline ABC # 4412 South Dakota Airmarshal Airheads Beemer Club www.airheads.org The Beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota 75 R90/6, 03 KLR650, 79 R100RT

[C COOPER]

...or switching from a '72 Triumph 650 (shift of the right) to a Yamaha 360 ( shift on the left). Ok at first, riding in calm conditions. First time off road, scrambling up some gnarly rocky trail.... d**n, it's not supposed to * stop* when you downshift...

On 11/5/07, mikeypep wrote: > > > Lets not forget the "other brand" experience. On my airhead the lever > has 4 positions, up, down, front and back. Down is "on", front or back > is "off" and up is reserve. No room for startup ritual here. You have > to think about which bike you're riding. In addition the BMW has a non- > vacuum petcock so you had better turn it off lest you find your > precious fuel on the pavement. > Question regarding this feature. The Concours has a "hydrolock" issue > caused by fuel flowing past the float needle and filling the cylinder. > Why is this not an issue in the KLR? > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]