New Ride!

[Mongo]

Latest addition to the garage! I figured it was time to do the Dual Sport so I picked up a 95 KLR 650 I'm not to thrilled about the color but I guess I can deal with the Barbie bike!



[img]

[r_outsider]

Ahh, yes. The mid-90's. Color schemes not quite as obnoxiously bright as 80's dayglo, but somehow even more tacky. The good news is that plastic is cheap!

Congrats on new scoot though! Now go have a blast on some 2 track and fire roads! And remember, if you get it muddy enough, no one can tell that it's teal and purple!   

[PaulVS]

Mongo ID + Avatar + Girlie Bike = 

[Mongo]

Hell for the price I paid for it I can live with the Barbie Bike. I've already started ordering replacement parts I'll start with a black seat, grips and a set of boots for the front end.

I pulled the splash decals of the side panels and the ones they put on the swing arm but they cleared over the decals on the tank!

[Russtang]

i wonder how some of that spray paint designed for plastic would hold up?  My dirtbike plastic tends to "bend" occasionally, and I wonder if the paint would chip and flake off?

[pmackie]

Way to go Mongo

I keep thinking about a dual sport/dual purpose, since there are so many good gravel roads in the area, but I hardly get out on my dirt bike ('87 CR250R), so I'm not sure I would do better on a dual sport, but I still love the concept. It brings me back to the days of my Yamaha DT-1.

Hope it runs well.

[Mongo]

Way to go Mongo

I keep thinking about a dual sport/dual purpose, since there are so many good gravel roads in the area, but I hardly get out on my dirt bike ('87 CR250R), so I'm not sure I would do better on a dual sport, but I still love the concept. It brings me back to the days of my Yamaha DT-1.

Hope it runs well.

You know I could not pass this one up I've ridden this bike before. My buddy Turbo Bob picked it up for his wife earlier this year after he picked up a 07 model but she was not riding it much so he decided to get rid of it. Here are some pictures I had taken when we out goofing around on the fire trails!

[aussiebandit]

We bought "The Eldest" a '96 KLR650.  We then put on a set of 17" rims and road rubber.  Looks very different to any other 'dirt bike' in sunny downtown Wagga.

Why did we put 17" rims on it.  Basically, he/we aren't dirt bike riders, but at 6'3" there aren't many learner legal road bikes that he'll comfortably fit on. 

He loves it because unlike other 'learner' bikes it's got a bit of 'street cred', and I like it because it's harder to do major damage to it if he falls off, which he has done 3 times.  The last one was a 50-60km highside, if he'd been riding a road bike it'd probably have been written off.  As it was it just needed the leavers and mirrors 'bashed' back in to place.

[Red01]

You can get rid of the goofy tank graphics by replacing the steel tank with one of those aftermarket plastic ones (Clark, IMS, Acerbis, etc.).

[CWO4GUNNER]

Its a much better bike then the new model. Even most of the reviews I have read from loyal buyers cant figure out why Kaw made the new model so fat with the latest changes. Your model is defiantly more off road worthy.

[Mongo]

Its a much better bike then the new model. Even most of the reviews I have read from loyal buyers cant figure out why Kaw made the new model so fat with the latest changes. Your model is defiantly more off road worthy.

We'll find out this weekend how off road worthy she is were going out looking for what's left of the St. Francis Dam



http://web.umr.edu/~rogersda/st_francis_dam/

http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/st-francis-directions.htm

[r_outsider]

That dam looks like a pretty interesting place to go. You guys in the SW US are lucky to have tons of cool places like that to explore, like old ghost towns and mine and such. As for the general off-road worthiness of your KLX, I like to think of dual-sports as being the SUV's of the motorcycle world. They can do some off road work like two track and fire roads at it's own pace, and it'll be a good time. But don't mistake your Ford Explorer for a Trophy Truck! Pushing it too hard doing your best Steve Hengeveld impression or taking it into places with deep sand and silt, tight single track, mud, steep hills or big rock gardens would likely end badly.

[Mongo]

Did not make it to the Damn Dam but still managed to rack out 90 miles on the KLR today if it does not rain out on the Bandit Sunday!!

[Sven]

Congrats.  Funny, this evening at the RiverKings game, we were talking about how clay orange (like Univ. of Texas) is the "hot" color in sports apparel, in the same way that teal and purple were in the early '90s.  (For example the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.)  I didn't realize this trend ran to motorcycles as well.  So where is the adobe-colored Bandit?  (And that brings back memories of the Adobe, the "little car made of clay" from SNL!) 

[Mongo]

You know how it gets when you get a new toy you don't play with your old ones as much, well with the weather still in the 90's and gas prices at $3.35 a gallon I figured I would stick with the KLR for a while.

Well I decided to pull the Bandit out yesterday and ride into work. What a wake up call, I forgot what power the old girl had. It seems like I'm twisting the throttle on the KLR 720° to get it moving. I reeled out of the driveway and cracked her open all I can say is "DAMN" that feels good!