From the 2011 Kawasaki Ninja 1000 in San Francisco to the GSXR on Phillip Island with a trip to Greece as well, we have also thrown in a few tests from other SPEED personalities like Ralph Sheheen. 43 Test Rides for your Enjoyment.....
Laura wasn’t too young, and she wasn’t too pretty, but she possessed stoic levels of reliability and bucket loads of personality. As my constant companion from the Arctic Circle, across the moody Baltic Sea, to the Minarets of Istanbul, and the warm smell of Africa on the beaches of southern Spain, it was always Laura and I. Sure she lacked some modern sophistication, and after five months on the road together she was showing her age, but man I was in love with that bike. Found in my hometown classifieds in southern England during the spring of ’96, she had barely 12,000 miles on the clock. At nine years old she was no spring chicken, but for the princely sum of fifteen hundred pounds (about $2500 at the time), she was mine. Disappearing into my Mother’s garage as I waited for summer, Laura rolled out with new tires, a heavy-duty O-ring chain and sprocket set, new brake pads, and a full service a few weeks later. As basically the same KLR650 that was introduced in 1987 and saw service until this year, I put nearly 20,000 miles on the clock as we rode through 23 countries that summer. And on my return, another few days in the garage with some cans of paint and bottles of cleaners, saw Laura finding a new owner for barely two hundred pounds less than I had paid for her. Ten years later, I found myself flying through the mountainous countryside of Sonoma Country chasing ace photographer, Kevin Wing, and Kawasaki’s Karl Edmondson as we looked for a suitable photography spot before the sun went down on the new 2008 KLR 650. We had been riding hard and fast for a while on a combination of highway, blacktop, and gravel, which had allowed me to quickly become comfortable with Kawasaki’s legendary dual-purpose machine. Riding a motorcycle that makes around 45 horsepower, after a diet of open class sport bikes, mega sport touring bikes, and power cruisers, it would be easy to dismiss the KLR as a gutless wonder with no handling or braking abilities worth speaking about. And I have to admit, during the first few miles, it really felt as if the bike didn’t have the power to pull the skin off a rice pudding, and that someone had installed a sheet of sandpaper either side of a block of wood where the brakes should be. Breathing deeply, slowing my brain down from the normal hectic pace it is running these days, and letting the gentle single find its sweet spot, I began to settle in quicker than I expected. With its familiar single cylinder, water-cooled power plant chuffing along beneath me, I started shifting up a little earlier and lowering my performance expectations. For the last twenty years, the 44 horsepower has been delivered at 6,000 rpm, with the peak 34 foot-pounds of torque arriving a thousand rpm earlier. For ’08 not much has changed in the power department, except some revised ignition mapping, different cam timing, and some porting work in the head. These changes offer better low-end torque, crisper throttle response, and improved top end power. How much power, I don’t have an exact figure, but the changes should be good for at least two or three horsepower. Hitting a stretch of interstate early on gave me a chance to rev the bike out, which brought the rev limiter in at 8,000 rpm. The bike pulled well up to these lofty heights, which if my dull memory serves me correctly was not the older KLR’s forte. I watched the speedometer work its way up to 85mph in top gear, fifth on the KLR, and I held this speed for a few miles with ease. At this point the throttle was almost wide open and there isn’t a lot more speed to be found unless you are heading down a hill. Wind protection was good from the newly designed fairing and combined with the upright riding position and low foot pegs, it makes the thought of eating some miles very palatable. I often spent long days in the saddle during my ride to the four corners of Europe on Laura, and was always amazed how many miles I could burn in comparative comfort. With the gas tank holding 6.1 gallons US, I would go 250 miles between stops thanks to the KLR’s frugal appetite for fuel, and see no reason not to do the same on the new ’08. Using the same single Keihin CVK40 carburetor, the power delivery is totally seamless. The engine does prefer to be over 3,000rpm before you can get too busy with the throttle, but it will pull from below this figure if you are careful. Making me wonder what the big hoopla about fuel injection is all about, the KLR’s CV carb gets the job done right. For 2008, Kawasaki is proud to equip the KLR 650 with new brakes and upgraded suspension. Having managed a twenty-year run on the same forks and shock, some might say this change is long overdue. Using a new 41mm fork, there is 1.2 inches less travel for a more compliant ride. In the rear, there is no mention of a new shock, but wheel travel is reduced by 0.8 inches to match the front by use of a redesigned UNI-TRAK linkage. Note here there is no change to the useable wheel travel with these changes, just the static sag. While there is no adjustment available from the front fork, the rear does have five positions of pre-load and four positions rebound, so you can makes tweaks to accommodate lots of gear on your next round the world sojourn, if your name is Dr. Gregory Frazier that is. From the rider’s perspective, I had nothing to compare the ride quality with as we only had ‘08s on test, but the KLR gives a taut, compliant feel on both dirt and asphalt. According to Carl, a man who has a lot of KLR miles under his belt, the improvement is very noticeable if you ride them back-to-back. He specifically mentioned that the new KLR was a much better dirt bike now. I don’t spend much time in the dirt these days, but the section of gravel road we ran was handled without drama and just served to remind me of the KLR’s versatility. The new brakes were still something of a shock to me, and I was glad the big single has a bunch of engine braking to throw into the mix. The front uses a bigger petal style 280mm disc, but still appears to be using the old two-piston caliper. This is not so in the rear with the ’08 coming with a new caliper. Pulling the bike up from speed takes some attention, and it is necessary to use a lot more rear brake than when operating a triple disc set up. The trick is plan ahead, slow down, and ride within the KLR’s limits so as not to overtax the systems abilities. With quirky road manners in the handling department, due to the 21-inch front wheel, the whole approach to hustling down canyon roads on the KLR is different anyway. Use the engine braking and maintain a smooth steady pace, rather than rushing the corners, slamming on the brakes and accelerating off the corners like Roger Lee Hayden exiting the corkscrew at Laguna. Once into this mode, it is surprising how quickly the dually can be hustled along a twisty piece of road. My good friends Ron and Nancy Johnson, who run www.tailofthedragon have a garage full of motorcycles at their disposal, but put more miles on their KLR650s than the rest combined. They also know the fast way down the Dragon, and I wonder how many tourists have had the humbling experience of being unable to keep up with the KLR riding couple on their latest, greatest sportbike? In the rear, the seventeen-inch rim remains, although this year it runs in a new D-section swingarm. Coming wrapped in a Dunlop K750 tire, the spokes have been increased in diameter to 4mm from 3.5mm to give the wheel additional stiffness. With a more solid rear end, the overall handling of the new KLR has been improved. Unchanged for this year is the semi-double cradle frame that is still made from high-tensile steel and comes in the usual silver. With a fresher look and some moderate tweaks all around, the new KLR650 is definitely an improvement over the previous model. The better news is that the price has only increased $150 to a stratospheric $5,349. As a figure that is hard to imagine in our high tech two-wheeled world, this is not a typo, but the actual price for this fun, durable and versatile machine. Whether you are a commuter, round the world traveler, off-road explorer, or someone who enjoys the virtues of simple, single cylinder economy, the KLR 650 is worth a look. It’s been around for twenty years building a large fan club, and the new one is going to keep doing the same.
Send Message 
Add Friend 
Remove Friend 
Block User 
Unblock User 
Invite to Group 
Report User 
