KLR mania

There is a lot to consider when thinking about modifications for a two-year round-the-world trip. Comfort, reliability, ruggedness, power, practicality, availability of parts, so on and so. The plan was to ride the TransAm Trail as a sort of off-road boot camp for both Spice and I as well as the bikes. Could they handle the constant pounding of 4,000 miles of dual-sport trails completely loaded down? That was what we set out to see.

Mike suggested first dialing in the suspensions to handle the extra weight and terrain. That included chucking the stock fork springs and rear shocks into the trash in exchange for some very trick Progressive units. Progressive offers a shortened rear shock that was going to gain Spice a much needed inch in seat height. I also dropped the front tubes in her bike another inch and a half to level it out. That is about the limit as you start to run into clearance issues both front and rear. I topped off both with some good quality fork oil, 15w in mine and 10w in Spice's. He also suggested converting the rear to an 18" wheel due to the shortage of 17" tires throughout the rest of the world but that would have cut into our leavetime so I opted to nix that one. We'll just have to stay on top of tire wear and try to foresee when new ones are going to be needed. Another item essential for the KLR suspension was the need for a fork brace. For this we clicked on the Happy Trails website take a look at their K-9 Fork Brace. I was promised the K-9 would be okay for any tire without clearance problems. It did not disappoint. The spindly KLR forks are in great need of some support and the K-9 helped out tremendously for stability both on and off road. They include in the package a supposed fork seal but I couldn't figure it out so it's still in Atlanta.

Since right out of the gate we planned to ride nothing but dirt we mulled over all the tire choices and decided to go with the Continental TKC-80. The Conti looks like a full motocross tire but is remarkably quiet on the asphalt and the wear turned out to be about what we expected considering the tread. I later switched to a Maxxis on the rear halfway through the Trail but found that on the road it suffered when leaned over and the noise started to get to me. When the bike wasn't all loaded down the Maxxis was fun to rip around on and predictable in slides on the road but I don't think that is what they are really designed for. Now having finished the 7,000 mile "boot camp" portion of the trip on dirt we have switched to a more highway oriented tire that will hopefully last longer. Mike suggested the Avon Distanzia. We also tossed the stock tubes for some much thicker Monster Tubes, an absolute necessity on a trip of this nature. They are 4mm thick and super heavy duty. We absolutely beat the living daylights out of those tubes and tires(especially with my butcher-like tire mounting abilities) and were fortunate enough to not experience any punctures. I would highly recommend both. On the Transamtrail we ran the tires as low as 13 psi in the sand and as high as 34psi on some of the longer highway days. We'll see what happens and keep you updated.

One ride on the KLR reveals a few weak points but even stock it is a very competent bike. The brakes needed a little beefing up but that was easy enough with some braided lines, front and rear, and some aftermarket brakepads from EBC. That coupled with some high-quality fluid made all the difference in the world. Now, not only could the bikes roll over all the crazy stuff but they could stop too.

Get-offs were going to be ineveitable so next we had to consider how to protect the bikes vital parts. Dual Star offers a number of protective accessories and I think we ordered just about everything. Skid plate, Acerbis handguards, water pump guard, radiator guard, heavy-duty shifter, billet rear brake mount, and a rear master-cylinder guard. I knew there were going to be times when the bike and us would go down but due to the nature of the Transamtrail and, more likely, our riding abilities, Spice and I ended up crashing a lot more than we anticipated. I cannot tell you how many times the handguards and all the other guards saved us from being stranded in the middle of nowhere. I didn't think it was possible to actually bend handguards that were made of steel inside but I proved more than a few times it is. The good thing is that a few allen screws and you can pull them off, jam them between the slats in a picnic table and tweak them back to some semblance of normalcy. I also ordered a coupled of lower profile magnetic drainplugs to lessen the chances of ripping those off in the middle of a rocky hillclimb.

The electrical system is another item that had to be toughened up a bit. I wanted to be able to run a couple accessories such as heated grips and a heated vest so Mike suggested a new higher output stator and regulator/rectifier from Electrex. I had no idea what either of them did but he assured me I needed both. I was terrified of cracking open the motor and modifying all this stuff but it was remarkably easy even for me. I have since blown two of these regulator/rectifiers since I left Atlanta but found out it was a result of my ace wiring skills and not the units themselves. The stock battery also went into the trash(not literally) and in its place Mike sent us a couple heavy-duty dry cell units made by Odyssey.These have been tested by the Marine Corps in their KLRs and have proven themselves time and time again. Apparantly the stock ones can break internally during hard off-road use. Cheap insurance as far as I am concerned. Tammy at Dual Sport Rider.org has figured out a way to replace the stock glass fuses with some heavier duty automotive-type fuses. As this mod required zero wiring skills I figured this again was cheap insurance. You literally unplug the stock ones and plug in the new ones. Simple. While I was in the motor I replaced this thing that would come to be known as the "Doohickey" in KLR circles. It is actually a balancer chain tensioner and another weak point on the KLR. It is a very cheap modification but can potentially frag the motor if it malfunctions. Jake at the Sagebrush Machine Shop in Utah sells these to most of the KLR crowd with tremendous success. A necessity for the KLR.