KLR mania

Next was the issue of comfort. Neither of us had any delusions of Iron-Butt days. The KLR is not the bike to cover hundreds and hundreds of miles in a day. There were going to be days where we would need to make time and cover some distance but time is on our side and the goal is to take our time and see the world. Still, there are a couple things we could do to make our time in the saddle a little more bearable. First I took the seats off and restuffed them. There are a number of manufacturers out there that make aftermarket seats for the KLR but none of them are cheap and unless you have tried them all for a few hundred miles each you are sort of stabbing in the dark. I had nothing to lose by trying my own. This would also give me the opportunity to shave some foam out of Spice's seat for something a little more dense, giving her yet another inch of seat height. To date, I think we are both satisfied with the seat modifications all things considered. We have yet to cover more than 300 miles in a day which is fine by us. Some gel grips helped out with the vibration issue a little but then again, we ARE riding a 650cc single. It comes with the package.

The engines we left alone for the most part. A little attention was needed for the carb. I bought a couple DynoJet jet kits from Dual Star and the response was noticeable right away. They recommend backing out the pilot screw 3.5 turns, which is twice as much as some of the KLR folks recommend on the user groups but no complaints so far. They also include in the kit a drill bit that helps out with the throttle response. Again, immediately noticeable results. One luxury item I afforded myself after we completed the TransAm Trail was the addition of an aftermarket exhaust system. I didn't need it. The stock system is fine but I just really like afermarket exhaust systems. I bought a Laser Pro-Duro and Big Gun header from Arrowhead Motorsports. The whole thing isn't cheap but it looks pretty neat with its stainless steel polish and the sound is a definite improvement over the stock "tweet". Spice thought the purchase was a little silly but I think she understands. I really don't think I gained much in the way of power but I did lose about 5 mpg in mileage. A tradeoff? Probably. Worth it? I think so. In the interest of convenience I ordered a couple stainless steel oil filters from Dual Star. They supposedly last forever and the idea of never having to track down an oil filter no matter where we are is appealing. Simply blow it out with some parts cleaner or something and refill. The engines otherwise were completely stock in the interest of reliabilty.