klrman wrote:
They invest so much in sport bikes and always leave the DP wanting, but someone told me once they always leave the DP bikes antiquated so that they never compete with the other bikes they manufactur so that they can maximize profits. That makes sense to me that that is their game. Maybe they think us DPer's are too cheap and won't fork out the bucks if they pulled out all the stops..haha, but I think they could offer 2 versions always for those who wanted more. Looks like the sports bikes rule though and that is their cash cow.
Two points...
1) There
is a company that's puts dualsport first, and has done so for over 20 years, BMW. Fuel injection over 15 years ago, ABS, heated grips, tubeless spoke rims, shaft drive, 50 A alternator, three year warranty... But all this costs money. Price, features, reliability pick any two
.
2) I witnessed a "head to head" comparison of old KLRversus new KLR when the two bikes collided right in front of me. Old KLR had slightly bent forks, bent front rim, broken indicator and some body work abuse. If you had to you could have ridden the old one slowly somewhere.New KLR exploded. Not fire and smoke but the entire front end exploded. The front fairing was completely destroyed, fairing support destroyed, instrument cluster dead, top triple tree shattered beyond belief for a relatively low speed collision. Both bar mounts were shattered, both fork legs smashed out. It was a mess.
