My new KLR is a week old today

[Guest]

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Chr....................errrrrrrr, I mean mustexcc, thanks for the tips and help yesterday.



Oh and yes the green paint was on the pinch bolts.

 

[KelKen08]

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Glad your enjoying the bike Mcfly....I went over mine pretty good and the only thing I could find loose was the rad bottle it was just a bit and not leaking. I hope you brought it to your dealers attention that they need someone who has a clue doing the PDI. The guy at Valley Motosport who did mine was in his late forties or fifties and did a good job :clap:

I have almost 900 k on mine now so first dealer visit happeing this week.The last two rides after about 30 minutes of riding I start hearing a scraping noise coming from the clutch area..its intermittent and not real loud but noticable for sure. :shock:

I havent seen this reported yet...find out pretty quick what it is...

 

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KelKen08 wrote:

Glad your enjoying the bike Mcfly....I went over mine pretty good and the only thing I could find loose was the rad bottle it was just a bit and not leaking. I hope you brought it to your dealers attention that they need someone who has a clue doing the PDI. The guy at Valley Motosport who did mine was in his late forties or fifties and did a good job :clap:

I have almost 900 k on mine now so first dealer visit happeing this week.The last two rides after about 30 minutes of riding I start hearing a scraping noise coming from the clutch area..its intermittent and not real loud but noticable for sure. :shock:

I havent seen this reported yet...find out pretty quick what it is...

Mine is going in this week to have the oil leaks tended to.

I think I have most everything else done myself now.

Hopefully your noise is something simple.....sure is damn fun to ride isn't it.

 

[KelKen08]

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mcfly wrote:

KelKen08 wrote:

Glad your enjoying the bike Mcfly....I went over mine pretty good and the only thing I could find loose was the rad bottle it was just a bit and not leaking. I hope you brought it to your dealers attention that they need someone who has a clue doing the PDI. The guy at Valley Motosport who did mine was in his late forties or fifties and did a good job :clap:

I have almost 900 k on mine now so first dealer visit happeing this week.The last two rides after about 30 minutes of riding I start hearing a scraping noise coming from the clutch area..its intermittent and not real loud but noticable for sure. :shock:

I havent seen this reported yet...find out pretty quick what it is...

Mine is going in this week to have the oil leaks tended to.

I think I have most everything else done myself now.

Hopefully your noise is something simple.....sure is damn fun to ride isn't it.

Yep its hard to get off sometimes...cept my ass gets so sore...lol

Have you done any tough bush stuff yet? I did a few trails one was tight and rocky...this is not one of my mx bikes....:shock:The weight of this bikes is going to take me some time to get used to..it moves around a lot on the dirt bouncing off rocks etc...Im probably just a tad paranoid cause I dont want to drop it...:hr:

But when you put some power down I do like the smooth steady torque....seems like you could really get flying if you got the revs right up to red line and kept them there....I havent pushed it quite that hard yet...

Take care and happy trails :tup:

 

[Guest]

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KelKen08 wrote:

mcfly wrote:

KelKen08 wrote:

Glad your enjoying the bike Mcfly....I went over mine pretty good and the only thing I could find loose was the rad bottle it was just a bit and not leaking. I hope you brought it to your dealers attention that they need someone who has a clue doing the PDI. The guy at Valley Motosport who did mine was in his late forties or fifties and did a good job :clap:

I have almost 900 k on mine now so first dealer visit happeing this week.The last two rides after about 30 minutes of riding I start hearing a scraping noise coming from the clutch area..its intermittent and not real loud but noticable for sure. :shock:

I havent seen this reported yet...find out pretty quick what it is...

Mine is going in this week to have the oil leaks tended to.

I think I have most everything else done myself now.

Hopefully your noise is something simple.....sure is damn fun to ride isn't it.

Yep its hard to get off sometimes...cept my a** gets so sore...lol

Have you done any tough bush stuff yet? I did a few trails one was tight and rocky...this is not one of my mx bikes....:shock:The weight of this bikes is going to take me some time to get used to..it moves around a lot on the dirt bouncing off rocks etc...Im probably just a tad paranoid cause I dont want to drop it...:hr:

But when you put some power down I do like the smooth steady torque....seems like you could really get flying if you got the revs right up to red line and kept them there....I havent pushed it quite that hard yet...

Take care and happy trails :tup:

Nothing to extreme yet for me on it.

I have dropped it already though....DOH



Some moderate mud, trails, and a rocky steep descent that had me worried or a few seconds....but made it down okay.

Happy trails to you to.

 

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This week has been a great one with the new bike.

I have stopped the 2 small oil leaks it had myself, no dealer needed.



Shortened the sidestand a bit, and it feels way more safe when parked now....I want to thank Joker650 for the awesome job he did on this for me....thanks man :hb:



Also I checked the valves....they were all perfect, so I just bolted it back up and went riding.

Damn I love this bike. :dr:

 

[PoBoy]

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Hi Guys (and Gals):

I have a serious question for you all, but first to share the happiness....I'm into week four with an Oh eight KLR. So far, so great! I have4,200 miles on the beast already, and several mods. So far, I've added a lexan windshield extension--as suggested by Ryder in another section of this forum. I also have mounted Happy Trails' side racks and clipped on 25 mm ammo cans for paniers. Those, a vista cruise control,and a Givi 45L top trunk got me from North Carolina to Saint Louis and back safe-and-sound. I also have Happy Trails highway pegs/engine guard and skid plate going on the bike to replace the highway pegs I fabricated for the long trip. And, after that long ride, I think an aftermarket seat is coming sooner or later--'though a sheepskin from Alaska Leathers helped my labored butt a bunch. I have also decided to add a fork brace, as I have found that the fatter forks on the 08 still tend to flex about some on the trails.

Now the question. I started the trip with 2000 miles on the odometer. I went through some serious oil during the long ride. The bike--with stock gearing--cruised at 5000 rpm, at 75 mph. Nevertheless, I used 2.5 quarts (US) of oil on the long way out to St. Louis, and 1 quart on the direct return journey. Round trip was about 2000 miles. Sure the bike was still breaking in. And certainly, the air filter got a bunch of that oil. Oh yeah....I also kept the oil level high on the way out once I discovered it was using oil, but kept it right in the middle on the way back. And, yes, I asked the bike dealer to run a leak down test when I got home.

My dealer tells me everything is fine...that the bike just will normally suck oil into the air filter while running at 5000 rpms for an extended period of time. Do any of you have similar experiences to share? Any suggestions? I am worried.

Otherwise, this bike has been a joy! We have already had some serious adventures, and I'd reccomend this bike to anyone. Just keep tools and some lock-tight handy and be ready to re-tighten those bolts!

 

[KelKen08]

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Im inexperienced with this issue myself as I only have 1400 km's on mine and yesterday was the first 100 km highway ride...but I have read a fair bit here:KLR650.net over this issue....apparently this motor will burn oil pretty good on long high rpm rides...so thats normal...the one thing im concerned about "is this normal for such a low milage motor?

Keep us posted as to what you find and if your still burning oil in everyday driving.

Sounds like you have your bike looking good though :clap::tup:

 

[ZED]

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PoBoy wrote:

Hi Guys (and Gals):

I have a serious question for you all, but first to share the happiness....I'm into week four with an Oh eight KLR. So far, so great! I have4,200 miles on the beast already, and several mods. So far, I've added a lexan windshield extension--as suggested by Ryder in another section of this forum. I also have mounted Happy Trails' side racks and clipped on 25 mm ammo cans for paniers. Those, a vista cruise control,and a Givi 45L top trunk got me from North Carolina to Saint Louis and back safe-and-sound. I also have Happy Trails highway pegs/engine guard and skid plate going on the bike to replace the highway pegs I fabricated for the long trip. And, after that long ride, I think an aftermarket seat is coming sooner or later--'though a sheepskin from Alaska Leathers helped my labored butt a bunch. I have also decided to add a fork brace, as I have found that the fatter forks on the 08 still tend to flex about some on the trails.

Now the question. I started the trip with 2000 miles on the odometer. I went through some serious oil during the long ride. The bike--with stock gearing--cruised at 5000 rpm, at 75 mph. Nevertheless, I used 2.5 quarts (US) of oil on the long way out to St. Louis, and 1 quart on the direct return journey. Round trip was about 2000 miles. Sure the bike was still breaking in. And certainly, the air filter got a bunch of that oil. Oh yeah....I also kept the oil level high on the way out once I discovered it was using oil, but kept it right in the middle on the way back. And, yes, I asked the bike dealer to run a leak down test when I got home.

My dealer tells me everything is fine...that the bike just will normally suck oil into the air filter while running at 5000 rpms for an extended period of time. Do any of you have similar experiences to share? Any suggestions? I am worried.

Otherwise, this bike has been a joy! We have already had some serious adventures, and I'd reccomend this bike to anyone. Just keep tools and some lock-tight handy and be ready to re-tighten those bolts!

Our two KLRs are 2005s with 16k and 13k respectively on them. Ever since they were broken in we can ride between 5000-5500rpm all day with no visible oil consumption. On rare ocasion we might go through 1/2 liter between oil changes.

During the first 1000km of break-in mine used 1liter.

 

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PoBoy wrote:

Hi Guys (and Gals):

I have a serious question for you all, but first to share the happiness....I'm into week four with an Oh eight KLR. So far, so great! I have4,200 miles on the beast already, and several mods. So far, I've added a lexan windshield extension--as suggested by Ryder in another section of this forum. I also have mounted Happy Trails' side racks and clipped on 25 mm ammo cans for paniers. Those, a vista cruise control,and a Givi 45L top trunk got me from North Carolina to Saint Louis and back safe-and-sound. I also have Happy Trails highway pegs/engine guard and skid plate going on the bike to replace the highway pegs I fabricated for the long trip. And, after that long ride, I think an aftermarket seat is coming sooner or later--'though a sheepskin from Alaska Leathers helped my labored butt a bunch. I have also decided to add a fork brace, as I have found that the fatter forks on the 08 still tend to flex about some on the trails.

Now the question. I started the trip with 2000 miles on the odometer. I went through some serious oil during the long ride. The bike--with stock gearing--cruised at 5000 rpm, at 75 mph. Nevertheless, I used 2.5 quarts (US) of oil on the long way out to St. Louis, and 1 quart on the direct return journey. Round trip was about 2000 miles. Sure the bike was still breaking in. And certainly, the air filter got a bunch of that oil. Oh yeah....I also kept the oil level high on the way out once I discovered it was using oil, but kept it right in the middle on the way back. And, yes, I asked the bike dealer to run a leak down test when I got home.

My dealer tells me everything is fine...that the bike just will normally suck oil into the air filter while running at 5000 rpms for an extended period of time. Do any of you have similar experiences to share? Any suggestions? I am worried.

Otherwise, this bike has been a joy! We have already had some serious adventures, and I'd reccomend this bike to anyone. Just keep tools and some lock-tight handy and be ready to re-tighten those bolts!

Mine does not seem to use any oil....even if i cruise at 5000 to 6000 rpm it does not consume enough i notice it go down....but I also do not have much mileage on it.



May I ask how you broke it in?

Did you baby it a lot, posibly not seating the rings well?

Or did you ride it like it was stolen?

Personally I ride the crap out of all new bikes, snowmobiles, cars, trucks etc to get a good hard fast break in.

Never had a bad motor breaking them in hard, have heard horror stories of poor sealing in motors broken in slowly from my unce, Dad etc that are mechanics.

Maybe try a fresh oil change, and go from there.

I am not sure why some say they use oil...my 1999 KLR never used any even when I sold it with 51,000 hard kms on it....I could cruise all day with it over 5000 rpm and it just never used oil, maybe betwen oil changes it would go down from the top of the sight glass to just half way up the sight glass, but that was after say 3,000 kms of hard use from the last oil change.

It always had Valvoline oil in it...just the car stuff in 10W40...its all I ever use in any of my bikes.

Sorry I cannot be more help...glad you like the bike at least. :hb:

 

[PoBoy]

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Thanks, all, for your thoughtful replies. The 3000km trip mentioned iscomparable tomy 3220km trip.

I broke the bike in with mixed riding, mostlylike a road-going tractor, but giving it a good rev and battery every now and then to seat the ring.

I have learned thus far from my '08:

Avery abusive sprint at journey's halfway point appeared to reduce oil consumption. So I would concur with the idea of a relatively hard break-in.

Onthis particular machine, oil level should be kept right in the middle of the glass (going a tad higher on the glass, resulted in increased oil loss).
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Questions:

Since the oil system pressurization testwas negative for leaksand the spark plug wasbarely soiled, I assume that it is burning a little and sucking a LOT into the air box. Any suggestions here?Should I get a free-er flow airfilter and exhaust, or would this be counter productive?

My dealer says that I can switch to synthetic at about the 8000km mark, and that will help as the oil will not get so whipped up and "foamy"--thereby making it less likely to be expended via the air box. Any thoughts here?

 

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PoBoy wrote:

Thanks, all, for your thoughtful replies. The 3000km trip mentioned iscomparable tomy 3220km trip.

I broke the bike in with mixed riding, mostlylike a road-going tractor, but giving it a good rev and battery every now and then to seat the ring.

I have learned thus far from my '08:

Avery abusive sprint at journey's halfway point appeared to reduce oil consumption. So I would concur with the idea of a relatively hard break-in.

Onthis particular machine, oil level should be kept right in the middle of the glass (going a tad higher on the glass, resulted in increased oil loss).
​

Questions:

Since the oil system pressurization testwas negative for leaksand the spark plug wasbarely soiled, I assume that it is burning a little and sucking a LOT into the air box. Any suggestions here?Should I get a free-er flow airfilter and exhaust, or would this be counter productive?

My dealer says that I can switch to synthetic at about the 8000km mark, and that will help as the oil will not get so whipped up and "foamy"--thereby making it less likely to be expended via the air box. Any thoughts here?

I hane no experience with different air filters or exhaust on the KLR as both of mine have been left stock.



And if you wish to try synthetic, go ahead and do so.

I doubt it will help your oil consumption much, but there is no need to waith 8,000 ms to switch...If its not broken in already, it never will be.

IMO if its not broken in right in the first 200 kms, just live with it.

So go ahead and try synthetic now if you wish.

Myself I prefer to use dyno oil, and change it more frequently, so its always clean and fresh.

I dump mine say every 1,500 kms after the first couple changes which are done at real low mileage...If i remember it had something like 70 kms at the first oil change, and maybe 300 at the second oil change.....So it will be needing another one very soon now.