NEW KLR 650

[dooveman]

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Hey flip-flop, I have an 06 as well. Doesn't seem to vibrate all that much but I do have a cruiser as my other bike so.....

I live in Surrey, Fraser Hieghts. If you are still looking for someone to swap with you can try mine out. But I'll post tomorrow or the next day if this will work for me. i'm just putting it back together. I had to rebuild the instrument box and bend the fairing back into shape after my impact with mother earth. :shoot:

Oh, hey did you guys hear about Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers? No helmet, cut off by an old lady and face planted. Broken jaw and nose. The Steelers coach supposedly lectured him on riding his bike with no helmet. Nobody deserves a lesson like that.

Brian

 

[flip-flop]

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dooveman wrote:

Hey flip-flop, I have an 06 as well. Doesn't seem to vibrate all that much but I do have a cruiser as my other bike so.....

I live in Surrey, Fraser Hieghts. If you are still looking for someone to swap with you can try mine out. But I'll post tomorrow or the next day if this will work for me. i'm just putting it back together. I had to rebuild the instrument box and bend the fairing back into shape after my impact with mother earth. :shoot:

Oh, hey did you guys hear about Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers? No helmet, cut off by an old lady and face planted. Broken jaw and nose. The Steelers coach supposedly lectured him on riding his bike with no helmet. Nobody deserves a lesson like that.

Brian

Brian

I'd be happy to bring the bike to you and let you go for a ride, I'd kinda like to figure out if I'm thinking there is more vibration than there should be or if this is the way these bike's are. It's been 20 years since I've had a bike and the one I use to have was 1980 Honda 750 Super Sport.

That is a hard lesson Ben learned. thank god he was a football player and is used to getting hit in the head, should have a faster recovery than most of us.

Chris

P.S. I'm happy for about 20min with a beer in my hand if you want to ride that long.:hb:

 

[edzzed]

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i'm just up the street from the cloverdale fairgrounds. i'll pm ya my phone #. mine is a 99 klr 650 with 25k kms had it since day one. and keeping it. we can switch for a short ride. i find mine has some vibration but being a thumper it's gotta be expected. and i can live with it. my only complaint after doing the harrison-pemberton home ride was my butt. you can only sit on a frigging 2x4 for so long b4 it gets annoying. was good for the first 300kms but then it hit. Ed

 

[flip-flop]

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edzzed wrote:

i'm just up the street from the cloverdale fairgrounds. i'll pm ya my phone #. mine is a 99 klr 650 with 25k kms had it since day one. and keeping it. we can switch for a short ride. i find mine has some vibration but being a thumper it's gotta be expected. and i can live with it. my only complaint after doing the harrison-pemberton home ride was my butt. you can only sit on a frigging 2x4 for so long b4 it gets annoying. was good for the first 300kms but then it hit. Ed

Hey that would be great Ed I'm in the Gilford area, not sure what you mean by pm me but I would be glad to meet up with you at a location of you choice just say the time and day.

Chris

 

[eric-klr]

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I'm off 88th and 130th maybe we can set up a ride one evening?

 

[The Scubbler]

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A quick confession. My 2004has onlya tad over 5000 kms on it and has vibrated (in my opinion) a lot since new. It did have a dealer first service, which I now presume was nothing ! I just adjusted the dreaded doohickey and guess what...vibes are down a whole lot ! I wonder if this a common problem right from the factory, and, in my case, was never rectified by a sloppy and dishonest dealer ? Mark's KLR Pages tell you how to do this...but it seems important to lean the bike over opposite the side stand while you do it. I've avoidedtackling thisdue to all the internet fuss over this doohickey thing and have had a vibrating horror for 2 years to show for it. But my bike had a list of missed PDI things that was so great the dealer gave me a "free" first service. I wish I'd never taken him up on that offer. I even ran out of gas on my way home from buying the bike, after he told me the tank was full. Maybe this is all a right of passge into KLR land ?



Steve

 

[edzzed]

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The Scubbler wrote:

A quick confession. My 2004has onlya tad over 5000 kms on it and has vibrated (in my opinion) a lot since new. It did have a dealer first service, which I now presume was nothing ! I just adjusted the dreaded doohickey and guess what...vibes are down a whole lot ! I wonder if this a common problem right from the factory, and, in my case, was never rectified by a sloppy and dishonest dealer ? Mark's KLR Pages tell you how to do this...but it seems important to lean the bike over opposite the side stand while you do it. I've avoidedtackling thisdue to all the internet fuss over this doohickey thing and have had a vibrating horror for 2 years to show for it. But my bike had a list of missed PDI things that was so great the dealer gave me a "free" first service. I wish I'd never taken him up on that offer. I even ran out of gas on my way home from buying the bike, after he told me the tank was full. Maybe this is all a right of passge into KLR land ?



Steve

where did ya buy it. my bike like i assume most klr's vibrate due in part to being a thumper. one big cylinder. i'm not complaining about my bike except for 7 or 8 rear flats. it had it's first dealer service and has never been back. i do the oil and maintenance on a somewhat regular basis. i'm not knocking dealers but picked mine up at clearbrook cycles brand new. never had an issue with loose bolts, haven't found any that need tightening. slight rattling buzz in the headlight but that is due to a broken headlight clamp. just need to fab out a better piece of metal. and my bike has 25k kms. i'm pretty happy with my bike and the way it was put together. clearbrook cycles did a bang up job finishing it. i know from previous experience that some dealers mechanics are not very smart. and when they are not fixing bikes they are fnal assemblyizing them. yeah that's a new word. it's not a case of you get what you pay for. but you get what they pay their mechanics. the bill. oh and the doo hickey thing, i can only say i learned of this item in the last week. most interesting but doubt my bike is any more noisier or less performing than when new.

 

[joker650]

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dooveman wrote:

Hey flip-flop, I have an 06 as well. Doesn't seem to vibrate all that much but I do have a cruiser as my other bike so.....

I live in Surrey, Fraser Hieghts. If you are still looking for someone to swap with you can try mine out. But I'll post tomorrow or the next day if this will work for me. i'm just putting it back together. I had to rebuild the instrument box and bend the fairing back into shape after my impact with mother earth. :shoot:

Oh, hey did you guys hear about Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers? No helmet, cut off by an old lady and face planted. Broken jaw and nose. The Steelers coach supposedly lectured him on riding his bike with no helmet. Nobody deserves a lesson like that.

Brian

If u ride with no helmet u deserve a lesson like that. What doesn't kill ya will only make u wiser.:ted:

 

[edzzed]

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i remember the days back when the laws concerning helmets were challenged and thrown out. it was a no helmet free for all. yeah i took advantage of riding with no helmet for about an hour. the wind whistling past my ears gave me a headache and have ridden with a helmet ever since. all it takes is one moment of stupidity. how many of us have had a car turn left in front of them. i've had several over the course of 25 years riding. look at indian larry. one moment of stupidity cost him his life.... how many times he stood on the bike and rode it. there are no second chances

 

[dooveman]

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Well I can stop by if you want and try your bike tomorrow night since I'm pretty close to Guilford.But my bike is out for another week. Glue job didn't hold. So I have the white instument box on order. Supposed to be in Toronto on the 14th. $139 for the box. Crazy eh?The stupid plastic box that holds the instuments. And I don't mean the lid with the clear plastic window. I mean the white box it sits on. What a rip. Even the guy at Kawa told me to sit down for the quote. He should have told me to bend over:mb:

oh well. Glue was a clugy idea anyway. Maybe I could open my own bike body shop!

"Come on down to Crazy dooveman's Rebuild a Bike. We'll glue 'er right up for ya' and you'll be back on der trails lickity split!":tup:

 

[Randaroo]

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New bike, at 1600kms, found a few bolts wobbling off and one exhaust bolt missing too.

I have to figure these bikes are thumpers and vibrate pretty good at about mid range. I have a GS1100 that is super smoooth, puts ya to sleep on the road. So thump is what I thought I bought. If the counter balamcers where out of phase would it rattle your fillings clean out your head? maybe a Kawi mechanic can answer that one.

the screen on the rad tank had an irritating wizz at 3-5000 rpm, just cut a section of rubberhose and jammed it in, works. (Nothing more perminant than a temporay fix)

I can't wait to burn these tires off as I've found myself wayyyy too hot into corners and sliding to the far curb befor getting any grip, then peeling out on a bed of marbles. Great fun but super dicey.

My grevious experience, besides my spelling prowess, is GET THE BIG SKID PLATE. that piece of plastic crap cost me over 2 big skins at 350 kms from new! So, don't pass go, don't collect any money, spend it , save yourself the grief!

 

[klrman]

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My 06 KLR vibrated too much too so I changed the Doohickey.......Now it vibrates less at 120kmh than it did the day before at 80k. It is WAY smoother than before. If you search the forum, you will find many people had the same experience after changing it.

Same thing with my brothers bike. We were stunned at the difference in vibration as it was quite substantial. I have around 1,500k on it now and it could not be any better. Crusing at 120K is much more fun on the Highways now. You will even notice the decrease in vibration in first gear too as we both did.

BTW, my radiator screen has no rubber bumpers? I thought it did not look right:shock:

Hey Dooveman...that price is pretty steep for the plastic instrument box:shock: Kawasaki has gone mad!

 

[Island Hopper]

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For those missing rad screen bumpers just take some small rubber hose and slit the tube lengthwise , cut into 1 1/4" lengths and slip onto the screen at the mounting points, fixed.

 

[flip-flop]

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dooveman wrote:

Well I can stop by if you want and try your bike tomorrow night since I'm pretty close to Guilford.But my bike is out for another week. Glue job didn't hold. So I have the white instument box on order. Supposed to be in Toronto on the 14th. $139 for the box. Crazy eh?The stupid plastic box that holds the instuments. And I don't mean the lid with the clear plastic window. I mean the white box it sits on. What a rip. Even the guy at Kawa told me to sit down for the quote. He should have told me to bend over:mb:

oh well. Glue was a clugy idea anyway. Maybe I could open my own bike body shop!

"Come on down to Crazy dooveman's Rebuild a Bike. We'll glue 'er right up for ya' and you'll be back on der trails lickity split!":tup:

Thanks Dooveman

I met up with Ed last knight he took it for a ride, He agreed the bike vibrates more than his dose, I phone the dealer and had a conversation with them on the parts I'm losing ( my wife suggested I should tow a net ) They said they would take care of it and look at my back brake again,( poor Ed expected to stop when he applied the back brake ) the back brake has been mushy since I first bought the bike.

Chris

 

[edzzed]

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yeah i'll say that back brake is junk. me thinks there is air in the line. perhaps bleeding it will help. i'm not so sure i would call it vibrating but perhaps the word buzzing is more appropriate. chris's seat has a definite buzzing to it. can feel it right in the poop chute. sorry for the graphic words but that is what comes to mind. comes on around 4800 rpm. and the engine has a tick to it. perhaps the valves need an adjustment. chris if you'd like we can take both bikes out to the dealer for a comparison. they can feel what a brake should feel like and hear what a tick sounds like versus one without a tick. i'd like to hear their explanation on why a brand new bike is suffering like that. and they can feel what a buzzing in the sphincter is like. when are you taking the bike to them? Ed

 

[flip-flop]

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edzzed wrote:

yeah i'll say that back brake is junk. me thinks there is air in the line. perhaps bleeding it will help. i'm not so sure i would call it vibrating but perhaps the word buzzing is more appropriate. chris's seat has a definite buzzing to it. can feel it right in the poop chute. sorry for the graphic words but that is what comes to mind. comes on around 4800 rpm. and the engine has a tick to it. perhaps the valves need an adjustment. chris if you'd like we can take both bikes out to the dealer for a comparison. they can feel what a brake should feel like and hear what a tick sounds like versus one without a tick. i'd like to hear their explanation on why a brand new bike is suffering like that. and they can feel what a buzzing in the sphincter is like. when are you taking the bike to them? Ed

Friday morning 9am, the fellow I've been dealing with has promised me 5 min undivided attention beside the bike, I'm thinking I should make him ride it.

 

[edzzed]

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i'd like to be there but won't be off work till 1pm. maybe you could print off what i wrote in that last post and give it to the sales rep....

 

[dooveman]

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Hmm it's funny you say that about the back brake because I seem to notice my back brake is a bit soft too. No poop hole problems here:mb:, but compared to my cruiser I find I can't get the braking from the back like I'm used to. With your comment in mind I will try some stopping experiments with back brake only and see if I really hit it, will it stop me. Without dropping her ofcourse

I definately think though that they need better assembly control at the local dealership. I stressed that I wanted an auditor to review the assembly and make sure everything is done right. And my front signal lights were still only loosely hanging on. The nuts were less than finger tight. I should ask if they have an assembly checklist that they have to go through to sign off that it has been done right. But it sounds like others had problems that are much worse and also so noticable that they should have been caught at assembly or their first test ride. Kawasaki can't be ISO certified.

I hate how companies expect the customer to act as their quality control. Hoping that they will only return or notice 30% of the issues. Or fix it themselves.

Happens with almost everything I buy from toys for the kids to stoves or whatever. Always something missing or made wrong. I actually had a camping stove that looked like it got ran over by a tank. Walmart was sceptical about taking it back but when they saw the my demonic pulsating eyes they gave me my money back.:mad3:I'm sure they put it back on the shelf for the next sap to come along.

Brian

 

[Norm]

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flip-flop wrote:

Great advice anyone in the Surrey areawho ridesa KLR want to test drive a 2006 ??

I found a clymer manual on amazon for $21.00 so I purchasedit (we have a post box in the States).

Thanks again for all the help.

I have both but go with the Clymer manual as the Kawi is a pain to use. THe Kawi manual consists of the 600 manual plus a 650 suppliment so you have to look in the 650 supplement to see if the info is there and if not go to the 600 manual and look there.

A handy item is a copy of the torque specifications to use in the shop so you won't have to page through the manual. This keeps the manual cleaner. (VBG)

The KLR does vibrate quite a bit but try an early '60's BSA Gold Star if you want to experience vibrations!

One issue regarding vibrations is that many people hold the grips too tightly which transmits vibrations much more strongly. Try riding with a soft feel and see if the idea has merit for you. This was suggested on the Yahoo group with good responses.

Someone suggested riding another KLR to compare which is great advice expecially if you're riding a really dodgy section of trail (VBG).

I have yet to loose a fastener on my '04 but went over every fastener, removed, blue Loctite and torqued to specs. The body bolts such as the rear light mounting have threads which protrude from the holes. I suggest cleaning the end of the bolt and putting a dab of silicone gasket material (RTV) onto the end of the bolt. This will lock it in addition to the Loctite but easily comes off when removign the bolt.

I rode with a guy last fall who told me that I was anal about removing, Loctiting and torquing but got to rub his nose in his comments when his muffler bolt departed. (VBG) There's nothing more satisfying than "I told you so." (VBG)

Many of us have found that the KLR sems to vibrate less after break-in but it may just be that we have also broken in.

Great bike for my purposes but there are afew things which benefit from attention: Consider replacing the Doohickey; change the headlight fuse to 15 amp or better replace the complete fuse holders to ATO type and use 15 amp. I have a list of recommended upgrades if you are interested. Spend some time on the Yahoo group.

HIH

Norm

 

[woodsie]

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holy cow! that was funny... no. hilarious, readin that!! man my sides hurt.

my killer did all the same things, to a friggen teee! in that order too.

loctite will become your friend and when my plastics looked like they were gonna fall off. i hit 'em with a heat gun to tweak 'em a bit. so'd they'd stay put!