Bike Preparation
============
The bike is done, and ready to go. I had rebuilt an earlier KLR, so I had
been through this before. That experience helped much of this go smoother, but
many of these mods were new to me.
The Kawasaki KLR650 now has the following upgrades and additions:
Subframe bolts upgraded, drill-through version
Progressive front fork springs
Stock rear shock with larger 550# spring, mud guard added
Low-profile magnetic oil drain plug, stainless steel oil filter
Center stand
Big foot on sidestand
Large front brake disk, front and rear braided steel brake lines (rear line is a
long snowmobile brake line...)
Rox anti-vibe handlebar risers, stronger aluminum hi-rise handlebars, new foam
grips, throttle lock added
Euro control switch unit, left mirror and choke lever relocated
Maier aluminum lever guards and hand farings
Tall windshield, home-made laminar lip extension, lexan reinforcement, windshield/faring braces added
Dashboard extension added, Powerlet outlet, volt meter
Highway lights added to forks, one incandescent H3 bulb, one self-contained HID
Fork brace
Heavy vinyl headlight stick-on protector
KTM pivoting mirrors
Moose offset stainless footpegs, upgraded mounting bolts and nuts to 10mm
IMS shifter
Aluminum bash plate, highway pegs, 4" diameter tool tube
Idler adjuster lever (doohickey) done, Eagle torsion spring added
Heavy duty rear brake mount bracket, rear master cylinder guard
Shark fin rear brake disk guard
Jesse Odyssey II boxes and racks (replaced Happy Trails SU luggage racks,
aluminum luggage boxes)
Givi tailbox, mounting plate
LED tail/brake light board, additional LED brake light
Lite-N-Bolts on license plate (although one is defective...)
Removed rear inner fender, relocated license plate
Re-attached standard front turn signals (removed low-profile signals which had a
grounding problem)
Corbin flat seat, caraved foam and added gel pad but not happy about it... still
too hard--needs more work
Acerbis front fender brace
IMS gas tank, aftermarket locking/venting gas cap
Sealed battery, battery post extensions
Main fuse, fan fuse, light fuse upgraded to blade type
Relay-controlled accessory fuse panel (behind faring) for power distribution
Heavy duty headlight harness
Clutch and sidestand override switch for safety lockouts
SAE and Powerlet outlets at left rear side panel (and a power pass-through into
left Jesse box)
Swingarm lube job done, other preventative maintenance work done
Avon Distenzia tires getting a real trial this time
Double-sealed wheel bearings (all 5) installed
DID gold drive chain, new sprockets
Stebel air horn added in place of the stock horn (relay controlled by stock
wires)
Stainless exhaust heat shield
Carburetor mods done (T-mod, finger-adjustable idle screw, slide air hole
drilled larger, needle shimmed)
Many fasteners upgraded to stronger ones
Lots of smaller, incidental modifications and additions
Side bags and tank bag/panniers
Chatterbox X-1 FRS/GMRS radio on Ram Mount, wired power supply; push-to-talk
button added
Garmin Zumo 550 GPS, powered from dashboard Powerlet socket
Dual trails lights for redundancy, one HID, one H3 bulb.
Funny how only a few of these changes are immediately
apparent. The gas tank, windshield, seat, luggage are obvious. The other 99% of
changes are not. The electrical work was the most time-consuming. Also, fabricating
many small parts and mounting brackets took a while.
We'll see how it all holds up for South America. Alaska was a decent dress
rehearsal for how the bike was loaded. Again, look to the ride report for photos.
And for those of you who knew my Old Blue KLR, no, I will not be treating this
bike like I treat that one. I want this bike to hold up better. No rock riding
and single-track for this bike.
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Bike Preparation
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