[Transportation] Motorcycles & scooters

[TommyJefferson]

TJ, how comfortable is the KLR650 on long road trips?

Very, very, very UNcomfortable.

For long road trips you want something that:

- is heavy with a long wheelbase.
- has wind protection.
- has big pistons with flywheel effect.

The KLR has a short wheelbase. Great for squirreling around trees. Exhausting when trying to maintaining a straight line for hours.

Seven hours of wind buffeting your helmet and being peppered by road debris from passing cars is painful. Wind protection adds safety and endurance.

Buzzy small-piston engines like thumpers and inline fours are taxing when trying to maintain a constant speed for hours. Constant throttle attention is required when grinds on you mentally. Big twins like BMW's alleviate this.

Long trips on KLRs are best avoided if possible. I've done them because I was poor, had no other transport, and need to be somewhere. I don't recommend it.

[Loki]

I did a long day trip last summer on my little KLR 250, it was definitely tiring. The lack of a windshield and having to sit bolt upright means you get blasted by the full force of the wind.

Had an adrenaline-inducing motorcycle experience a couple weeks ago, as I was going down a country road my clutch cable broke. I managed to get it stopped, figured out what was wrong and tried to limp it home. I could shift it, but it was difficult. Luckily there was no traffic at all.

The hardest part was starting off from a stop, can't feather the clutch out, it's all or nothing. Managed to do it once successfully, but less than a half mile from home I had to stop at the highway and wait for traffic to pass. When I tried to get going the bike did a wheelie a good 2 or 3 feet off the ground. Thankfully I managed to control it, didn't dump it and it stalled out before it went out into the highway. I pushed it back to the road I live on, then push started it. Duh, should have push started it to begin with. Live and learn

Still waiting on the clutch cable to come in, so it'll be another week or so before I can ride again. I'm glad I got the KLR, it's been a great bike aside from the clutch cable, and the inconveniently located air filter clogging up.