Matus1976's Motorcycle corner

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Well, I really did not end up being very happy with the KLR650 and traded it in. Instead I bought the Suzuki VSTROM DL650. A very street friendly machine yet still capable on unpaved roads. So far I am extremely happy with this motorcycle. If there is anyone out there unhappy with their KLR650 definatly consider the Vstrom.

Miles 275

I finally picked up the 650! While I have been a bit broke lately, I figured I better get it asap since my 400 would be depecriating every day I kept it.

my comments on it so far posted to the KLR650 mailing list...

I just got my KLR650 (A18) this past Saturday. Previous to that I rode a KLX400 2003, but only because I couldn't buy the red 650 yet, as it was still only available in urban commando green. Before that I started on an 83 Honda XL250R, I have only been riding about three years now. I wanted to start small and work my way up in size, hopefully staying at the 650 for some time.

I have been reading through the posts of the past few days since I subscribed and had some questions / comments, and some general nitpicks that I was hoping people may be able to suggest resolutions for.

First, I definitely notice the engineering quality difference between the KLX400 and the KLR650. The 650 has a 500 mile below 4000 rpm break-in requirement and the 400 had no such thing, in general the 400 had a smoother feel. The shifting is definitely trickier and the front brake underpowered, giving me a little scare on my first ride home. Nothing you guys don't all ready know i'm sure, I was just a little bit disappointed (only a little) but I realize the KLX400 was much more for off roading and racing and was more expensive by $500. It seems Kawasaki is no longer making them anyway. I think Ill end up doing 80/20 on road / off road, and my off roading will be limited in difficulty. Eventually I would like to do some long distance touring.

The KLR is much much more comfortable to sit on and ride than the 400, it was like a big pillow compared to that thing! But Previously on my 400 I could ride for about an hour before my rear was too sore to continue (maybe Im a wuss) but on my KLR my back and neck start aching after just about 20 - 30 minutes. Anyone else experience this? I am not sure what is causing it, I ride with the same gear as I did on my 400, so I figure it must be the ergonomics in some way.

I get some serious sun glare in the in the instrument panel plastic covering that I never seem to have gotten in my 400, are there any stickers or something that are less reflective/glossy to reduce that glare but are still transparent?

My throttle arm/hand cramps up pretty quickly as well, something that didn't occur on my 400, it looks like the front brake lever is angled lower than I am used to and even lower than the clutch lever on the left, I will check that tomorrow.

I wear an HJC symax helmet and experience pretty serious buffeting (I noticed someone mentioned that as a particularly bad combination with the KLR) seems a good place to start is removing the windshield and I plan on doing that in the next day or two, hopefully the buffeting will be more tolerable.

My kick stand sinks into pretty much any pavement I have parked the thing on so far, especially bad is the small extruded rim on the stand. I hate to tear up parking lots like that, why isn't the bottom of the stand a little larger? I hate to carry around a small piece of metal just to put under it when I park it.

What percentage of people who use the KLR 650 for on road use lock there bikes up? I have a 1/2 steel cable with a lock, but don't know if KLR thefts are common enough to worry much about it.

I want to get some luggage, probably starting with a rear box. Any suggestions, preferences here for rear luggage boxes? Do any of them come with mini back rests and are the far enough forward to be used in that manner (I cant help but think some of my back / neck soreness would go away if I could lean back a little)

After that I want to add some good panniers, maybe aluminum ones, I notice that the muffler would make the right pannier either narrower or stick out further, does this pannier imbalance create any serious handling issues? Also, who is everyone's favorite aluminum pannier manufacturer?

I have been dead set on getting the 650 for some time now, and I know how popular they are for long distance touring so I have to figure what I am doing wrong that is making riding uncomfortable after such a short period. I am 28, 195lbs, 6'1" tall. MSF graduate and very interested in motorcycle design / safety.

Anyway, I am glad to be part of the KLR community and hope to learn much from all the knowledgeable people here.

Michael

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So those sum up my complaints with the 650. I took it out again for the day after I posted this, and rode sans backpack and rear pack bungee netted to the bike. If I consciously maintained a particular position the neck and beck fatigue was minimized but still present. One of the responders to my post noted that this may be because I am relatively new to motorcycling and havent been on many long distance rides yet. Makes me long for the comfortable recumbant position of my Akira Bike though...

The biggest advantages I see of the 650 so far as its much more comfortable seat, large gas tank, and more power.

The KLR 650 is a great workhorse, it recieves little advertising attention but has been a solid seller for years. At any give time a few of them are touring around the world. Recently one company has been working on a diesel version of it for military use, it currently sees use with the US military in Afghanastan.

In the riding apparel area I recently purchased a 100% kevlar shirt and kevlar re-inforced jeans from Draggin Jeans. So far I have been pretty happy with them, the kevlar shirt and jeans combo was great for warm / hot weather riding http://www.dragginjeans.com Video taken at the Stuntriding world championships 2003. Chris Pfieffer demonstrating amazing control of the vehicles. http://eris.gnarf.org/~sege/christianpfeiffer-bechyne2003-short.wmv Givi accessories and luggage. Comes highly recommended from the KLR 650 mailing list for use on the 650. www.giviusa.com GALFER Braking systems highly recommded for upgrading the front brake on the KLR650 www.galferusa.com

ICON's MAINFRAME HELMET Excellent black and chrome combo, just needs to be a flip face helmet.

Innovative Anthony Levandowski entry in the DARPA Autonomous vehicle challenge. This Yamaha R125 is entirely robotic and autonomous as is intended to race over 150 miles of desert, canyons, slab and gravel from Barstow California to Primm Nevada. Visit http://www.ghostriderrobot.com/

Miles: 2,100

Well the shackles are finally free. The warm(er) weather arrived and the insurance layover ended, so I was back on the bike. In fact, I was so impatient that the very first night I could I was out on the bike at 12:01, even though it was about 40 degrees F outside. I also wanted to test out some cold weather riding gear, which didn't work out so well.

I have taken the KLX 400 out on the highway a few times now, and it performs reasonably enough for quick jaunts. I suspect it could do better with a larger sprocket up front. I am more adamant then ever on getting the 650 though, as long distance touring is not the 400's strong point. Hopefully I will get it within a month or so.

Riding Apparel: I have been experimenting with different apparels. My goal, like most motorcyclists, is to easily and conveniently be ready to ride in almost any weather. And like most motorcyclists this is very difficult to achieve.

Going for layering, ideally I would like to simply add or remove layers according to the temperature. Having to wear armored riding gear in any situation means that the armored layer will need to be removed to add most of the layers. A base layer for warm weather riding might be a white cotton T shirt and cotton denim jeans. The cotton base layer provides a evaporative layer if the weather gets too hot. If it gets chilly a thin whicking layer (hydrophobic synthetic fabrics) is worn over the white cotton T shirt, negating the effects of the evaporative cooling significantly. While its easy to toss a whicking shirt over a cotton T shirt, its not so easy or convenient to toss one over a pair of jeans. Fortunately legs to not suffer as much from adverse cold being close to the engine and mostly shielded from wind. I have experiemented with wearing whicking clothing under the jeans, which keeps my legs pretty warm. If it gets colder, an insulating layer, also whicking, and prefferable denselely woven, is added over the primary whicking layer. Here is another spot where it gets trick. A thick acrylic sweater for instance, while a good insulator, is typically woven with large open spaces, and thus lets wind pass through. A thick sweater also impairs movement even more, especially with armored jacket over everything. A thinner whicking insulating layer would suffice if it was better able to block wind, and would reduce the bulk for transit and while wearing.

My riding gear, as shown above, is black though. While great for chilly sunny days, it can make hot days unbearable. Of course white riding gear would be great on hot sunny days, but not so great on cold sunny days. Ideally a riding suit that could change color would be the best option, or one that was reversable. With form fitting armor this latter would be difficult.

Basic layering conists of, in preferred order of closest to skin to outer layer.

Undergarmets
light absorbant clothing
whicking layer
insulating layer
Armored layer
wind proof / water proof / breathable layer.

For keeping hands warm, a small wind diverter in front of the grips make a significant difference. It is important to keep hands and fingers comfortable and very dexterous, otherwise control might be significantly impaired.

Being very sunny, rainy, or windy alters all the preferred layer placements. An exceptionally sunny 50 degrees might keep you quite warm without inner whicking layers.

Anytime it is raining, wearing the water proof breathable windbreaker over the existing layers for whatever temperature should suffice.

I have as of yet been unable to find any thin, waterproof breathable windbreakers which fit over existing armored gloves, or even under them for that matter, but if the whicking layer is electrically heated, and the motorcycle has small wind deflectors in front of the grips, the hands and fingers should be able to remain comfortable while still having a great deal of dexterity.

This is only meant as a guide, and all of these factors are dependant on humidity, wind conditions, how far and fast you will be traveling, and how much wind protection your motorcycle has.

So we see there are a lot of competing requirements for a riding suit. The suit must be armored, but easily removable. It must be lightly colored in hot weather when sunny, and darker in cold weather when sunny. It must be aerable when hot, but windproof/waterproof and breathable when cold or rainy, in an adjustable level. It should be light and comfortable and not restrict dexterity. So far the best way to accomplish all these goals is to use the layering system.

Total riding apparel required then is (ignoring the color difference required in the outer layer)

Helmet
whicking face mask
hydrophilic scarf
whicking electrically heated gloves
Armored gloves
waterproof breathable windproof gloves
White Cotton T Shirt
Whicking shirt
insulating whicking shirt wind resistant
waterproof breathable windproof jacket
Denim Jeans
Armored pants
waterproof breathable windproof pants
Armored windproof waterproof breathable shoes.

Well, the weather is still no good for riding, so I am just anxiously awaiting warmer weather. The next two weeks are supposed to be the coldest in the last 25 years, so much for global warming...

I caught 'Torque' over the weekend, while not a great film, it was better than 'Paycheck' (and I am a big John Woo fan) and fun enough to be worth the watch if you are interested in motorcycles. The stunts are entertaining for the sheer ridiculousness of them (cmon, jumping onto a train!)

Interestingly, the film did have the Y2K Superbike featured. I get the feeling not a lot of motorcyclists are familiar with the vehicle, as the manufacturers don't seek much publicity. They sell only a handful of bikes a year for more than $100,000 each. The bikes are powered by a used turbine engine taken from helicopters. The dry weight of the vehicle is 500Lbs, and the turbine engine puts out about 320HP, giving the vehicle a 1.5Lb / HP output, the top of all bikes.

On a dyno the bike did 0-200 in 6 seconds, a more reasonable figure is probably 10 seconds with air resistance added. A unique advantage of turbine engines is that they run better the faster they go. This bike starts out at bout 50HP, but once you get to speed, the power output increases. At about 100mph you might see 100HP output, 150mph, 200HP, etc. Allegedly the vehicle's top speed is 250mph. This vehicle is the fastest production bike made (probably the fastest production vehicle of any type) concerning acceleration. It easily tops out the 4 wheeled 1000Lb 450HP bohemeth Dodge Tomohawk.

Of course the final chase sequence in the film involved the protagonist atop the Y2K Superbike, with the antagonist atop a Harley (perhaps a V-Rod) The special effects laden final sequence was way over the top physically, including high speed cornering maneuvers and magical turbo boosts propelling motorcycles over crashed cars at intersections, and traveling speeds beyond those of human reaction times. But hey, it was better than Biker Boyz, and it was fun. A big disadvantage of turbine engines is the noticeable delay between throttle changes and the response of the engine, typically it hovers around 1 second.

Be sure to listen to the NPR story on the Y2K Superbike, its worth it just to hear the turbine start up.

"Reporter Bill Zeeble takes a look at the fastest motorcycles in the world. Called the Louisiana Y2K superbike, they are equipped with helicopter turbine engines and have been clocked at over 200 miles an hour."
(requires realplayer) - http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=1123178

Come March 1st I will be legally able to ride again, given the 3 month hiatus in my insurance due to the wonderfull New England weather. When I get the KLR650, I intend on getting full year coverage.

Till next month -

Matus

1,500 miles

Well, Ive hit about 1,500 miles now, but we are just starting into December, so no more riding until spring! The KLR650 finally came in back at the dealership, I still intend on upgrading to it sometime next year. I have a buyer possibly inline for the KLX400. I'm going to hold off on making any fairings since im pretty sure I will be selling this bike. But as I said, I would show the design

So there is a quick fairing design, the green would be fiberglass, with the white as windshield. I am not sure if this would technicall be a dustbin fairing or not, as I do not know the technical defination (if there is one) but most dustbins cover the front wheel as well. This increases aerodynamics but limits steering, so I left the front wheel open on my design. This is really not much more than a typical street bike fairing, but this is shaped much more like the front of an aerodynamic tear drop shape, as opposed to something heat shrunk around the components of the bike, like on sportbikes.

Here is a little older picture of me on the 400, back when the weather was nicer. I did get a black full face street helmet since then though. If you see me riding around in CT, give me a wave. Since I now have a foot of snow on the ground, it might be a while before any updates.

- Matus

1st Month - 1,000 miles

I mentioned in my previous post the possiblity of a cheap, lightweight dual / supermotard style bike to open the motorcycle market in the US up wider. Recently I came across this article Motorcycle Online: The Rise and Fall of the NSU Empire it starts out...

"Lightweight street motorcycles just never caught on in the Americas -- except for a brief time in the late 1960s when you could meet "the nicest people on a Honda." However, in Europe, bikes displacing under 500cc have always been the workhorses, providing economical transportation, serious sport and touring capabilities, and even towing sidecars."

Road bikes under 500cc are few and far between in the US, comprised of the handfull of Dual Sport models under that size. (Including my KLX400), it is a shame that the United States is so motorcycle unfriendly of a culture.

Well, 1 month has gone by, and its getting a little cold to ride now. I have been donning more layers to combat the cold, but its getting tougher. I expect to not be able to ride anymore in a week or two, unfortunately. Either way, I opted for the insurance package where I am uncovered for the coldest months, so come November I will stop riding anyway.

The seat seems more comfortable, but its hard to tell, as the time I am on the bike is much more limited now. I have yet to find anyone who makes aftermarket seats for the KLX 400 specifically, though I have found some custom places. Since I am not sure if I will be keeping the bike next summer, I will hold on off that for now.

My scheduled maintence called for changing the oil and oil filter at 600 miles, I ended up doing it at about 900, but it was hassle-free.

I was playing around more in Lightwave trying to design a good fairing for the bike. First on the right is a famed dustbin fairing on a 1950's v-8 Moto Guzzi racer. These bikes, putting out 50HP, could pull 150mph in straights, while modern races require 150HP to do the same. The difference is in the fairing.

A few spectacular crashes occured, although I am still looking for details on them. This led to their banning in racing, and very stringent requirements being placed on fairings in racing. The motorcycle market is very tuned to the racing circuit, so the fairings present in racing trickled to the mainstream market. There is no reason why dustbin fairings can not be used if proper aerodynamic consideration is taken.

Ill post some design images up with my next update.

- Matus

2nd week - 600 miles

I whipped out a quick fairing design in Lightwave. Its fun to think about, but adds a lot of complexity that needs to be examined. Frontal pressure centers need to create a down force (the spectacular crashed of the 50's of Dustbin faired bikes led to the banning of these fairings from racing, and their subsequent absence from modern bikes, and modern bikes spectacularly poor aerodynamic performance) Being a light bike, I wouldn't want to get caught in the the turbulent wake from a passing semi and have it toss me 100 feet into the air. Additionally side pressure centers are altered, etc.

Though I am very tempted to try to make one, I have yet to find a hill that I can coast down at any speed greater than 30 mph without losing speed due to wind resistance. I suspect my terminal rolling velocity is about 30 mph on a medium grade hill. There were competitions held for some time in Europe on gravity driven two wheel single track vehicles, the work on aerodynamics done by some of these groups was astounding.

Being a safety minded rider, and MSF graduate, I planed on taking the bike every weekend to a local school, were an old MSF training ground was still painted up. My first weekend I practiced emergency stopping, entering the breaking area at ~20mph, first using only the front brake, then only the rear, then both together. My front braking stopping distances averaged around 16 feet, but did make one 13 foot stop without flying over the handlebars, or even raising the rear tire off the ground. The rear only extended past the scale often, and when I did stay in the scale and did not lock up the rear, the best I did was 23 feet. Using both brakes in combination averaged me around 13 - 14 feet. A more accurate record keeping should have been employed, as I could graph (roughly) my progress. Bottom line though, rear braking is pathetic (as it is on most bikes) and given the dangers involved in locking up the rear in a real emergency situation, I am going stray away from applying the rear brake too hard. We will have to see how I fare at higher speeds.

The seat has gotten a little more comfortable, but it is still not comfortable enough for my tastes. I added a spider bungee net over the gas tank, and one over the rear. I have successfully attached two bags at these points with little negative impact. What I really want to do, however, is find a comfortable way to take my laptop with me, instead of lugging it on my back. Its a little too wide to fit lying down over either the gas tank or the rear section.

I would like to soften the suspension up some, it seems a little rough. It's probably tuned for rough off roading, as this bike is rated very well in typical off roading applications.

Strangely enough, as I visit the Kawasaki site today, the KLX 400 SR has been removed from their dual purpose section! I had heard of manufacturing logistics issues between Kawasaki and Suzuki (something about Kawasaki not making them fast enough) perhaps the partnership is off for 2004. Suzuki still offers their version, the DRZ-400S on their web site.

Additional modifications to make the KLX400 more on roading friendly might be to lower the suspension some, since I do not require the extreme travel permitted, which would lower the CoG and increase braking performance. Possibly, in an extreme case, raking out the front end, just a few degrees, to give the bike more trail (a pair of modified T's typically used on choppers might do the trick). With these modifications in mind, I am reminded of why I wanted this bike, and not a Nighthawk or similar. I wanted a light, good power bike, that was not so powerful as to kill me, but was fun and rideable. I get a lot of looks and inquires about this bike, so I wonder if their is some market potential here. With the supermotard bikes growing in popularity, perhaps this is more evident of a gap in the motorcycle markets. The average consumer has no option for a light, good performing bike that is inexpensive. Supermotard bikes appear to be off-road bikes, or Dual Purpose bikes, with street slicks instead of dual purpose tires. It looks like some really light off-roading is included in the races.

Check out the brakes and tires at VSM Racing. You certainly will not find any brakes or tires likes these on a regular off road or dual purpose bikes. Makes me want to modify my KLX400 with Supermoto tires / brakes. Adding a small fairing, and this light, inexpensive bike will perform startlingly well in acceleration and top speeds.

Until next week -

Matus

1st week - 300 miles

After the first week, a few things become apparent on this bike. First, the seat is incredibly uncomfortable for distance rides. Anything more than an hour, and my ass hurts. Maybe this is because I am new to motorcycling relatively, and I need to get used to the seats, or maybe the seat needs to get used to me. If it doesn't lighten up soon, however, something will need to be done.

My next impression is the small gas tank, I knew getting this bike that this was something I did not like about it. I get slightly paranoid about running low on gas, being a 2.x gallon tank, but so far I seem to be getting 50 - 70 miles to the gallon, but I still end up having to get gas basically each time I take the bike out. Frequent trips to the gas station shelling out $2 can be annoying, however, seeing as the seat is uncomfortable, stopping for gas can sometimes be a welcomed break.

I get a lot of inquisitive looks from passerby's, possibly because few people ride these types of bikes frequently on the road, its a small niche still, but a growing one. I eventually want to do some serious long distance touring.

I have yet to take the bike on the highway, I am reluctant to as it hits its midrange powerband going 55 in top gear, If I am cruising at 65 or 75, the engine is revving pretty high. It seems like this would be unnecessary if another gear were added, but perhaps the drag at those speeds is so high on the bike that the majority of its power output is going to just moving air out of the way. This is not unreasonable, as most bikes have horrible aerodynamic profiles. Because of this, I think I would take a good mileage hit if I spent more time cruising at highway speeds. If the issue is primarily aerodynamic, I am tempted to design and add a small dustbin like fairing to the bike. I am sure to get some looks if I did that. Another option, assuming the issue is primarily gearing, is to change the front sprocket to one with an extra tooth. This would impact acceleration, but extend out the top end speed.

KLX 400 Riding Impressions

One week ago I bought a Kawasaki KLX 400 from a local dealer. I had been trying to purchase a KLR650, but for some reason Kawasaki has not yet released them and no dealers have been able to get them. It had been going on for a month. The choice between the KLX 400 and the KLR 650 was a tough one, but seeing as I could not get a KLR650 at all, that helped to direct my choice. There is a significant following of the KLR650 as a long distance dual touring bike, its light, powerful and can carry enough equipment to get you on your trip.

The KLX400 I went with, additionally, because its a phenomenally well rated bike. Suzuki and Kawasaki teamed up to make this series, using the best of both manufacturers abilities, the result was praised for on and off road performance by just about every motorcycle magazine I came across.

I feel the KLR650 was a much more road friendly vehicle, it had a larger gas tank (6.1 gallons, as opposed to the paltry 2.3 gallons on the KLX400) The 650 has a stronger engine, a small fairing and windscreen, a wider seat, and hard bag attachments.

Conversely, these make the KLR 650 much worse than the 400 for off roading, and this is where the 400 tops the lists. If you are doing 50% on and 50% off, go with the KLX400, if you are doing 80-90% on road, I would recommend the KLR650. Although since I haven't actually got one yet, who knows...

Honda offers no dual bikes in the 400 class, and if they did it would probably be kick start and air cooled. I suspect that perhaps they didn't feel up to competing against the Suzuki / Kawasaki teaming, and just decided to stick with what they excelled at in the 400 class, motocross bikes.

Honda does have the XL650R, their dual purpose 650, which I did look at. Honda makes excellent machines, and the other 3 bikes I have owned were Honda's. The 650, however, was rated well for off-roading, yet again, but not so well for on-road. It was geared low and revved high at highway speeds, was still air cooled, had no fairing, and Honda basically hasn't changed their 650 Dual in years.

So why did I go with the more expensive KLX400 than with the Honda 650? Well, I presumed it to be a better engineered machine, it was also liquid cooled, and praised so well in all the publications I couldn't see going with the Honda 650, even though it was a nice looking machine. I do plan on upgrading to the 650 come next summer as of this writing.

Dual purpose bike comparison from www.motorcycle.com.
Dated, but still valid