Bruce Atkinson

The weather was beautiful on Sep 28th (it was almost too hot). I went for a ride around Lake Winnipesaukee and I decided to come home on a road that I have never been on (Winona Rd). I missed the stop sign warning sign. It has a stop sign in the middle of a turn with no intersecting road. It is for a narrow single lane underpass that goes under an old railroad track. I just happened to be playing with my Go Pro, experimenting on where to mount it. The sound is messed up because my helmet strap and headphone wires are flapping in the wind.

Here are some pictures of my KLR after adding the various updates I got for it. I replaced the front fender with an OEM one. I purchased a 2011 KLR header pipe (stainless steel) on eBay. Replaced the giant rusty stock muffler with a DG slip on. I found a deal on a 2008 KLR luggage rack on eBay which is a bolt on except for the directionals. I added a set of Dirt Rack crash bars and the only other external mod are some brush guards I got on eBay.

Here is what the exhaust sounds like. There is a slight ringing/chirpy sound and that is the 1″ tip rattling around a little. The video was before I took it apart and added RTV to the end and insert to seal it all up.

Today I finally got to bring home my KLR 650. It was kind of chilly, so I didn’t get to ride it much. I did take a couple of dirt roads just to check it out. Way down on power compared to my VStrom, but I knew that would be the case. It seems lighter than I thought it would be and I was pretty impressed with the suspension that is on it. I thought I still might have to tweak it, but for now it seems like it will be just fine.

It has been my desire to ride portions of the Trans America Trail. I would love to ride it from east to west as one trip, but I do not have the time to do that. Maybe when I retire, if I still am capable, I will try it. In December I turned 60 and I decided that I needed to get a bike that I could ride the TAT with and spend the next two years preparing it for me and determining whether or not I could actually do it.

I ended up deciding that a 1st Gen Kawasaki KLR 650 would be the best bike for me. It has longer suspension and is slightly lighter then the 2nd Gen KLR. There are plenty of aftermarket parts available and the experience and knowledge is out there for fixing any issues that come up. Pretty much all of the warts of the KLR are well known and fixes and work arounds are readily available.

I set out to find one and decided that my best bet was to keep an eye on the bikes going through National Power Sports. On Jan 29th a 2006 KLR popped up on their site for $2,499. I immediately put a down payment on it. It was in really good shape with 20,000 miles on it and it had several mods, that I would do, already done to it. The suspension had been upgraded. The front brake was improved with a larger rotor. It had braided brake lines, improved mirrors, handlebars, and footpegs. The only thing wrong with it was the fact that the exhaust was the original rusty 1st Gen parts and it had a replacement front fender that had paint flaking off it.