KLR650, XT600, DR650, F650 etc wellywood

[Dave Klaui]

Just thought you might want to consider a Kawasaki KLE 500 Twin.
I spotted a 2006 ex demo model @ Motorad(wgtn) the other week for 8k.
Great value for the money & highly versatile machine which is capable of 50/50 road-trail depending on your riding nature.
Ive got one these bikes. Mines 15yrs old with 71k on the clock and goes extremely well for an old bike. I soley use the KLE for leisure, either for adventure riding or the ocassional blatt over the Rimi's to the Wairarapa.
Anyway, you are welcome to come and take a look. The 2006 version is exactly the same apart from the faring design features.
Cheers Dave.

[Bartman10]

Thanks for all that...

Fraggle and I have decided to go for a couple of DR650. Mainly because they're light and simple and can handle a few knocks. And they're very easy to lower for Fraggle. Only drawback is the small tank. Wickedly impressed by the fuel efficiency though. 150 k for 6.5 L! Wicked.

Picked them up from Dannevirke (thanks Paul and Jarrod) and took them over to Taupo to help out at the vic club meeting...

After that went over to Taihape and then did the Napier Taihape road. Great ride...

Dropped them off again in Dannevirke for the first service.

I'll keep you posted...

[chris]

Thanks for all that...

Fraggle and I have decided to go for a couple of DR650. Mainly because they're light and simple and can handle a few knocks. And they're very easy to lower for Fraggle. Only drawback is the small tank. Wickedly impressed by the fuel efficiency though. 150 k for 6.5 L! Wicked.

Picked them up from Dannevirke (thanks Paul and Jarrod) and took them over to Taupo to help out at the vic club meeting...

After that went over to Taihape and then did the Napier Taihape road. Great ride...

Dropped them off again in Dannevirke for the first service.

I'll keep you posted...

Good choice.

[far queue]

Wickedly impressed by the fuel efficiency though. 150 k for 6.5 L! Wicked.

23 km/l is pretty damn good compared to my 16km/l. I take it they're still on stock gearing (15/41) and the mixture, etc hasn't been played with.

[Bartman10]

23 km/l is pretty damn good compared to my 16km/l. I take it they're still on stock gearing (15/41) and the mixture, etc hasn't been played with.

I agree it's good. Still running in though, so taking it pretty easy. Also had a bit of a tail wind which probably helps.

I think I'll leave it stock. The tall gearing might be a bit much for serious off road work, but it seems to be fine on the tarmac.

[Ixion]

I started out think I was going to get only about 16km/litre on the XT600, which was rather disappointing. But now it seems to have settled down to a fairly consistent 21 - 23 km/litre,. Difference is riding style I guess, prolly just as fast just different. That gives 230 - 250 km until it hits reserve .

[merv]

Yeah far queue if you stopped saying far queue to your bike perhaps it would drink less gas. You have a serious guzzle problem unless the air is too thin down under in ChCh.

[oldrider]

It has been interesting reading all the comments from experienced people who are riding off road bikes for their obvious "off road/on road" capabilities.

I get sick of reading venture bike reports from "sport bike" riders doing a test run/comparison etc, when all they continue to do is compare the venture bike to their sport bikes performance!

These are not and never will be "sports bikes", they are dull by comparison and will always be so! They are made for a different purpose!

I read a write up in a British magazine called "TWO" (Two wheels) September 2005, headed up, "Boring bikes to Belgium."

The bikes being tested/compared were,
Ducati Multistrada 620.
Honda Transalp XLv650.
Kawasaki KLE500.
Suzuki DL650 V-Strom.

I thought their writeup was very interesting really and didn't entirely disagree with their conclusions, from their perspective as "sportbike" enthusiasts riding on sealed roads and wishing all the time that they were riding "sportbikes".

The order of their preference was.
1) Suzuki DL650 V-Strom.
2) Ducati Multistrada 620.
3) Honda TransAlp XLv650.
4) Kawasaki KLE 500.

The poor old Kawasaki didn't stand a dog's show with these guys except in a commuting situation, which was their only praise, you can guess why! (only 500cc!)

Top speeds posted as follows.
1) Ducati Multistrada 620. 122.5mph. (Standing 1/4r 13.22sec@98.14mph)
2) Honda TransAlp XLv650. 115.6mph.(Standing 1/4r 14.30sec@89.60mph)
3) Suzuki DL650 V-Strom. 114.6mph. (Standing 1/4r 13.32sec@98.48mph)
4) Kawasaki KLE500. 104.3mph. (Standing 1/4r 15.10sec@86.72mph)

Fuel economy.
4) Kawasaki KLE500. (Reserve:98 miles, to dry tank, 125 miles)
3) Ducati Multistrada 620. (107 miles to 135)
2) Honda TransAlp XLv650. (127 miles to 146)
1) Suzuki DL650 V-Strom (185 miles to 221)

The real standout feature of course was the Suzuki's fuel range compared to the other three! Outstanding!

The rest of their conclusions are not worth the trouble to rewrite because they are things like;
For the sportier rider the DL650 is well worth a look, an excellent back road bike, it's clip on can be a pain on the wrists in town, in which case try out it's naked brother the SV650, higher flat bars replace the clipons and it doesn't have fairing.

What the f**ck do they think they were trying out a bloody "sportbike"!!
They didn't even go off the tar sealed roads!!!

They kept on saying all the way through their write up, things like the Honda was a yesterdays bike because it has been around forever! and for that alone they could never own one! (So who bloody cares!)

I was very impressed with the road/fuel performance of the Suzuki but have never ridden one yet but I hope to change all that on the 25th of this month when I go to Dunedin for an ear appointment.

I hope you find this information helpful or interesting or something! Cheers John.

[Motu]

I quite often get comments about the dirt bikes I ride ( the rare times I ride with others) But you see them working really hard and always checking their mirrors to see if they lost you on that last corner....then trying even harder on the next one.One wonders why the hell they bother to ride sports bikes if they are so slow?

[Transalper]

...
Fuel economy.
4) Kawasaki KLE500. (Reserve:98 miles, to dry tank, 125 miles)
3) Ducati Multistrada 620. (107 miles to 135)
2) Honda TransAlp XLv650. (127 miles to 146)
1) Suzuki DL650 V-Strom (185 miles to 221)
...
in which case try out it's naked brother the SV650....

lol, i usually get between 175 and 185 miles to reserve on the XLV600.
And yep, as soon as they started talking about the SV in the same article there can be no doubt they are comparing adventurers to sports bikes.

[35tickets]

Hi folks

I can't find a XT600 or KLR650 in any shops. I'd like to have a sit on these bikes before I travel a million miles to test ride one in another town, so if you've got one in your garage I'd love to come around an have a look and a chat about its characteristics. Note: Don't worry I don't want to ride your pride and joy, just a sit and a look to see if its worth driving for miles to test ride one.

If you've got some other suggestions about big bore trailies let me know.

Cheers,

Bartman.

Hey Bartman,

If its any help I just did the Rusty Nuts 1000 miles in 20 hours 29 minutes on a KLR 650. The bike was awesome to ride with plenty of seat room and I was getting 350km to the tank and still not hitting reserve.

I found the bike good in the corners with plenty of wind on power for over taking. I've done a little off-road with it and plenty of gravel and the bike handled well. I looked at all models of 650 and decided on the KLR in the end, mainly because of the bigger fuel tank. Plus I've dropped it once and all i did was bend the plastic hand guard.

If you haven't found a bike yet good luck in your decision!