XT660R or KLR650 ??

[warewolf]

Oz Gst just too bad: Refundable when bike exported back to NZ.

AFAIK the goods have to be exported within 14 days to have the GST refunded.

[ducatijim]

I'm gutted............................................ .................

[ZeroIndex]

Im at a loss as to which one I should go for so Im putting it out there for your comments
I plan to ride a fair bit of highway to get to destinations of interest such as roads out back of Raglan, Waikerimoana, even some South ISland roads and trails, I need a bike capable on the highway as well as a bike very capable off road.
To me the 2008 KLR is ahead on practicality but its a bit ugly, the XT660R (21 front wheel) is a looker but not so great on Practicality, ie small tank, luggage carrying capacity small screen etc
It sounds like I have made it sound like a easy decision ....go for the KLR650, I am however really keen to hear your thoughts on it.
I want to discover some back roads and obscure places I have never been to before without having any road limitations that I would have if ridden on a sportsbike.
Im keen to hear your thoughts

If you need a decent review on the DR650, PM Carver...
Another bike Carver had was the KLR, which he said was a very heavy sort-of tank that battled a bit with the off-road stuff (as my memory serves me)...

The XT660R sounds like a good bike...

[mazz1972]

Gone and done it

Im the proud owner of a KLR650 2008 model and put about 300 kms on it today (heaps of gas left from one full) All I can say is what a awesom machine, hadles the roads nicley very capable on the road touring as well as the twisties, I also did about 60kms of gravel and a fair bit of small mud tracks in the bush, did the lot with ease, Love it !!
comfy and capable thats my first day comment, now to buy some maps

Congrats on the new purchase....hubby was very interested in one of those but there are none to be seen around these parts....and none arriving in the Wellington in the near future....so he got a BMW 650 Dakar instead. After all the research I did I'm still interested in looking at an 08 KLR myself....as is one of my friends.

Heaps of info on your new bike here at the KLR Forums http://www.klrworld.com/

Can you post a pic of your bike pretty please?

M

[carver]

have fun.
i hated my KLR..still do.

[QMOTO]

have fun.
i hated my KLR..still do.

But you wrote this ?

KLR 650's suck man..they are shit, they weigh a ton, and are useless off road.
DR 650 is a much better tool, or perhaps a WR450 if you really wanted to go hard.
having owned both the DR and KLR i can vouch for the dr being the better trail bike, whereas the KLR is best left on the road.
XT-R aint a bad bet....it would be my choice

DR650, no good, limitations of fuel as well as some other things, XT no good, no wind protection no luggage carrying capacity at all.

For my purposes there is only one choice that being a solid reliable and long distance adventure bike..........the old KLR and the New are quite different animals, of road I can vouch that the new KLR is very capable........its not a motorcross bike and I dont want it to be, but its great and doing what its meant for, long distance ride around the world type bike

[carver]

But you wrote this ?

KLR 650's suck man..they are shit, they weigh a ton, and are useless off road.
DR 650 is a much better tool, or perhaps a WR450 if you really wanted to go hard.
having owned both the DR and KLR i can vouch for the dr being the better trail bike, whereas the KLR is best left on the road.
XT-R aint a bad bet....it would be my choice

DR650, no good, limitations of fuel as well as some other things, XT no good, no wind protection no luggage carrying capacity at all.

For my purposes there is only one choice that being a solid reliable and long distance adventure bike..........the old KLR and the New are quite different animals, of road I can vouch that the new KLR is very capable........its not a motorcross bike and I dont want it to be, but its great and doing what its meant for, long distance ride around the world type bike

yeah, didn't read all the thread, and i realised you got one!
the old ones sucked..i never had a issue with the range on the DR..always 200+kms and i rode my one from wellington to hamilton, no problem.
the new KLR has gone in the direction of the new triumph tiger.
but yeah, the old ones (mine was a 03) really were the dogs balls.

[QMOTO]

the new KLR has gone in the direction of the new triumph tiger.

LOL yeah okay

engine
trumpy 1050

Kwaka 650

tyres
Trumpy 17 inch front

Kwaka 21 inch front

weight

Trumpy 218 kg

Kwaka 175 kg

the list goes on really

The Kwaka 650 aint anything like the trumpy in almost all ways dude

[merv]

Welcome to the world of adventuring Quasi.

The 22 litre tank would certainly be useful compared to the DR650 with only 13 litres.

[sels1]

Well congrats on the new toy Quasi!

[carver]

LOL yeah okay

engine
trumpy 1050

Kwaka 650

tyres
Trumpy 17 inch front

Kwaka 21 inch front

weight

Trumpy 218 kg

Kwaka 175 kg

the list goes on really

The Kwaka 650 aint anything like the trumpy in almost all ways dude

but....
look at the old tiger vs the new tiger
look at the old klr vs the new KLR

im seeing the fact that both bikes have become more road orientated, and less adventure...thats all, i aint comparing them.
enjoy your adventure rides, pm me if you want me to show you a few routes

[pete376403]

Gone and done it

Im the proud owner of a KLR650 2008 model and put about 300 kms on it today (heaps of gas left from one full) All I can say is what a awesom machine, hadles the roads nicley very capable on the road touring as well as the twisties, I also did about 60kms of gravel and a fair bit of small mud tracks in the bush, did the lot with ease, Love it !!
comfy and capable thats my first day comment, now to buy some maps

Well done that man! What colour? The green ones are faster...
I've got a little over 2200km on mine including quite a lot of gravel / forestry roads. Have got the initial drop over and done with (cracked the right side fairing lower and put scuffs on the front guard and the panel over the muffler) but didn't bend anything. Could do with better tyres off road, pity TKC-80s are expensive. Saw one other one (also green) on Cold Kiwi weekend

[merv]

I don't like the way you guys are trying to make 2008 come quicker - I'm enjoying 2007 right now and I don't want my years disappearing too quick.

[pete376403]

Mine is the new model ("08") which does have a different radiator to the previous ones. Maybe the new shrouds direct air into the rad better than the old one also. As far as I can tel the fan hasn't turned on yet. I should leave it running at standstill to see if I can get it to come on.

Further to my previous post. I left the bike idling at around 2000 rpm the other night to get the temp up and see when the fan starts - it comes on when the temp guage needle has gone just above horizontal and runs for about 15-20 seconds. thats enough to drop the guage down to (if it was a clock) the 40 minute position. I did get a bit of a surprise looking under the right side shroud and noting the header pipe was a nice cherry red - backing the idle speed down to a more reasonable 1000 rpm cooled that down as well

[RedKLR650]

Well there Carver, at age 22 you have supposedly owned 26 bikes so presuming you got your lisence at age 15, that's an average of 3.5 months per bike, so before you start bashing the original model KLR 650's, maybe you should put some km's on one off road, and actually learn some riding ability..... Don't knock the bike until the riders sorted... Ask some of the south island adventure riders who've seen the off road ability of the KLR, i'd happily take mine anywhere you'd take a DR ( given the same knobblies fitted ) Respectfully, Stu