87 KLR650? Opinions?

[Woodman]

Read this: http://www.bigcee.com/klr650faq.html

The doohickey is the balancer shaft chain tensioner. They are known to fall apart, causing grief (minor to very major) inside the engine. The factory (finally) redesigned the part on the '08s so it is better, but still not considered excellent.

Hmmmm, has anyone here ever had any bad doohickey problems? There seems to be a bit of divided opinion in various forums I have read, but seeing that every other "character trait" seems to be appearing on my klr the question whether or not to do the doohickey is startin to bother me. My stuff ordered from the states arrived today and is now attached to the killer.maybe should have ordered the doohickey to make the freight fee worthwhile.

[Woodman]

ok, well i bought it. had a great ride hm on it.

it is old, rattles, drips a little oil but nothing major, knocks when being lugged and shakes around 5000 rpm in 5th, and absolute joy to ride and fugly to look at.
what is the doohickey?????
what else do i need to know ?
can i adjust the preload on rear shock ?
how hard is it to strip the frame etc ?

thanks

To stop the knocking when lugging run it on 91 octane. Pulls better too.

[pete376403]

Hmmmm, has anyone here ever had any bad doohickey problems? There seems to be a bit of divided opinion in various forums I have read, but seeing that every other "character trait" seems to be appearing on my klr the question whether or not to do the doohickey is startin to bother me. My stuff ordered from the states arrived today and is now attached to the killer.maybe should have ordered the doohickey to make the freight fee worthwhile.

Buy the one Moki is offering. The KLR you have is definitely in the range that has the problem.
I'd get it myself but I am hoping that the redesign has, if not fixing the problem altogether on the '08s, at least made it go away for a long time.

[Crisis management]

Just a suggestion.....maybe a start a short tread on the bits of the KLR that actually work?

[Woodman]

Just a suggestion.....maybe a start a short tread on the bits of the KLR that actually work?

Very droll

Everything works fine really, and they are a lot of bike for the money. Only problems with mine in the 6k I have had it for is the bash guard has been bashed senseless and has not guarded very well (have a studebaker one now), the rear subframe has shaken loose, and the forks twist out of alignment on a regular basis, oh and it uses oil when ridden hard.

[cobber]

Very droll

Everything works fine really, and they are a lot of bike for the money. Only problems with mine in the 6k I have had it for is the bash guard has been bashed senseless and has not guarded very well (have a studebaker one now), the rear subframe has shaken loose, and the forks twist out of alignment on a regular basis, oh and it uses oil when ridden hard.

72500 kms on the Dr650 in 6 and a half years and a set of starter motor brushes , no oil useage , with a lot less weight.
You to hard on

[Woodman]

72500 kms on the Dr650 in 6 and a half years and a set of starter motor brushes , no oil useage , with a lot less weight.
You to hard on

Yes i could lose a bit of weight, with a full tank and my weight it is very hard on the poor beastie, especially on long downhills with the klr's fading not real powerful front brake. But thats what makes it interesting.