Buying a Used KLR650 in the Las Vegas Winter

[Last1Out]

Originally Posted by curiousgeorge5

The comment about lowering the bike is interesting. Is this the case even if the front end is lowered the same amount?

I read the the new ones from '08 on have a seat height that is actually about an inch shorter than the previous edition, despite the manufacturer listing both editions as having the same height. I don't know if that is with or without a rider on it. I know the new one has less static sag.

Some people put crash bars on but that makes a heavy (for a single cylinder bike) even heavier.

I have a set of Givi bars on mine and the additional weight is negligible and not even noticed but very much appreciated when you drop the bike on a trail on its left (radiator) side.

[Brian_M]

Originally Posted by curiousgeorge5

The comment about lowering the bike is interesting. Is this the case even if the front end is lowered the same amount?

Yup, because it's not as simple (suspension is an engineered system, could you imagine people saying "oh, just replace the camshaft with a cheap ebay unit" for the engine?)

The biggest issue comes from lowering the rear shock. If you change JUST the dogbones (most common), then you're altering the whole linkage ratio which means that the force and time that the shock has to deal with, is changed. This means that the (already poorly dampened and sprung OEM) shock is pushed even Further outside its use range. You can then try to account for that with aftermarket shocks/custom valving.. but Only if you can figure out precisely what you changed. It's possible, I've done it, just heavy on the math.

Or, if you're going to spend the coin on shock work, the best way to is shorten the shock itself. That addresses the linkage issue but introduces a Geometry issue. The swingarm needs to be at a specific angle (IIRC, an 11* deflection from horizontal plane with rider, but design was going through some changes when I last took a lot of interest and those number were changing) for correct/optimal/safe handling. Even raising the forks/lowering the front has zero effect on that. Bu when you change Fork position in the triples, you're Also making a change to the rake and trail... while small, if you're introducing Other complications it all adds up.

This is all well and good, it's hard to know the Specific change that's going to occur on any given bike without doing the math or experiencing it first hand. A lot of times, maybe even most of the time, the change is so small as to be easily ignored. Like using a cheap knife vs a good knife. You get used to it, less safe, easier to hurt yourself, but generally workable. But when you DO run across one that has a Ton of issues... and we did, there's no doubt in your mind that it's just a bad idea. I forget the exact bike, liter sportbike from within a few years of 2000. We put a custom Penske shock, shortened for the requested seat drop, custom fork work (and raised to maintain a proportional change), all sprung and dampened to work well together. The business owner and myself were both ex-amateur roadracers, he was a bit better than me. I took the bike out for a shakedown and it about tossed me into the ditch on an easy, slow speed, corner. I handed it over to him, he experienced the same thing. We called in a pro racer who had Exceptional feedback on suspension changes to get his impression, caused HIM issues (a man who made his living from racing, issues at street legal speeds). Lower the forks back, put the stock shock back on, go for a ride and the issue was gone. We rebuilt the Penske shock to add a longer shaft (bring it to oem length), put that on the bike, no issues.... start lowering it again in slow increments and the bike just kept getting worse and worse.

Now, the initial lowering was Substantial. IIRC we took out half the total travel to get to the customer specs (oh, he got the bike back with just fork-work and the OEM shock without paying a dime after refusing to lower the bike), but it was something tangible that we could feel. 3 experienced riders. What happens when you put an Inexperienced rider into this kind of situation? It's just not something I'm comfortable with from a moral or ethical standpoint.... so I'm vocal.

If someone needs lower for confidence building, then tackle it with taller boots, less seat foam or a different bike to gain the confidence on. It's not the end of the world to start out on a shorter bike, build up a foundation of confidence that you can stop with only 1 foot on the ground. It's just a better course of action than making changes that are simple, cheap, but introduce unknown variables.

[curiousgeorge5]

@Brian_M: Thanks for the excellent post. It certainly dampened my enthusiasm for lowering bikes.