I ride my KLR650 on the long sections out here in Southern Africa where I

live at about 140kph max cruise on the flat as indicated on the gps (ie

close to real speed, not clock). (Altitude between 20 and 4000 feet above

sea level). This is about 85mph. At that speed it has been happy and

faithful in long service.

For the type of adventure bike touring we do here, much of it to the

far-flung corners of South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia

where facilities are rudimentary and fuel is often bought from roadside

vendors in plastic five gallon cans we have to be very self sufficient in

terms of what we carry. I made myself two aluminium panniers with a nominal

internal capacity of 5 gallons each (a steel 5gallon jerry can fits snugly

inside each one to give an idea of dimensions. I lined each pannier with

closed cell foam 5/8" thick top sides and bottom. The lid clips onto the top

with two quick release catches (lockable) and seals watertight with a

neoprene C-seal on the top lip of the pannier box. If I find a place which

sells ice the pannier can make a 48-hour icebox for a couple of beers.

Carry a soft bag and some fine cargo net to tie the contents on top while

the beers are chilling. The panniers are mounted onto a frame I made that

covers the rear half of the seat to make a flat carrier, with a stiffening

tube wrapping around the rear near the number plate from one side to the

other. This tube makes a good handgrip to push the bike through deep mud as

it is just the right height to get a good grip. The lower part of the

carrier frame fits into the rear foot-peg mounts (remove the pegs first!) to

provide a triangulated load bearing brace to prevent the rear sub-frame from

cracking. At the foot-pegs I have rubber-damped the frame to prevent

transmission of vibration that could cause cracking. Also rubber-isolated

with thick washers at the top where the frame mounts into the four screw

holes for the original small carrier,

The bike has got a 32 litre plastic tank (about 7gallons I think) which

gives a decent range. The rear footbrake on some of the later KLR's is

mounted onto a cast aluminium bracket that snaps easily if one falls on that

side, leaving you minus rear brakes. Either buy or fabricate the mount from

mild steel which will bend rather under the same impact and can be easily

straightened.

KLR's don't have a kick-start, and trying to push-start one on a flat sandy

road aint gonna work if the battery goes flat. And believe me it will happen

to you sometime when you least need it. To get around this I made a

permanent connection to the battery ending in a Donaldson type plug fitted

to the pannier frame. I carry a small set of jumper cables with crocodile

clips on the outer end and the Donaldson plug (male) fitting on the other.

Cable tie them to the frame so as to maximize storage space. I also have a

single fluorescent tube light with a longish lead that plugs into the same.

For camping in the bush or doing something in the dark it is very handy and

gives an added source of good light to a head torch.

On the side stand, and double stand if you have one, ensure that the foot

is big enough not to sink into soft sand or mud. Bolt or weld a piece of

flat-bar cut to appropriate size onto the foot.

On the fuel line, after the tank tap I have a tee piece inserted with a

short "tail" about 6 inches long, blocked with an 8mm bolt screwed into the

line, and tucked away out of sight. If a buddy runs out of fuel this is the

easiest way to get juice out of the tank.

Fit enduro style (with metal internal reinforcement) hand-guards to the

handlebars to protect your levers and hands. The floppy plastic things that

come with the bike are useless.

The KLR front fork springs are a bit on the soft side for touring with a

load, so I fitted Larry Roessler springs available on mail order on

www.dual-star.com <http://www.dual-star.com/> website which made a big

difference. The rear shock spring is also a bit soft for loaded touring, and

I found that a Yamaha XT 660 spring fitted perfectly, but was about 20%

stiffer. Worth trying too. Otherwise for you guys in the States look around

on the various websites for spring options (mostly too expensive for our

weak local currency) I also changed the rear canister for an AirAge pipe

that freed up the motor to make more power right thru the range, and it runs

cooler to boot which was a bonus.

Drinking water is carried in a small 5 litre (1gallon) jerry-can fitted

into a bracket on the left pannier. Use a Camelbak Mule hydration backpack

or similar to drink from while riding and carry your camera, wallet etc.

This combo has taken me on numerous trips around our neck of the woods

quite happily. Last thing, fit a knobbly type touring tyre front and back -

you can never have too much grip, especially in the front surprisingly

enough!

Hope some of this helps.

Cheers time being

Joe