95 taco’s somewhat of an adventure KLR 650 build

Starting a log to track miles, maintenance, mods, and other general stuff.

2022 Kawasaki KLR 650 Adventure ABS
Picked it up July 22, 2022 with 1 mile on the Odometer.


Currently has a little over 100 miles and I’ve only taken it on small adventures.




Currently on the to do list:
1. Install stiffer rear spring
2. Aim headlight
3. Install additional turn/brake lights
4. Ride

Parts currently ordered:
Top gun 8KG/MM rear spring (yellow)
Denali plug n play T3 rear light kit


On the “eventually” list:
1. Tires (looking at the Mitas E-07 plus)
2. Front suspension upgrade
3. Small gas can attached for reserve fuel
4. Additional driving lights under the factory fog lights
5. Center bike stand
6. Tachometer
7. Doohickey
8. Thermobob with temp gauge
9. Dirt racks crash bars
10. ?

 

Modifications will go here.

 

Maintenance will go here.

08/08/22 600 mile service:
Oil and filter changed, replaced O-ring On filter housing cap, Oring leaked, replaced with another OEM O-ring, that one leaked, so I found one that would work in an O-ring kit we had at work.
Oil: Mobile 1 Racing 4T, 10W-40
Filter: OEM filter

 

Photos/videos will go here, not sure how much effort I’ll put into it.

 

they do sell rifle scabbards for the KLR you know...

just saying

 

What spring are you looking at? I went with a cogent dynamics setup and loved it.

 

I did not know that, I may have to check it out!

I ordered the top gun 8 KG/MM spring last night, I didn’t want to spend a whole lot on suspension. I also need to do the front forks at a certain point but I’ll wait until I have more miles on the bike to try to figure out what I want to do.

 

Rode to work this morning, found more things to spend money on, low priority but I would like to do them at some point.


And then road home, then road out to the property to get some dirt on the tires.
It was a little wetter than I was expecting, had a little bit of a sketchy time crossing the culverts.


And then hit 150 miles on the way home so I’m not limited to 59MPH anymore.

 

Over 300 miles now, got to ride with a buddy on Saturday, dodged some rain, hit some county roads, good times.


Received the rear spring, Tach Kit, thermo-bob and coolant temp kit, so I want to work on those this week if I have the time.

I also had another moment of weakness and ordered a set of tires, I want to run the stock tires some more but I’m not thrilled with them.


I need to start researching Bluetooth intercom systems for easy comms on group rides, and trail rides with dad.
I also installed the GPS/dash cam system my dad wanted me to try, gonna see if I can move it to the dash bar and off the handlebars.

 

Sub’d!!! Awesome build so far I want one so bad maybe next year…

 

Thanks! I’m excited to get miles on it.

I’m almost to 900 miles, completed the MSF BRC, removed the GPS because it has power interruption issues, shopping for a replacement now.

Tail lights and tires on back order, I’m climbing the walls waiting for them to be shipped.
Put a few ruts in the yard, stock tires are sub-optimal in wet grass/soft dirt.


Also got to ride over to Pearlington/log town with Dad before he left town, a few more weeks and he’ll be back so we can hit some trails together.

 

Right on! I’m excited to see it come together!! And see some trip reports!

 

I was going through my emails and noticed Rocky Mountain atv had sent a back in stock notification for the front tire I had ordered from another vendor, so being the curious person I am I clicked on the link.
An hour later I’ve bought another set of tires so I’ll have a set for the normal commute and then if we want to hit some more difficult trails I can swap over to the more aggressive tires.
I may end up getting another set of wheels so I just have to swap them out but working at a tire shop it’ll be pretty easy for me to give one of the guys ten bucks to swap the tires for me for now.

 

Put the Motoz Tractionator GPS on the rear, and Dunlop Trailmax Mission on the front on Friday, 950 miles on the odometer.



Put a few miles on them Friday but decided I would ride Saturday to really get a feel for them.

Saturday I rode over to some motorcycle trails to check out the area before dad and I hit the trails in a few weeks.
It had rained throughout the morning but let up in early afternoon so around 3:00 I headed out expecting to get a little wet.
It was dry on the way over most of the time I was on the dirt roads but started sprinkling so I decided to head back, on the way home it poured.

https://youtu.be/vqUNP07Ph8I

Really fun ride, I have about 90 miles on the tires currently and I’m very happy with them, they’re quiet, on road they’re very good, on the dirt roads they were more settled than the stock tires, we’ll see how they handle true off road but they dig better than the stock tires as shown by this in the yard…

 

I can’t control myself…


Gonna put the D3’s on the forks with the hybrid lens, and later I’ll probably replace the factory fogs with D7’s in spot beam, and then put the fog lenses on the D3’s.

 

Will be at 2,000 miles by Wednesday, D3 Selective Yellow lenses came in (lights still haven’t), and I got a seat cover to install also.

Once I get my wife’s vehicles fixed I’ll do the thermo-bob, temp gauge, tachometer, and another oil change, plus I would like to get the rear spring installed but it’s difficult to find the time.



Kinda disappointed that the least expensive order is the only one that has showed up, I know there are parts that are on backorder but the waiting is killing me.


Also, went riding with Dad the other weekend, didn’t get pictures or video but I did get this picture when dad was trying to get his bike on the front porch.

 

Hit 2,000 miles yesterday, laid the bike over twice within 30 minutes on the stupid deep sand after work today
Right side hard pannier is very loose after laying it down, will probably put soft panniers on it now, not a fan of my ankle getting caught between the ground and pannier.

Thankfully I’m only slightly injured, I heard a nasty pop when I went down the second time and I had/have a little bit of ankle pain but it’s a sprained ankle at worst.

 

At about 2,800 miles now, finally got Denali to ship out my D3’s although I’m still waiting on the lower driving light mount.

This is the stock fogs and high beam.


And this is one D3 with the spot lense and one with the hybrid lense. I think I might run the spot on the left animed straight ahead and hybrid on the right with a slight bias towards the shoulder.


Single spot


And fogs and high beam


Vs the spot/hybrid setup.

 

Oh, also got my T3 switchbacks installed a few weeks back.
It was a pretty simple install, although I had to tear the bike down a little bit further than I thought, but I liked that it was plug and play.

Overall, very pleased with them, I wish they were a little cheaper, but they’re definitely high-quality, and I feel like visibility from the rear is much improved.