It is designed for travel on freeways and highways at 60 to 80 miles per hour and is a Thumper (single cylinder) 4 cycle engine for instant response in the dirt. It usually comes with knobby tires that are also okay on freeways too. But, it is sort of like a 2 wheel Jeep four wheel drive if you compare it to a 4 wheeled vehicle.
However, if you are going to ride a dualsport off a paved highway be sure you know how to ride one because off a paved road you never use your front brake at all except to hold your bike stationary on a slope when you stop. That's the hardest thing to learn to do. In fact, the last two times I dumped my KLR 650 it was just forgetting this when I had to go into the dirt in an emergency to avoid an accident.
Here's the thing. If you put your front brake on (for more than a moment) in the dirt your bike is going down and so are you and then you are going to have to pick it up and a KLR 650 is pretty heavy to pick up at 388 pounds dry weight. So, unless you are pretty strong you might not be able to do it. And the more mass and height you are the easier likely it will be to pick up.
Also, a dualsport rides higher than most bikes too for off road situations. So, this takes some getting used to also if you are only used to riding street bikes.
So, just remember your foot brake is the only one you can use in the dirt while moving without laying the bike down. And laying the bike down over 25 to 50 miles per hour can be very dangerous to your health depending upon what kind of terrain and rocks and trees you are around right then. IF you are wearing leathers on a paved road you might be okay sliding along on leathers if you aren't going too fast, but off road there are rocks big and small and trees and bushes and cliffs and anything you can imagine can be there. So, remember about the rear foot brake. ONLY use the rear foot brake to stop and even then be very careful how you use it especially on turns when traveling off paved roads.
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