KLR 650

 I was having a bursa problem on my right heel in 2009 so anytime I walked it felt like someone was holding a lit match to my foot. So, it sort of made me feel like a Cripple then and took away my Macho as a man.

So, I told my wife I wanted to buy a motorcycle again (for the first time with her) so I could still feel like I could hold my own and not feel like a cripple so I bought a KLR 650 which was wonderful for me riding along the ocean or through the deep mountain dirt and rock roads of the Mt. Shasta area. I've never been one to want to ride a motorcycle on the freeways or large highways and have always been a more off road motorcycle person starting around 1960 when i was 12 and bought myself a mini-bike which had a 2 1/2 horsepower Tecumseh engine with a centrifugal clutch. But, it could go 30 miles per hour. Then my Dad bought a Hondo 90 that he eventually sold to my cousin which then had a low and high range so you could ride that thing up almost any trail or hill and I remember amazingly driving up a desert butte that I couldn't believe it could go up that thing with my cousin riding on the back. It was pretty amazing what that thing could do.

Then I bought a Matchless 600 from England which was set up for Hillclimbing with a big sprocket in back. However, if you drove that thing with the rear sprocket faster than 35 to 40 miles per hour the engine would blow up which it did when I was driving it one day and angry at one of my girlfriends about something stupid (looking back from now). Luckily when the engine froze the chain broke but didn't take off my leg at that speed and instead the chain wrapped around the front sprocket instead.

Then I bought a World war II BSA 500 used in North Africa in World War II which was pretty amazing. It reminded me a lot of driving around in an Army tank from world WAr II. However, it didn't have any rear suspension so if you went over a bump you better stand up on the foot pegs or else you were going to break your back. However, they designed the handlebars for this purpose because on a rough road you especially dirt or rocks you were going to be standing up most of the time riding. 

It could go forever (and I do mean forever) at around 50 or 60 mph but wasn't really safe above that speed and you wondered if the engine was going to blow up above that too. Fantasically well designed bike for the times. This would have been great to have during world war II not having a battery that could go dead. One less thing to worry about when you were trying to stay alive during that war.

Well. Today I gave my KLR 650 to a friend who builds up Indian motorcycles from the 1930s and sells them to collectors around the world. He buys parts all over and puts them all together and sells them and so he is going to fix up my 2009 KLR 650 because it needs a new clutch and battery. I was surprised the flat tires were okay and they just needed blowing up once more. It was good to see my old 2009 KLR 650 getting the care it needed. We drove up from Santa Barbara in my daughter's car and then loaded it up onto my 4 wheel drive truck there but I had to take the fold top off the back to do it. Luckily one of the guys helping load this thing up a ramp to my truck knew how to easily disconnect a fold top so I had the full bed to use for the motorcycle. Then we tied it down standing on it's kick stand in several strategic places and it was solidly in place from the SF Bay area all the way down to Santa Barbara and Ventura. So, though I'm sorry to see my old friend my klr 650 Kawasaki dualsport motorcycle go I feel it will be well cared for now and put on a motorcycle rack behind my friends Airstream trailer for vacation traveling and sight seeing.

Good Luck Old Friend!