We recently saw a Honda XL650R, and there’s another big on/off-road motorcycle that’ll get you to where you want to go, and then take you off the road in colorful style. This 1993 Kawasaki KLR650 is listed here on Facebook Marketplace in De Pere, Wisconsin, and they’re asking $3,500. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Lothar… of the Hill People for the tip!
I love the look of this bike. The more you can stand out in traffic, the safer you are on a motorcycle. That doesn’t mean that the 99% of texting drivers will always see you or even care, since they have much more important things to do while navigating their 5,000-pound SUVs around in traffic with a phone in their hands, but this is one brightly-colored bike. Speaking of bright, the headlight takes a few hits from some owners as not being bright enough, but that’s an easy fix.
Kawasaki made the first-generation KLR650 from 1987 through 2007, and while they’re more than adequate for most riders, they did have a few glitches that are somewhat easy to remedy. Reportedly, the biggest issue is related to the kickstand switch, meant to cut off power to the ignition switch if the side stand is in the down position. They can go bad, and it can cause some weird electrical issues.
This one has traveled 7,866 miles, as you can see in the photo above. The seller doesn’t mention any issues with the kickstand cut-off switch, so it must not be an issue here.
The engine is Kawasaki’s 652-cc DOHC liquid-cooled four-stroke single with 37 horsepower and 35 lb-ft of torque. It’s passed through a five-speed manual transmission to the rear wheel via a chain, and the seller says this one has the infamous Eagle Mike Doohickie. A what? It’s a “spring-operated balancer chain tension adjustment device,” basically a way to try to make a big single-cylinder engine run smoother. The bad part is that a lot of owners say the spring breaks off inside the engine, so, yeah. This engine seems to be ok from what it sounds like in the seller’s listing. This one is said to start, run, and shift as it should, and it sure looks nice in the photos. Let’s hear those Kawasaki stories!
Have owned several 1st gen KLR650s and they are really the best of both worlds for offroad and highway if you put a fork brace on em. Same basic engine through today but with a carb. Well maintained these bikes can rack up car-like mileage. Doohickey mod and thermo-bob can take em into the 6 digit mileage.
Kawasaki’s successful match for the Honda XR 650. The Reno chapter of the Blue Knights motorcycle group used to annually put on a 500 mile/12 hour charity ride called The Blue Butt. One of the perennial favorites was an 80-something year old rider on his KLR 650, replete with the obligatory milk crate bungeed to the rack. Never had an issue with the bike, though he would cause some concern to new entry riders that would see him on the route parked alongside the road sitting against the bike..apparently he would stop on occasion and take a quick nap!
That bike never let him down for the 20+years he rode it. He said the bike was like him-simple, not fancy but always got the job done every time.
Very nice KLR Scotty and good pick, Lothar.
Have owned several 1st gen KLR650s and they are really the best of both worlds for offroad and highway if you put a fork brace on em. Same basic engine through today but with a carb. Well maintained these bikes can rack up car-like mileage. Doohickey mod and thermo-bob can take em into the 6 digit mileage. And thats a solid price for that mileage. The early models are bringing good money
Love all the big thumpers. Great paint and decals on this KLR👍
I own a loaded 2022 KLR650 3rd generation, and let me tell you when Armageddon hits the only things thst will ne left are roaches and KLR’s you can not kill them. Also the military uses the as well but they are special diesel versions of them.
I bought a used gen 1 KLR 650 that had the requisite mods other than Thermo Bob. I rode it from Kansas City to the Arctic circle in 2017. Once or twice a day I would feel a miss so I replaced the spark plug. Problem solved. Then in late October 2019, before anyone had ever heard of Covid I left KC for Houston where I joined a friend who rode a gen 2 KLR. We departed from there for South America, entering Mexico from Laredo. Rode through Central America down to Panama, caught the Stalratt boat for Cartagena Colombia and proceeded from there. Had to replace the cooling fan relay which had become erratic. Made it all the way to Ushuia Argentina, the southernmost city in the world in early March 2020. By then covid had entered South America and we started to worry about border closings. Tried to sell our bikes in Punta Arenas, a free trade zone but were unable to do so. Had to turn the bikes into customs there. Flew to Santiago on a Saturday and spent the night. Caught a flight back to the states the next day. They closed the Santiago airport on Wednesday. Close call.
Now that is one wild ride !! Trip of a lifetime.
C@@L! I have a Yamaha XT550 from 1983 in the shed. I got it in new in 1986 when I sniffing around the YammerHammer store. Lo and behold there was one in the ‘system’ for $1300! I bought it. Still have it.
Thats so funny. In Dec.1986 my dad found me a 1982 XT200 brand new in crate at Warrensburg Cylcle. There was a white 125 and my red 200. I often wonder how much longer that white XT125 stayed in the crate. Anyhow…$660 OTD. Rode the wheels off that bike. Still dream of finding an immaculate 550