I know what your thinking……..”This isn’t a road trip……I came here for road trip pictures”.
Well….I don’t know what to tell you…..it’s my blog and today it’s about motorcycle maintenance.
A couple years ago I bought a 2001 KLR650 with the intention of fixing it up and having something for off road trips. Here are a couple pictures of it right from the ad online.
It was hideous! I took all the panels off and painted them a nice desert tan color and cleaned the bike up a bit and was content for a year.
Then I decided to do some upgrades. Pro taper bars, handgaurds, IMS 6 gallon tank, stainless brake lines, SV 650 front caliper, 320mm rotor, SV 650 master cylinder, replaced rear caliper, rebuilt rear master cylinder, FMF Q4 exhaust, FMF power bomb header, replaced clutch and throttle cables, carb rebuild and upgrade, replaced wheel bearings, shorty levers, led tail light, led blinkers, led lights in the dash, ATO fuse conversion, and some Dunlop D606 tires.
While I was doing all that work I kept thinking I should be doing a complete tear down and powder coat the frame…..its scratched, rusted in places, and I HATE the silver with the new tan paint. But I convinced myself to put it off and just ride the stupid thing for a while.
Well this past summer I decided the bike deserves a big bore kit and if I’m going to tear down the engine I might as well get the frame powder coated. I’ve been putting off the project all winter but today I gave in and started the tear down process.
I didn’t intend to get the whole thing taken apart in one day but I was in the zone…..one thing lead to another and next thing I knew my garage was full of parts and the lift table was empty.
So the plan now is to get the frame powder coated in a nice semi-gloss black and then start reassembling. As it goes back together I will be rebuilding the forks and shock, redesigning the front light and instrument cluster, replacing the radiator, and installing a 692cc big bore kit. Of course this is all a huge waste of money and this bike isn’t worth the fancy handlebars let alone all the other crap….but for some reason I love this stupid thing and I’m going to keep working on it.
It’s gonna look real nice and I’m sure it will provide us with some excellent road trip pictures.
O and just to keep you interested……here is a sneak peak at a trip to come.
