The Kawasaki 1M-BC.
I was laughing so hard reading Gresh’s piece on the KLR 650 it took me a few minutes to get that “One Million BC” designator, and then I started laughing even harder. For reasons reaching back to my teenage years, I had visions of Raquel Welch scantily clad in strategically-draped animal skins atop a KLR 650. Yeah, that could work.
Ah, the KLR. Nearly all of us have owned one at one time or another. I wanted a KLR for a long time and I waited too long to buy one (mostly because none of the dealers allowed test rides), but I finally pulled the trigger on a new one in 2006. The bike was $5250 out the door (I know, you did better on yours). That price included an obscenely-inflated-but-successfully-negotiated-lower dealer setup fee. The windshield fell off on the 4-mile ride home.
I loved my KLR and I kept it for 10 years. I’d heard, off and on, that it was Kawasaki’s best-selling motorcycle. It was a sensibly priced and simple motorcycle. Top heavy, yeah. Heavy, yeah. Well supported with tech days and a great online community, yeah. Fun to ride, yeah. Easy to maintain, yeah. A great adventure touring bike, absolutely yeah.
Even though I started on small bikes (I was one of those nicest people you met on a Honda; I only became mean later in life) the KLR was the first bike of my adult life that made me realize I’d been brainwashed: I did not need a big bike. I also owned a Harley Softail with an S&S 96-inch motor at the same time I owned the KLR, and one day after inadvertent back-to-back rides, I realized the KLR was faster, more comfortable, and handled better. I’d spent more for just the S&S motor than the entire KLR cost new. The Softail went on CycleTrader that same day and was gone by the weekend.
The US motorcycle market is in the crapper for a lot of different reasons (none of which current industry leadership has been able to address). Sales dropped by 50% with the onset of the Great Recession of 2008, and today (10 years later), sales are still essentially at that same 50% level. It’s a double or triple or quadruple (or more) whammy…banks aren’t giving 6th mortgages on homes to buy a Harley, millennials are more interested in iPhones and Instagram than motorcycles, folks who were buying motorcycles are increasingly interested in adult diapers, motorcycles are too big and too expensive, and more than a few dealers are still price gouging with fraudulent and flatulent setup and freight fees. And there hasn’t been a good motorcycle movie (think The Great Escape or Easy Rider) in years. The answer is obvious to all but those heavily-invested in heavy, large, overpriced motorcycles (i.e., the same current industry leadership mentioned at the beginning of this paragaph): Smaller, lighter, way less expensive bikes. And maybe a good movie or two would help prime the pump.
So what do I think will be the follow on to the iconic KLR 650?
I see two options, and maybe a third…
Option 1 is for Kawasaki not to do anything because they already have a KLR 650 replacement. That bike is the Versys 300. The Good Times people may have pulled a fast one on us, and introduced a replacement without telling us it was a replacement. Hell, the Versys basically costs the same as a KLR 650. From a price point perspective, it is the replacement.
Option 2 would be an entirely new Kawasaki. If the Big K goes this way, my guess is it will be something around 450cc, it will be a single, it will be too tall, it will be fuel injected, and it will be too expensive. It will not be manufactured in Japan; my guess is Thailand (where the KLR 650 has been manufactured for decades). Or maybe China. I think Kawasaki is mulling this one very carefully. Such a bike would have to go head to head with the new RX4 and RX3S to be offered by Zongshen (and in the US, CSC), the Royal Enfield 400cc Himalayan, and maybe others. That would be a tough competition. My guess is the Zongs will be a good $2,000 (probably more) less expensive than anything the Good Times People bring to us as a KLR 650 successor, and the Big 4 dealers will exacerbate the price problem by tacking on their ingrained and irrational $1500 freight and setup fees. Maybe Kawasaki realizes this, and if so, that makes a good argument for them to just pick up their marbles and go home (which they may have already done; see Option No. 1 above).
There is, of course, a third option, and that’s to just keep building the KLR 650. The tooling was paid for years ago and there’s no real expense in continuing the line. This makes a lot of sense, unless the bikes are just not selling, and that may be the case. As mentioned earlier, the US market is flat and outside the US, bikes over 250cc are viewed as freakishly huge. I don’t buy the argument that because the KLR 650 is carbureted it won’t meet emissions requirements; the bike has been carbureted its entire life and new carbureted bikes are being approved in the US all the time. If my last name was Kawasaki, I’d keep the KLR 650 on the market, drop the price dramatically, find a way to limit the dealer larceny that passes as freight and setup fees, and sell the hell out of that bike.
We’ll see. This will be interesting.
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I had a 2005 KLR650 and I owned it for about 10 years myself. I was much younger back then and much more gung ho. It was my “Go To” commute bike and I road that thing in any weather even snow occasionally. Back then I think the price was around $4900 plus tax and license and it was not impossible to talk your way out of the freight and setup fees which I did with the KLR. Even if you were forced to pay it which was not as common back then they were typically only $200 or so. Not like todays $500 to a $1000 or more if its something like the 2018 Goldwing!
I really had a love hate relationship with my KLR. In many ways it was the best motorcycle I ever owned. It was big and heavy and had enough power to do just about anything. Freeway riding was not really its forte but mine did it day in and day out without complaint. Mine never burned an ounce of oil either which I heard was common. Back roads and mountain passes is where it really shined and if the road ended so what!
Fuel economy was pretty good. Before the government started forcing 10% ethanol I was getting 62 to 65 MPG. However later as the fuel got more laced and perhaps my waistline got a few inches bigger my fuel economy averages dropped into the mid 50’s. Still pretty good and with the 6 gallon gas tank you could ride out the next financial crisis before you had to fill up again. During the era I owned the KLR I accomplished a lot and I tend to thank the KLR for being a good frugal bike that carried me through those desperate times and helped me accomplish what I accomplished. Remember gas was almost $5 per gallon back then and with inflation being lower that was even more money then todays dollars. The KLR helped put food on the table and the food was not roman noodles!
Interestingly my KLR broke a lot during my ownership. Things were always rattling loose and falling off on that bike. However to fix it 90% of the time all you needed was a roll of duct tape and a screwdriver. It never left me stranded in the 10 years I owned it.
Support was also very good. I heard and read all about the doohickey plus watched all the You Tube videos on it. I never really thought it was as big of a problem as it seemed but as a precaution I did the upgrade anyway. Being a newer bike at the time and my mechanical skills were untested I asked for help on one of the KLR650 forums. A gentlemen who was from the east coast was here in the area on business offered to stop by if I had the tools. He said he did about 10 of the upgrades before mine. Anyways he did my doo in about 30 minutes and all for no charge. I did take him out to lunch for his time. The doo was never a problem on my bike after that. Never owned a bike since that had that kind of owner support.
The ultimate demise of my KLR was not with the bike itself but me. I suffer from pretty bad arthritis despite the fact I am still not that old. Likely a relic from my desert racing motorcycle days and playing football and being the guy who got his butt pounded. It was all catching up to me by the time I was 40. Something about the way the KLR vibrated that really hit my joints hard. Despite being a comfortable bike the big 650cc single was known for loosening dental fillings and a lot of other things and apparently my joints as well. The last few years I owned the bike after a good ride and towards the end just a normal commute I get home and crash on the living room floor in pain and would only get worse as the evening went on. No amount of Ibuprofen or Glucosamine would help. As a result I started riding the KLR less and less!
Finely after 10 years of really enjoying the bike I traded it in on a used but very clean and low mileage 05 Suzuki V-Strom 1000 I was able to buy for a song. Funny because it was the 05 Suzuki V-Strom 1000 I originally wanted back in 2005 but settled for the KLR because it was considerably cheaper. On trade I got $3,000 back on the KLR since mine was relatively clean as far as KLR’s go. Not a bad return for 10 years or so of ownership.
Never again have I experienced a bike that vibrated like the KLR did. Even something old school like CSC’s TT250 with the old school CG engine that is known to be a bit heavy on the vibes does not hit at the frequency the KLR did. I feel like after getting rid of the KLR I got about 10 years younger!
I am of coarse sad the KLR is being discontinued. However it had a good run. Heck I was like 12 or so when it first came out. In fact it probably should have been discontinued 10 years ago. Hopefully it gets replaced by a modern designed bike that will be as tough and be a bit more comfortable to live with every day. I will be the 1st in line to buy one!
Anyways this is my KLR Story………………………
Thanks for the great inputs, LH. Yeah, the KLR community is great. Same experience here on the doohickey; a guy who also had a KLR came to the house and helped me install an Eagle Mike part. Mine didn’t vibrate at all, but my frame of reference was the Harley. My wife thought the KLR was dramatically smoother than the Harley, too. Great bikes, to be sure. Even if they are discontinued, these bikes will be soldiering on for decades. They’re just too good to die.
Drape Raquel Welch on any bike and it looks great.
She undoubtedly would, even though she is getting on in years. But so are we, with correspondingly degraded vision. So it all works out.
Joe, re the future of the KLR and small adv bikes in general;
Last March I was at Bike Week in Daytona Beach, Fl. Of course I visited the demo area where many of the name brands were offering demo rides. Kawi was only demoing a few models, one was the Ninja 400. On a lark I took the 400 out for a spin and was really impressed. The bike felt super light, was exceptionally quick and smooth, had fantastic brakes, and was keeping up with the much larger bikes in the demo fleet. Wow, what fun! I went back three more times to ride the same model. This was like having a drug dealer hand out free samples. Later I was at the Kawi static display and sat on the Versys 300. That was an attractive bike but after riding the 400 I knew I’d wish for the larger twin rather than just the 300. When I asked if they had any plans to put the 400 in an adv bike I just got a couple knowing smiles. This leads me to think that the 350-450 segment of the adv bike market is the next big deal. Make it affordable. Give it a smooth engine with a bit of reserve power. Make the suspension and brakes so they work on the highway but also on fire trails. Light is good but strong is better. CSC has a shot with the RX3S (better name is Cyclone 400). In about 2 weeks we will see what is being announced for 2019. I’m betting on more and better small adv bikes.
Great inputs, Peter. It will be interesting to see where this is all going. I agree with everything you say.