DragonBreath
08-03-2008, 06:37 PM
New member here in the Piedmont of NC. I picked up a used '08 a couple of weeks ago and I've really been enjoying it. I commute on this bike so I'll get plenty of opportunity to learn it very quickly.
I'm coming from a dual sport background, and I already miss the dirt. The V is a better fit for my needs right now, but I had my KLR650 set up just like I wanted it. Actually, I had a tech day at my house yesterday for a bunch of KLR's and the guy that bought my KLR came. It was tough watching someone else wrench on my baby.
I've already had a little scuffle with the Versys. I went down fairly soft yesterday on the left side. I was coming into a right hand curve too hot. I probably could have made the curve, but I saw that I had a clear shot to a smooth grassy field if I allowed the bike to go straight across the oncoming lane and into the field. No cars were coming so that's what I did. The only probably was that the smooth grassy field wasn't so smooth under the smoothly cut grassy. Mr. Ditch had other plans for my nice controlled stop. I went down pretty well and immediately knew that nothing major on me was messed up. The bike just has a broken left cowling, turn signal and footpeg mount. One bracket for the cowling was bent but I was able to straighten that out.
The tricky part was rigging the footpeg mount to hold well enough to allow me to shift so that I could get home. We made several attempts that each held for 10-15 miles. I eventually made it home through the wonder of zip ties.
Anyway, I look forward to being an active member here. I'm a huge believer in the power of these forums to help us regular guys to know out bikes better and work on them ourselves. I didn't grow up turning wrenches, but I've learned a lot from forums and tech days over the last few years. Through the information that I've gathered from forums and helpful members, I've been able to avoid dealer service departments completely. I plan on keeping it that way.
Regards all.
Chris
I'm coming from a dual sport background, and I already miss the dirt. The V is a better fit for my needs right now, but I had my KLR650 set up just like I wanted it. Actually, I had a tech day at my house yesterday for a bunch of KLR's and the guy that bought my KLR came. It was tough watching someone else wrench on my baby.
I've already had a little scuffle with the Versys. I went down fairly soft yesterday on the left side. I was coming into a right hand curve too hot. I probably could have made the curve, but I saw that I had a clear shot to a smooth grassy field if I allowed the bike to go straight across the oncoming lane and into the field. No cars were coming so that's what I did. The only probably was that the smooth grassy field wasn't so smooth under the smoothly cut grassy. Mr. Ditch had other plans for my nice controlled stop. I went down pretty well and immediately knew that nothing major on me was messed up. The bike just has a broken left cowling, turn signal and footpeg mount. One bracket for the cowling was bent but I was able to straighten that out.
The tricky part was rigging the footpeg mount to hold well enough to allow me to shift so that I could get home. We made several attempts that each held for 10-15 miles. I eventually made it home through the wonder of zip ties.
Anyway, I look forward to being an active member here. I'm a huge believer in the power of these forums to help us regular guys to know out bikes better and work on them ourselves. I didn't grow up turning wrenches, but I've learned a lot from forums and tech days over the last few years. Through the information that I've gathered from forums and helpful members, I've been able to avoid dealer service departments completely. I plan on keeping it that way.
Regards all.
Chris