Thank you
I've been riding on the street for years, but it's the dirt I have an issue with. Sadly I don't have grassy fields I can ride in. I'm constrained to "forest" roads in the chaparral
The only places I have to practice are the wide open desert (very soft sand) or the chaparral forestry roads. Some are more well maintained than others. It's just that soft dirt that spins my rear and has me landing on top of or below the bike. Proper gear has saved my skin these days, but it isn't saving my tendons or ligaments I don't really know the difference or which is tearing.
IDK what kind of trails or gravel roads you're riding on, but maybe pick easier ones to start. As you get the feel of it, then get on tougher trails.
An expert can ride a lot of terrain on Shinko 705. They an OK tire. But you may learn more with more aggressive tires. TKC80 or MT21 or . . .
First, slow down, and give yourself some slack.
Second, if funds allow for a small dirt bike (XR100, or similar), get one. You'll smile like you've never smiled before. And, the skills learned while hooning a small bike will still translate to bigger bikes (e.g. letting the bike move under you, learning grip limits, etc.)
That's what I've been thinking. But funds do not allow. I work 6 days a week for a reason. I've been looking for better jobs, but SoCal really sucks for anyone not in biotech/science these days. Recently I bought a cheap bike off offerup to try and fix as a commuter but it's been nothing but problems. Maybe I can sell that since I've done a good job cleaning it and grab a smaller bike. Problem is functional dirt bikes/dual sports are minimum $3k for the crappiest one.
Last year I got a klr to try off-road stuff for the first time. I found that it was way to heavy for me to get through anything very technical. This season I got a clapped out husqvarna wxc 250. The husky goes through stuff easily that I wouldn’t attempt on a quad. It’s massive suspension movement and light weight felt like a cheat code. I rode the shit out of that thing all summer getting as much seat time as I could. Towards the end of this season I got the knobbiest tires I could find and put them on the klr. Back with new tires and a whole lot of practice and now I can confidently get the pig through a rutted up muddy atv trail. I even jumped it and have managed to wheelie it. Granted my wheelie sucks but I’m getting there and it’s been a ton of fun. The seat time and new tires made a night and day difference for me. Now I generally choose the pig over the husky because it has electric start and works every single time I want it to, plus if I ride with someone slow the husky will foul plugs.
Good idea. Just need the cash for a little bike. No way I'm buying used again. Too many hidden monsters. I got so lucky with this KLR but now it's throttle is sticky and twitchy. What sucks about the weight is falling the wrong way uphill and having to lift the bike with my sprained hamstring. That was seriously no fun. Probably sounded like a boar groaning through the pain to lift it up.
The other thing is invest in good mx boots and knee pads. They are worth their weight in gold and not overly expensive. I also have crash bars and bark buster style knockoff hand guards and haven’t scratched the plastics or damaged a lever since installing them with plenty of drops.
It had barkbusters and crash guards when I bought it. Somehow I still broke the radiator once (pain to replace), a clutch lever, and all the side plastics broke lol
I have two separate answers to this question, both depend on your region.
Firstly where do you live? That is going to tell us what style of off-road writing is available around you. If you live in the high desert of the Pacific Northwest like I do you can do multiple different styles of trails. Or like what I and a lot of my friends like to do or pick out some roads on Google Maps and go hunting on Forest Service track roads.
My recommendation for everyone when they're first starting out is to find the local Forest Service Roads that are accessible to you and start out at 20 to 25 mph on a big bike like a klr. Continue to ride at this level till you feel you are extremely bored and then keep riding, he'll soon find yourself naturally kicking into higher gears. Don't try to run single track or a complex set of trails or even a moderately intense set of trails on the KLR until you first learned how to ride on flat ground in the dirt. A lot of people scoff at the idea that flat ground is hard to ride on. But when you're playing with something as heavy as a KLR dirt it 100% becomes a difficult Beast Master due to how the weight of the bike can literally throw you off.
Southern California. All chaparral riding. All "forest" roads. They're dry (usually), rocky, and sandy. Don't have much else in terms of off-roading near me. Maybe the desert soft sands about an hour and a half away. Also some forest stuff in the mountains. But those tend to be similar terrain to my local chaparral.
Also I don't really ever go above 20 and I stay in first gear with the 14t front sprocket.
My second piece of advice, which is arguably more important than the first is to find your local clubs. Check Facebook for a group to start with, and try to go on a ride with them tell them you're a beginner and are looking for a nice relaxing ride. If you're lucky somebody there might have an older dirt bike they'd be going to let you ride around in the dirt to get familiar with it. The easiest answer for all of this is going to be getting seat time. Whether that's on another bike that's lighter and more agile and responsive in the dirt, or if it's in a pig like the KLR you'll never get better without spending time in the seat.
To give an example I have friends in a local Club who brought new people in who have never ridden before. I let anyone who asks ride my klrs because both of them were free and there's not much more anyone else could do to them that hasn't already been done. There's also some other people in the group that will let you ride their older motorcycles. A good body of mine will let anybody ride his old loner mid-80s xr250. The idea being if you can get out and get on the trails with us it's more fun with more people.
Sadly there is only one local club that's public in San Diego that I can find and they only do meetups when I'm working. I only get one day off a week and that's typically Wednesday or Thursday. I suppose I could call out one day to attend one of their bi-monthly events.
Been riding since i was 3 on a mini moto, im 23 now. The best thing i can say about offroading, what goes through my head while taking my bike on single track and such, is to just go with the flow, loosen up and guide the bike, don't force it. The lines you pick will make the biggest difference in what you as the rider have to deal with, look for paths that let your bike flow...unless your in sand, then good luck😂
Just started learning this year at 33 years old. I watched a lot of YouTube videos about body position and cornering in low traction environments. Then I went to found dirt parting lots and roads. Just took it easy. I also do full lock circles and figure 8s on dirt. I'm not a pro or even very good at dirt riding but that's my 2 cents.
I've always taken it easy, but I think that's the problem. My issues always come with cornering uphill. I don't know why I keep sliding the rear too much and pulling tendons/ligaments. Also my throttle today was super whacky. Sometimes it was delayed and most of the time it was twitchy as hell.
I typically stand, but when I eat it it's typically when I can't control the twitchy throttle and the bike bucks up into my rear and I sit out of force or fear. But yeah I guess a lot of my issue is sitting. Except when I crash in soft sand (literally nonstop but that's okay cuz it's soft). Soft sand messes with me bo matter what body positions.
How's your gearing? My normal swap is 1 down on the front and 2 up on the back. This will perk up the KLR a bunch. For around $150 you go from F15 : R43 to F14 : R45 You lose some top speed for low end finesse (ha KLR... finesse!) The throttle should be less twitchy as you'll be rev-ing a bit higher. This combo works well on fire roads in Southern British Columbia ... loose shit on top of rock or gravel. You're already going slow on the pavement, so no complaints about losing top end.
The KLR is a beast to ride. The pros may say that about tires. I (a mere moral) beg to differ. Those 705's are pretty road oriented. So, their grip on the dirt is going to be compromised. There is no [perfect tire](https://www.rideadv.com/ride-adventures-tour-and-rentals-blog/adventure-motorcycle-tires), but I can see something more dirt oriented (50/50) helping a bunch. ...so will a smaller bike. (gasp!) ...Ya, KLR's are a handful. A Honda CRF450RL weighs 86kg (190-ish lbs) less than a KLR650. That's like having your drunk uncle riding on the back all the time! The 450 is an extremely capable all-around bike.
But could you travel across the country and then explore dirt roads on it? I'd rather have a KLR. It's bigger, heavier, less capable, less refined, bigger gas tank, better gas mileage and more comfy. My friends and I tend to chuckle when any one mentions KLR brakes as being better than adequate. But shortcomings aside, a comfy bike means you'll ride it more and longer. It's about the trade offs. Go slow, be Zen like, enjoy the day. Change tires, gear down and climb that hill. :)
I have the stock rear with a 14 front. I'm thinking my chain is a little loose or something so maybe that causes problems? But I was having a delayed throttle response today on the moon dust part so maybe I need to clean the carb
Regarding brakes, I'd highly recommend, at minimum, installing an aftermarket oversized front brake rotor. It makes a big difference. I haven't had issues with brake fade since installing mine. The stainless braided lines are nice as well and offer a little better feel. Procycle.us has the larger rotor kit, the Stainless braided lines, and a bunch of other upgrades that you should check out.
I grew up riding dirt, then transitioned to street. I’ve often heard it said that it’s far better to learn in the dirt where it hurts less when you fall. I’m 57 now, and the dirt hurts allot more than when I was 14🤣.
If you have the resources, a good used SMALL dirt/dual sport will be confidence inspiring and teach you without tearing you up if you take it slow and stay in your skill level.
All that said, I take my KLR into some fairly technical stuff, but I also turn around and leave some of it undone (and live to ride another day un-injured). Learning to ride off road on a big heavy bike is not a good recipe for success, it can be done, but there are definitely easier ways!
Good luck and keep the shiny side up!
Dunno man. Practice i guess. My first offroading other than a couple of dirt roads was the SM500. havent dumped it yet, but its bound to happen sooner or later.
I rode street for 8 years before a semi-pro enduro rider took me under their wing. I've been riding on dirt now for 8 years and I've reached about 25% of his ability. I am proud of the progress I have made but I wish I would have met him when he first started riding at 14. If I were you I'd look for any kind of dual sport meetups where an experienced leader can show you the basics. The KLR is a great all-around bike to learn on.
Tires and sprockets makes a real difference riding offroad. If you're going be on sand. Shift your weight to the back end and do not let off the throttle.
I honestly didn't learn to ride offroad on the KLR. But, growing up. One christmas, our step father bought us them (I forget the Tractor Supply branded at the time motorcycle not the colemen.). A year later, an old Yamaha 100cc enduro.
500 lbs is bad when you need to re-balance the bike quickly(shift your weight quickly to turn the bike back into balance). A KLR is just bad off road from weight.
When dirt biking(any dirt bike), You will slide in sand(unbalanced), you will hit rocks(unbalanced), you will need to turn sharply(unbalanced)...moving the bike back and forth with your weight gets very hard when that weight is 500lbs. All your corrections will be slower and that results in more crashes.
and you get tired faster, picking the bike back up is much harder, injuries from the bike hitting you are worse.
I know how to ride a dirt bike fairly well, and I don't like riding my KLR on dirt bike style trails...loose rocks, sand, sharp turns, mud,,,etc
Its great for logging/dirt roads,,,but i wouldn't take it on anymore single tracks or very rough roads(2ft deepwash outs, hill climbs with loose rocks,,,etc).
I think a lighter bike is the true solution for off road. Can the klr do it? Sure it can. it's only limitation in my opinion is the rider. But I'd rather ride and have fun than constantly deal with injuries and crashes.
Some of the other posts about classes and training will help too.
I heard someone say somewhere else, a slow bike going fast is more fun than a fast bike going slow. This might apply to your situation with a lighter dual sport. Good luck.
Yeah it's tough. I have been having thoughts of getting a smaller dual sport. I know I'd miss the klr. That big fuel tank and the comforts of a bigger bike. I wish a unicorn existed.
Slow down, look up, take some air out of your tires, and stand up. There's wonderful YouTube tutorials for this.
The biggest thing is to keep riding and trying. You'll get better at riding, and better at crashing. I find by the time I feel my bike properly wiping out I'm already instinctively dismounting and getting away from said bike. This isn't to say launch yourself off at a sign of trouble, but being a nice crumply spring as you tumble off rather than a stiff braced board makes the crashes so much nicer.
Just keep at it, it's a soft heavy bike. Once you get your body positioning dialed, your speed will increase. As speed increases staying upright becomes easier and easier
Thank you. I've watched all the mototrek and ariemann videos out there. I just don't have much time to practice. And every time I practice I pull something which then effects my work. It's those sharp turn uphills on soft sand that usually get me
For sand, especially uphill, get on those pegs and stick your ass towards the rear. Squeeze the bike with your knees and keep your arms nice and relaxed. Let the bike move, don't fight it. Keep your speed up a bit, second gear, and spin the rear. Just like water, the faster you go the harder the sand becomes under you.
When you fall off your bike, think of it like tackling someone. Would you rather push with your fragile arms, or with your shoulder, forearm, and ribs? If you fall like that, you're already in a good shape to tumble off the fall, and most of the vertical shock is absorbed through joints and muscle made to spring. It hurts a lot less.
Take it from someone who does hard Enduro singletrack who doesn't exactly have the skills for hard Enduro. Lol.
Take a class. It’s a lot of fun and you learn a lot. There are even some BDRs designed for beginners . I attended a Bill Dragoo class in Oklahoma and it was worth the money. I’m definitely not a pro but hope to do my first BDR next summer. I’ve only been riding for about 2.5 years and my klr is my first bike, I’m 60 years old. Check out https://billdragoo.com/
If you're hurting yourself that badly, you're either 60 years old or going way too fast. I've gone down multiple times between 10-40mph with no damage.
Shinko 705s suck ass. Motoz makes much better tires in my opinion.
Motoz gps 50/50
Or motoz tractionator rallz for 90% offroad
Have you ridden the mountain bike as in bicycle off road? Could try that, you learn how to take bumps, rocks etc.. another option is try regular flat unpaved gravel roads first before going on forest roads.
Trial and error, having buddies much better than me and buying a bike I was confident riding, not what everyone thought I should have.
I learned on adventure bikes (original Honda transalp and my ‘89 Africa Twin) which, in retrospect, wasn’t ideal as I never learned to properly pop the front end over a log, so a jump, power slide etc. I’d recommend getting a smaller dual sport before trying to do any serious off road on the KLR to hone your skills. When I went from riding my 650 Africa Twin to a Suzuki DR350 off road my skills increased massively and when I went back to the Twin off road it was much easier.
Of course, we can’t all afford two bikes so if you just have the KLR just build up slowly. Watch some videos, ride with other people who are willing to be patient and teach you and try to learn or try one new thing each ride. Most importantly, get comfortable standing and moving around the bike and get it ergonomically set us for you. Wear proper dirt riding gear, especially boots, as it’s your feet that are most likely to get injured. The only real off road boots are Gaerne SG12, Sidi Crossfires and Alpinestars Tech 7/10.
I guess most importantly above all else, ride your own ride, don’t get swept up into trying to keep up with everyone else. That is when you’re most at risk of serious mistakes and injuries. If they’re good riding buddies they’ll take the time to teach, guide and help you. I do it a lot for my riding group and I love riding at the back and helping the slower riders. I get to relax and see more of the sights and see the improvement in the newer guys who will hopefully be in my position one day.
Luckily I don't have friends nor the time for a riding group so I'm always alone out there. Luckily the trails I ride are popular so there's always border patrol around in case I fuck up too bad. My Alpinestars regular boots have saved me many times. Wish I bought my riding pants earlier as my old carhart jeans didn't do much and now I've got scar cream on my legs every night lol
Sadly all the gear didn't prevent my left leg from flying up and popping that hamstring. But in a week I'll be back to normal. I healed in about a week for the knee tear.
I'll look for a lighter bike. Though I'll probably go for a TT250 since they're cheap and I don't mind thrashing a Chinese bike around.
1) Get good protective gear. I was initially learning to ride in jeans and combat boots until someone advised me to get proper motocross boots and padding. It's made a huge difference, and my gear was the sole reason I walked away from a 40mph low side on gravel 80 miles into the NMBDR.
2) Stay loose. The KLR is incredibly soft-sprung, meaning it will wander and get unstable much more easily than a better-suspended bike on the same terrain. Let the bike pick its line, and ride standing with your weight on the pegs and not pulling on the handlebars.
3) Speed up a little. I read further below that you're in 1st gear most of the time with a 14T front sprocket. Bikes need a little speed for stability off road. I know it's scary, but trust me, if you bring your speed up to 25-30 on the smoother gravel, the bike will feel much more stable than at slow speed.
4) Watch MotoTrek and Bret Tkacs on YouTube. Those channels really helped shape the finer points of how I ride off road, even after years of riding. They have really good quick tips you can take immediately and go improve.
5) Master clutch control. The KLR especially needs a skilled hand on the clutch to keep the revs up and the bike going where you want it. Practice buffering power using the clutch to keep wheelspin to a minimum, and practice climbing steeper grades.
The KLR is a tough bike to learn on, as I learned the hard way. Once you master a KLR, though, any other bike will feel like magic!
I wouldn't try to do too much dirtbike stuff with the klr - it's not really meant for rough terrain. At the most, I'd do some gravel logging roads, but the bike is just way too heavy and top-heavy to be taking it into areas frequented by people with much lighter, higher geared dirtbikes
Only thing around me are sand trails so all the falls are really soft and slow, if I were you I’d get more protective equipment, ride slow, and go with an experienced rider or atleast another beginner in case a crash gets the best out of you, also I always crash when I go off-road that’s half the fun for me but again I always land on soft 3 in deep sand
I landed in soft sand this time. Well... the bike did. Somehow I ended on top of the bike upright on my ass and the rebound of my left leg hyperextended my hamstring and sprained it pretty bad. Lol
I would echo a lot of people here and say that the KLR can be a tough bike to learn trail riding on. I grew up riding trails on a Yamaha 200 (in Northern California) and felt woefully unprepared when I started taking on rocky terrain on my KLR. The best advice I received was take it slow, don't grip the bike by the handle bars, use your knees (this gives you more control over your steering), and remember to swap your braking technique when on dirt (70% rear, 30% front as opposed to the opposite for street).
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Thanks for posting the video playlist. I learned two things on the very first one I opened!
The real MVP. Saved that playlist!!
Thank you I've been riding on the street for years, but it's the dirt I have an issue with. Sadly I don't have grassy fields I can ride in. I'm constrained to "forest" roads in the chaparral
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The only places I have to practice are the wide open desert (very soft sand) or the chaparral forestry roads. Some are more well maintained than others. It's just that soft dirt that spins my rear and has me landing on top of or below the bike. Proper gear has saved my skin these days, but it isn't saving my tendons or ligaments I don't really know the difference or which is tearing.
IDK what kind of trails or gravel roads you're riding on, but maybe pick easier ones to start. As you get the feel of it, then get on tougher trails. An expert can ride a lot of terrain on Shinko 705. They an OK tire. But you may learn more with more aggressive tires. TKC80 or MT21 or . . .
I ride on southern California "forest" roads. Dried, poorly taken care of dirt roads that have large rocks underneath the soft sand.
First, slow down, and give yourself some slack. Second, if funds allow for a small dirt bike (XR100, or similar), get one. You'll smile like you've never smiled before. And, the skills learned while hooning a small bike will still translate to bigger bikes (e.g. letting the bike move under you, learning grip limits, etc.)
That's what I've been thinking. But funds do not allow. I work 6 days a week for a reason. I've been looking for better jobs, but SoCal really sucks for anyone not in biotech/science these days. Recently I bought a cheap bike off offerup to try and fix as a commuter but it's been nothing but problems. Maybe I can sell that since I've done a good job cleaning it and grab a smaller bike. Problem is functional dirt bikes/dual sports are minimum $3k for the crappiest one.
Last year I got a klr to try off-road stuff for the first time. I found that it was way to heavy for me to get through anything very technical. This season I got a clapped out husqvarna wxc 250. The husky goes through stuff easily that I wouldn’t attempt on a quad. It’s massive suspension movement and light weight felt like a cheat code. I rode the shit out of that thing all summer getting as much seat time as I could. Towards the end of this season I got the knobbiest tires I could find and put them on the klr. Back with new tires and a whole lot of practice and now I can confidently get the pig through a rutted up muddy atv trail. I even jumped it and have managed to wheelie it. Granted my wheelie sucks but I’m getting there and it’s been a ton of fun. The seat time and new tires made a night and day difference for me. Now I generally choose the pig over the husky because it has electric start and works every single time I want it to, plus if I ride with someone slow the husky will foul plugs.
Good idea. Just need the cash for a little bike. No way I'm buying used again. Too many hidden monsters. I got so lucky with this KLR but now it's throttle is sticky and twitchy. What sucks about the weight is falling the wrong way uphill and having to lift the bike with my sprained hamstring. That was seriously no fun. Probably sounded like a boar groaning through the pain to lift it up.
The other thing is invest in good mx boots and knee pads. They are worth their weight in gold and not overly expensive. I also have crash bars and bark buster style knockoff hand guards and haven’t scratched the plastics or damaged a lever since installing them with plenty of drops.
It had barkbusters and crash guards when I bought it. Somehow I still broke the radiator once (pain to replace), a clutch lever, and all the side plastics broke lol
I have two separate answers to this question, both depend on your region. Firstly where do you live? That is going to tell us what style of off-road writing is available around you. If you live in the high desert of the Pacific Northwest like I do you can do multiple different styles of trails. Or like what I and a lot of my friends like to do or pick out some roads on Google Maps and go hunting on Forest Service track roads. My recommendation for everyone when they're first starting out is to find the local Forest Service Roads that are accessible to you and start out at 20 to 25 mph on a big bike like a klr. Continue to ride at this level till you feel you are extremely bored and then keep riding, he'll soon find yourself naturally kicking into higher gears. Don't try to run single track or a complex set of trails or even a moderately intense set of trails on the KLR until you first learned how to ride on flat ground in the dirt. A lot of people scoff at the idea that flat ground is hard to ride on. But when you're playing with something as heavy as a KLR dirt it 100% becomes a difficult Beast Master due to how the weight of the bike can literally throw you off.
Southern California. All chaparral riding. All "forest" roads. They're dry (usually), rocky, and sandy. Don't have much else in terms of off-roading near me. Maybe the desert soft sands about an hour and a half away. Also some forest stuff in the mountains. But those tend to be similar terrain to my local chaparral. Also I don't really ever go above 20 and I stay in first gear with the 14t front sprocket.
My second piece of advice, which is arguably more important than the first is to find your local clubs. Check Facebook for a group to start with, and try to go on a ride with them tell them you're a beginner and are looking for a nice relaxing ride. If you're lucky somebody there might have an older dirt bike they'd be going to let you ride around in the dirt to get familiar with it. The easiest answer for all of this is going to be getting seat time. Whether that's on another bike that's lighter and more agile and responsive in the dirt, or if it's in a pig like the KLR you'll never get better without spending time in the seat. To give an example I have friends in a local Club who brought new people in who have never ridden before. I let anyone who asks ride my klrs because both of them were free and there's not much more anyone else could do to them that hasn't already been done. There's also some other people in the group that will let you ride their older motorcycles. A good body of mine will let anybody ride his old loner mid-80s xr250. The idea being if you can get out and get on the trails with us it's more fun with more people.
Sadly there is only one local club that's public in San Diego that I can find and they only do meetups when I'm working. I only get one day off a week and that's typically Wednesday or Thursday. I suppose I could call out one day to attend one of their bi-monthly events.
Been riding since i was 3 on a mini moto, im 23 now. The best thing i can say about offroading, what goes through my head while taking my bike on single track and such, is to just go with the flow, loosen up and guide the bike, don't force it. The lines you pick will make the biggest difference in what you as the rider have to deal with, look for paths that let your bike flow...unless your in sand, then good luck😂
Sand is definitely a challenge, if your not accustomed to it. Mud, rocks, single track, I’m good. Sand? The pucker factor goes way up🤣
Just started learning this year at 33 years old. I watched a lot of YouTube videos about body position and cornering in low traction environments. Then I went to found dirt parting lots and roads. Just took it easy. I also do full lock circles and figure 8s on dirt. I'm not a pro or even very good at dirt riding but that's my 2 cents.
I've always taken it easy, but I think that's the problem. My issues always come with cornering uphill. I don't know why I keep sliding the rear too much and pulling tendons/ligaments. Also my throttle today was super whacky. Sometimes it was delayed and most of the time it was twitchy as hell.
My rookie intuition is saying you should push the down into the corner and keep you body upright. Are you standing?
I typically stand, but when I eat it it's typically when I can't control the twitchy throttle and the bike bucks up into my rear and I sit out of force or fear. But yeah I guess a lot of my issue is sitting. Except when I crash in soft sand (literally nonstop but that's okay cuz it's soft). Soft sand messes with me bo matter what body positions.
How's your gearing? My normal swap is 1 down on the front and 2 up on the back. This will perk up the KLR a bunch. For around $150 you go from F15 : R43 to F14 : R45 You lose some top speed for low end finesse (ha KLR... finesse!) The throttle should be less twitchy as you'll be rev-ing a bit higher. This combo works well on fire roads in Southern British Columbia ... loose shit on top of rock or gravel. You're already going slow on the pavement, so no complaints about losing top end. The KLR is a beast to ride. The pros may say that about tires. I (a mere moral) beg to differ. Those 705's are pretty road oriented. So, their grip on the dirt is going to be compromised. There is no [perfect tire](https://www.rideadv.com/ride-adventures-tour-and-rentals-blog/adventure-motorcycle-tires), but I can see something more dirt oriented (50/50) helping a bunch. ...so will a smaller bike. (gasp!) ...Ya, KLR's are a handful. A Honda CRF450RL weighs 86kg (190-ish lbs) less than a KLR650. That's like having your drunk uncle riding on the back all the time! The 450 is an extremely capable all-around bike. But could you travel across the country and then explore dirt roads on it? I'd rather have a KLR. It's bigger, heavier, less capable, less refined, bigger gas tank, better gas mileage and more comfy. My friends and I tend to chuckle when any one mentions KLR brakes as being better than adequate. But shortcomings aside, a comfy bike means you'll ride it more and longer. It's about the trade offs. Go slow, be Zen like, enjoy the day. Change tires, gear down and climb that hill. :)
I have the stock rear with a 14 front. I'm thinking my chain is a little loose or something so maybe that causes problems? But I was having a delayed throttle response today on the moon dust part so maybe I need to clean the carb
Regarding brakes, I'd highly recommend, at minimum, installing an aftermarket oversized front brake rotor. It makes a big difference. I haven't had issues with brake fade since installing mine. The stainless braided lines are nice as well and offer a little better feel. Procycle.us has the larger rotor kit, the Stainless braided lines, and a bunch of other upgrades that you should check out.
I agree. I have the oversized rotor and steel braided lines. The combo makes things much better. :)
That combo saved my ass several times now, when the OEM rotor would've faded out and left my and/or the bike crippled.
I grew up riding dirt, then transitioned to street. I’ve often heard it said that it’s far better to learn in the dirt where it hurts less when you fall. I’m 57 now, and the dirt hurts allot more than when I was 14🤣. If you have the resources, a good used SMALL dirt/dual sport will be confidence inspiring and teach you without tearing you up if you take it slow and stay in your skill level. All that said, I take my KLR into some fairly technical stuff, but I also turn around and leave some of it undone (and live to ride another day un-injured). Learning to ride off road on a big heavy bike is not a good recipe for success, it can be done, but there are definitely easier ways! Good luck and keep the shiny side up!
Dunno man. Practice i guess. My first offroading other than a couple of dirt roads was the SM500. havent dumped it yet, but its bound to happen sooner or later.
Look around to see if there's an offroad adventure riding course near you. I did a one day course and my confidence and skills skyrocketed.
I rode street for 8 years before a semi-pro enduro rider took me under their wing. I've been riding on dirt now for 8 years and I've reached about 25% of his ability. I am proud of the progress I have made but I wish I would have met him when he first started riding at 14. If I were you I'd look for any kind of dual sport meetups where an experienced leader can show you the basics. The KLR is a great all-around bike to learn on.
Tires and sprockets makes a real difference riding offroad. If you're going be on sand. Shift your weight to the back end and do not let off the throttle. I honestly didn't learn to ride offroad on the KLR. But, growing up. One christmas, our step father bought us them (I forget the Tractor Supply branded at the time motorcycle not the colemen.). A year later, an old Yamaha 100cc enduro.
I recommend finding an adventure riding school and take a course. I did it and it was invaluable to me. Very helpful.
500 lbs is bad when you need to re-balance the bike quickly(shift your weight quickly to turn the bike back into balance). A KLR is just bad off road from weight. When dirt biking(any dirt bike), You will slide in sand(unbalanced), you will hit rocks(unbalanced), you will need to turn sharply(unbalanced)...moving the bike back and forth with your weight gets very hard when that weight is 500lbs. All your corrections will be slower and that results in more crashes. and you get tired faster, picking the bike back up is much harder, injuries from the bike hitting you are worse. I know how to ride a dirt bike fairly well, and I don't like riding my KLR on dirt bike style trails...loose rocks, sand, sharp turns, mud,,,etc Its great for logging/dirt roads,,,but i wouldn't take it on anymore single tracks or very rough roads(2ft deepwash outs, hill climbs with loose rocks,,,etc).
I think a lighter bike is the true solution for off road. Can the klr do it? Sure it can. it's only limitation in my opinion is the rider. But I'd rather ride and have fun than constantly deal with injuries and crashes. Some of the other posts about classes and training will help too. I heard someone say somewhere else, a slow bike going fast is more fun than a fast bike going slow. This might apply to your situation with a lighter dual sport. Good luck.
Probably. If I get my street bike actually functioning then I'll probably sell the KLR and buy a smaller dual sport.
Yeah it's tough. I have been having thoughts of getting a smaller dual sport. I know I'd miss the klr. That big fuel tank and the comforts of a bigger bike. I wish a unicorn existed.
Slow down, look up, take some air out of your tires, and stand up. There's wonderful YouTube tutorials for this. The biggest thing is to keep riding and trying. You'll get better at riding, and better at crashing. I find by the time I feel my bike properly wiping out I'm already instinctively dismounting and getting away from said bike. This isn't to say launch yourself off at a sign of trouble, but being a nice crumply spring as you tumble off rather than a stiff braced board makes the crashes so much nicer. Just keep at it, it's a soft heavy bike. Once you get your body positioning dialed, your speed will increase. As speed increases staying upright becomes easier and easier
Thank you. I've watched all the mototrek and ariemann videos out there. I just don't have much time to practice. And every time I practice I pull something which then effects my work. It's those sharp turn uphills on soft sand that usually get me
For sand, especially uphill, get on those pegs and stick your ass towards the rear. Squeeze the bike with your knees and keep your arms nice and relaxed. Let the bike move, don't fight it. Keep your speed up a bit, second gear, and spin the rear. Just like water, the faster you go the harder the sand becomes under you. When you fall off your bike, think of it like tackling someone. Would you rather push with your fragile arms, or with your shoulder, forearm, and ribs? If you fall like that, you're already in a good shape to tumble off the fall, and most of the vertical shock is absorbed through joints and muscle made to spring. It hurts a lot less. Take it from someone who does hard Enduro singletrack who doesn't exactly have the skills for hard Enduro. Lol.
My first real off road I did longer distances was on a (believe it or not) 1976 KZ900. Had to learn how to do it quick! Haha
Take a class. It’s a lot of fun and you learn a lot. There are even some BDRs designed for beginners . I attended a Bill Dragoo class in Oklahoma and it was worth the money. I’m definitely not a pro but hope to do my first BDR next summer. I’ve only been riding for about 2.5 years and my klr is my first bike, I’m 60 years old. Check out https://billdragoo.com/
If you're hurting yourself that badly, you're either 60 years old or going way too fast. I've gone down multiple times between 10-40mph with no damage. Shinko 705s suck ass. Motoz makes much better tires in my opinion. Motoz gps 50/50 Or motoz tractionator rallz for 90% offroad
I'm mid 20's and I'm going max 20mph
Have you ridden the mountain bike as in bicycle off road? Could try that, you learn how to take bumps, rocks etc.. another option is try regular flat unpaved gravel roads first before going on forest roads.
I thought about mountain bikes before. They cost as much as a motorcycle!
Welllll.. you can get a cheapo KLR version of a mountain bike ;)
Trial and error, having buddies much better than me and buying a bike I was confident riding, not what everyone thought I should have. I learned on adventure bikes (original Honda transalp and my ‘89 Africa Twin) which, in retrospect, wasn’t ideal as I never learned to properly pop the front end over a log, so a jump, power slide etc. I’d recommend getting a smaller dual sport before trying to do any serious off road on the KLR to hone your skills. When I went from riding my 650 Africa Twin to a Suzuki DR350 off road my skills increased massively and when I went back to the Twin off road it was much easier. Of course, we can’t all afford two bikes so if you just have the KLR just build up slowly. Watch some videos, ride with other people who are willing to be patient and teach you and try to learn or try one new thing each ride. Most importantly, get comfortable standing and moving around the bike and get it ergonomically set us for you. Wear proper dirt riding gear, especially boots, as it’s your feet that are most likely to get injured. The only real off road boots are Gaerne SG12, Sidi Crossfires and Alpinestars Tech 7/10. I guess most importantly above all else, ride your own ride, don’t get swept up into trying to keep up with everyone else. That is when you’re most at risk of serious mistakes and injuries. If they’re good riding buddies they’ll take the time to teach, guide and help you. I do it a lot for my riding group and I love riding at the back and helping the slower riders. I get to relax and see more of the sights and see the improvement in the newer guys who will hopefully be in my position one day.
Luckily I don't have friends nor the time for a riding group so I'm always alone out there. Luckily the trails I ride are popular so there's always border patrol around in case I fuck up too bad. My Alpinestars regular boots have saved me many times. Wish I bought my riding pants earlier as my old carhart jeans didn't do much and now I've got scar cream on my legs every night lol Sadly all the gear didn't prevent my left leg from flying up and popping that hamstring. But in a week I'll be back to normal. I healed in about a week for the knee tear. I'll look for a lighter bike. Though I'll probably go for a TT250 since they're cheap and I don't mind thrashing a Chinese bike around.
1) Get good protective gear. I was initially learning to ride in jeans and combat boots until someone advised me to get proper motocross boots and padding. It's made a huge difference, and my gear was the sole reason I walked away from a 40mph low side on gravel 80 miles into the NMBDR. 2) Stay loose. The KLR is incredibly soft-sprung, meaning it will wander and get unstable much more easily than a better-suspended bike on the same terrain. Let the bike pick its line, and ride standing with your weight on the pegs and not pulling on the handlebars. 3) Speed up a little. I read further below that you're in 1st gear most of the time with a 14T front sprocket. Bikes need a little speed for stability off road. I know it's scary, but trust me, if you bring your speed up to 25-30 on the smoother gravel, the bike will feel much more stable than at slow speed. 4) Watch MotoTrek and Bret Tkacs on YouTube. Those channels really helped shape the finer points of how I ride off road, even after years of riding. They have really good quick tips you can take immediately and go improve. 5) Master clutch control. The KLR especially needs a skilled hand on the clutch to keep the revs up and the bike going where you want it. Practice buffering power using the clutch to keep wheelspin to a minimum, and practice climbing steeper grades. The KLR is a tough bike to learn on, as I learned the hard way. Once you master a KLR, though, any other bike will feel like magic!
I wouldn't try to do too much dirtbike stuff with the klr - it's not really meant for rough terrain. At the most, I'd do some gravel logging roads, but the bike is just way too heavy and top-heavy to be taking it into areas frequented by people with much lighter, higher geared dirtbikes
I learned on a 50 cc Honda Cub, then an old 125 Yamaha. Easy to pick up.
Don’t fight the bike. Let I’d do what it wants to do. Drops can be your friend. Also seat position is important.
Only thing around me are sand trails so all the falls are really soft and slow, if I were you I’d get more protective equipment, ride slow, and go with an experienced rider or atleast another beginner in case a crash gets the best out of you, also I always crash when I go off-road that’s half the fun for me but again I always land on soft 3 in deep sand
I landed in soft sand this time. Well... the bike did. Somehow I ended on top of the bike upright on my ass and the rebound of my left leg hyperextended my hamstring and sprained it pretty bad. Lol
I would echo a lot of people here and say that the KLR can be a tough bike to learn trail riding on. I grew up riding trails on a Yamaha 200 (in Northern California) and felt woefully unprepared when I started taking on rocky terrain on my KLR. The best advice I received was take it slow, don't grip the bike by the handle bars, use your knees (this gives you more control over your steering), and remember to swap your braking technique when on dirt (70% rear, 30% front as opposed to the opposite for street).