KLR's in Australia

[canadianmike]

In a similar vein to the message posted earlier about Europe, I know that KLRs are available in Australia (and have found quite a few on Bikepoint), but was wondering if anyone knows if these are 'A' or 'C' series. According to BigCee, the 'A's were only available in North America.

If they are 'C's, what difference does this make? Do they still have the same differences (as listed here: http://www.bigcee.com/faq/cmodel.html) For instance, I know that the most recent Aussie model has the 23 Litre tank...

Any ideas would be helpful...

Also, if anyone knows of an Australian KLP owners/fans site, I would love a link.

Thanks

Mike

[yarob]

Hello
When I bought my KLR 250 I was told the 250 and 650 are exactly the same as the model in the USA.

I do not know of any websites specifically dealing with KLRs that are Australia based.

KLRs are fairly common but without doubt the market leader remains the various Honda XRs, especially the 650.
Are you planning a trip down under?
All the best
Rob

[MichelleS]

Mike, have you found out anymore about KLRs in Australia? I'm off to South America on my way to Australia and am about to become the owner of a KLR-C (all going well) from Germany. My Dad's been doing some talking to the local bike dealers (in Oz) and apparently they recomend not bringing a foreign bike into Australia as you can't get parts.

Anyone have any further comments on the subject?

Also does anyone know about importing (permanently - unless someone wants a KLR in Australia at the end of this year) bikes in to Australia if you haven't owned them for more than 12 months?

Thanks,

Michelle

[Frank Warner]

Originally Posted by MichelleS

Also does anyone know about importing (permanently - unless someone wants a KLR in Australia at the end of this year) bikes in to Australia if you haven't owned them for more than 12 months?

Best answer: "Don't do it."
Longer answer - mountains of paperwork, money, engineers, parts .... more money and time than a KLR would be worth. Sorry. It might be worth while for exotica. But only might.

Parts for most things can be obtained over the internet. Postage for most parts of the world takes about a week to major centres. Add another week if you are in a remote location.

[Simon Kennedy]

Completely agree with Frank. Don't even think about trying to import a bike into another country. Having done a temporary import into Oz, I would say, further, don't even think about trying to import a bike into Australia.

We bought a KLR250 in Perth and it lasted very well all the way to Argentina, where we sold it on - your trip in reverse Michelle. It's a great choice for South America. Superb. Not just for smaller people either - I would (at 84kg) choose it for myself.



I would fit an screen, as you will be doing lots of miles. You can pick these up dead cheap in most South American countries.

Can't help you on the differences of models, but I wouldn't worry about it.

Simon

[simmo]

I dont know what alphabetical soup combination KLR650's are in Australia but they are quite well priced, around 8,000AUD on the road new. The models vary year to year, sometimes its a small tank version I believe from Japan other
times its a larger Tank version that I am led to believe is built in Thailand. Could be the otherway around??The 2003 small tank version is supposed to have slightly better suspension than the big tanked 04-06 version..but who knows, both have pretty good reputations as cheap reliable trail bikes. Rumor is that they are not going to be sold here either next year.

[lecap]

To get it short:
It has a big (23l) tank: It's a KL650A and is recently manufactured in Thailand (since 04?) or an old bastard from the early 1990's. Apparently they were available in the US and Canada all the time. Some of them even made it to South Africa before 2004.
If it has a small 14l tank it's a KL650C made in Japan. The oldest I had was a C3 1996 and the latest was a C5 1999. They all came to SA as official Kawasaki imports.
As far as I know the C was launched in 1993 discontinued in 2003 in favour of the KL650A 2004 (which was kind of her predecessor, humm?)

To answer some questions / differences between A and C not mentioned by BigCee:
rear shock (A: preload quick adjust) rear swingarm (A: alloy C: steel) These parts as well as the wheels are interchangeable.

MichelleS: The dealers recommend not to bring your bike because they want o sell you one. I own a quite rare japanese bike (Honda VF1100C 1984) and never had problems that "I could not get parts" neither here in South Arica (the only VF1100 in the country) nor in Europe.