I have just bought a klr650 in L.A.
The bike came with a Big gun evo x exhaust system fitted and the guy I bought it off said that I would need to continualy re-pack the muffling inside! It works and sounds fine at the moment but as I plan to travel south through central and south america and will not easily be able to work on it SHOULD I CHANGE IT FOR THE ORIGINAL STANDARD EXHAUST SYSTEM which he gave me as I need to get rid of one or the other. What should I do?

Also Im in Oceanside now heading down south and I need side panniers, anyone got any idea where I can buy some or have them made?

Can I get tires in mexico or further south or should I buy them here in the states?

Tires are available in the very large cities, although your choices may be limited. It took a guy 2 days to find a 'DS' type tire in Chihuahua for my DR650 (via bus to Creel). That's a city of 2 million people. No problem on street tires.
Running your tires down to nothing and then looking for replacements is the same as being hungry and broke as you walk towards the only ATM machine within 200 miles.

Knobbies could be a problem with the 17 rear. BMW dealers should have tires for their 650 which work on your bike.

Personally, I would opt for the stock or any system that did not require maintenance.

Yes. The OEM is heavy and makes the bike sound like a lawn mower, but it's also indestructible, while the Big Gun is notorious for disintegrating when you least want it to.

Okay, here's the deal with side paniers. There's two pieces you need -- the side racks/mounting brackets and the paniers themselves. For the paniers, you need to decide what exactly you want -- soft paniers, plastic paniers, or aluminum paniers. I personally prefer the soft paniers or plastic paniers, but the aluminum paniers tend to be bigger. Plastic vs. aluminum is one of those big debates. I personally have a Givi rack (Fred at Arrowhead Motorsports 435-259-7356 probably has a Happy Trails rack in stock, he'll ship'em to you) and a pair of Givi E360's as my paniers, and a Givi E45 with toprack as my top bag. The Givi bags should be in stock somewhere in Los Angeles, and are durable, I've dropped my bike on mine many times. Fred may have some of the Happy Trails aluminum paniers in stock too. BTW, keep Fred's # handy, he'll ship parts anywhere and he stocks a lot of the common ones.

I suggest getting them here in the 'States because tire selection in Mexico is whatever the shop happens to have, whether well suited for your trip or not. Someone who knows more about Los Angeles will have to tell you where to get tires there, all I could tell you would be to go to the nearest Cycle Gear outlet and they'll be able to get some quickly.

One thing to add. You probably don't need an all-out "knobbie" tire. People have done the trip just fine on Avon Gripsters, which are a long-lived street-oriented dual-sport tire. Just understand you won't be going through mud on those things

Go for the stock exhaust, in my experience aftermarket pipes do little or nothing for perfomance and as said earlier they are indestructable. I bought my panniers at KLR650.com, rode from Denver to BC (including Vancouver Island) several falls offroad and no problems. You'll want some road pegs (happy trails or search ebay for KLr 650) for the trip.

Dan

Go for the oem exhaust, rejet the carb and enjoy the benfit of having the big gas tank by increasing your fuel mileage.

Tire wise start off with a new set by the time you reach Gautemala(that's as far as I have been to date) there you can find a dealer in Gaut city and also Xela(quetzaltenango(sp).

Happy Trail sells racks & panniers- i'm using a Northwest rack and am in the process of renovating 2 memite cases to use as panniers.

Happy trail- http://www.happy-trail.com/category.aspx?categoryID=723

My Build thread on MY KLR & Mermites-

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...=167193&page=4

Hope this helps-

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2001 Kawasaki KLR650
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