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  #1  
Old 14 Apr 2011
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Canada
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First adventure bike!

Hey collective KLR fans,

I have a question for those of you who've owned older bikes... how used would you consider to be too used on a KLR with most parts looking in decent condition? Advice in other forums is swaying me to hold off for a better deal, but it's hard to keep a cool head and keep driving the truck around watching all the bikes zip around my truck and peel out on one wheel while I'm trying to drive slow to conserve gas

I'm looking at buying a 2001 I found here for 2500, but it has just under 40k on it. The price is a little higher than most around that usage because it comes with so many add ons, but I'm just not sure the savings will be worth the trouble of an older bike.

Exact shape of the bike is pending taking it to a mechanic (yes, I am very interested) but the guy doesn't have it plated... so I'm still working out how I'll make that happen.

Anyways, here's the bike:

upgraded corbin seat.17 inch exel gold rim with brans new tires with a extra set of two new rear tires. lcd vapor digital display odometer, 12V outlet.
Upgraded suspension and come with couple set of height ajuster for the rear swing arm.
Engine run perfect and is jet tuned with jardine exhaust pipe.
Come with a set of 3 hardcase for travelling.battery charger.chain lock and all manuals
39000km manual 5 speed
Automatic chain oiler
Upgraded front disk brake 320mm

Comes with a bunch of little extra doodads (incl. a pair of boots that fit!) but basically it's just great value for the extras. Is that worth buying a bike at this many kms?

My only concern is that while nothing appears to be rusting out, there is some rust on the machine. He dropped his price by 400 from his ad in casual conversation, no bargaining on my part he just gave me a lower price when I mentioned I'd keep looking around, so I'm not sure whether to be leery or not...

I'm planning on using it to go down south, just till I hit ocean, probably make my way to Ushuaia... the budget is tight, so I'm really interested in this bike as it seems it'd save me a lot on extras I was going to need to do anyways!

Any advice is greatly appreciated!
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Old 15 Apr 2011
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Mimbres, New Mexico, USA
Posts: 510
I have a 2000 KLR that now has 63,000 (90,000 km) miles, so the miles (kms) wouldn't bother me so much. KLR emgines seem to last a long time if kept below 5,000 RPM. Above that they tend to burn oil much more rapidly. Obviously I have no idea how this one was treated.

My experience is that the people who put jet kits and pipes on their bikes run them a lot harder than those that don't. My guess is that the gold rim is thre because the original was dented up from hard use off pavement. It probably has the enduro speedo because the speedo drive unit is known to lock up, frequently ruining the wheel hub when it does.

Just my opinion, and none of this means it wouldn't be a good buy, but it depends on how highly you value the extras that come with.
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Old 15 Apr 2011
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Thanks Andy, those are important considerations that I hadn't thought of...
I really value the extras more than the bike, it would be great to find more of a sure bet with a less used bike. I may hold off, at least until I've had time to see if the market won't supply me with any better deals.
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