klr 650 or yam xt 600e?
 

Has anyone any thoughts on which would be the best bike for crossing the usa, im thinking the xt600e, but would welcome any opinions, i based this decision on ability off road(we're gunna do quite a bit of the transam trail) and some sort of comfort when on the black top!Also price, simpleness and reliability came into this! Anyone got any thoughts?
cheers drew

We have not had the XT600 out here (US) for a long time (1990?), but the KLR650 is still relatively unchanged and on dealer floors. If you plan for needing parts or service, you will have a much easier time with the KLR. There are lots of used ones out here, too.

Matthew

confused!
 

Thanks for that Mathew i'd not thought that getting parts for the xt would be a problem, but if it is, it could really mess the trip up if we have trouble!
We'd pretty much made are mind up on the xt after doing a bit of research but now we're a bit confused as to what to take, has anyone out there any experience of riding and repairing an xt in the states and did you have any trouble with spares? Should we just take the klr and be safe?
Thanks again for the reply Mathew, better to find these things out first!

ta drew

I agree with Mathew.

I have two KLRs (90 Tengai and 89 KLR). Very easy to get parts and service.

Here's another option, why not buy them here and sell them before you leave?

Just a thought.

klr or xt 600e
 

yeah john given that some thought as well, the pros seems to be, klrs are common bikes in the states and if we bought and sold there we'd save on the shipping costs but the cons are that we would not be able to check and prepare the bikes ourselves , we would like a few trial runs out over here in the uk(packing, riding off road loaded etc) also we dont think we,d get a great price if we had to sell them back before coming home! And i don't know about you but i get quite attached to my bikes if they do a job for me!
This site has been a great find,there are a lot of things to plan and think about thanks for your ideas mathew and john keep em comin in, i really appreciate any advice i can get!
cheers drew!

I see your point.

What you have to do is get a bike from someone like me.... I like to have all my bikes and 4x4s ready for offroad use... hehehehe