Who can catch a Kwakersaki KLR650 Adventure ABS?

Beard's New Kwakker

So there I was, contemplating sharing the necessary upgrades for the Buell with she who must be obeyed, fully expecting a ton of push back on the $4500 extra I was going to need to bring the Buell Ulysses up to spec.

Maybe if she had considerably less mileage than the 49,000 miles she had on her bones, my better half woulda been ok with this spend..

Sadly, I could not argue with her logic stating I should just buy a new motorcycle and not worry about this sorta fiscal drag shit going forward.

So it was with this understanding between us, that we traipsed into Concord Power Sports with the intent to trade the Buell in on anything I wanted this past Saturday afternoon.

That's right, she had said anything!

In my minds eye, the Honda Transalp 750 that I had spied on Friday when I was in there buying fuel injector cleaning fluid for the Ulysses was my pre-selected target, but two bikes down from her in the power sports showroom was a Blue 2025 KLR 650 Adventure ABS specimen decked out with ALL the goodies you would ever imagine for an astounding clearance number of $5790.00.

These things were listed at $8200 MSRP.

The price drop was high because they are expecting the 2026 models to come rolling in shortly.

The 2026 model has updated electronics and a new gearbox but it is still a 5 speed box.

I sat on both machines and the Honda was not a good fit for my glider accident crushed left foot, and overall leg comfort ergonomics.

The KLR on the other hand, was like a glove for the old feet and legs.

I have to have comfort when riding, this is not negotiable.

They Kindly pulled both machines out for me so I could sit on them and I switched between the two machines a half dozen times before the needle swung to the Kwakersaki as I baked the levee road terrain I had been riding on with the short trips to Stockton and all the Brentwood and Lodi geo farm tracks I was actually riding the Buell on into the consideration equation.

The Buell was a great Adventure bike experience with handling so good it draws their owners to live with the pile of cash maintaining them takes as part of the package.

It is really a canyon carver though and this is not what I have to ride on terrain wise and is not what I want anyways.

My canyon carving days are behind me.

I required an ultra-reliable back road donkey package that had comfort and gadgets up the yin-yang.

The Honda Trans-Alp was sadly not that package and I would have been adding hand guards, crash guards, side bags and bash plates to that Honda if I had gone that way.

That machine is still a canyon carver though and it was $12K... Add the bags and other goodies to get it to the same feature spec as the KLR Adventure would have cost me another $3500 and probably my marriage....

With respect to the charm of the Buell though, you have to ride one to love one and that love is near instant when you do.

I am actually going to miss her....a lot!

The huge dollop of Torque those V-Twin engines further pile into the love equation just serve to pour on the overall charm of a Buell.

However, she who must be obeyed saw it as a big never ending cash suck and she wanted me on a new zero spend platform sans the fiscal drag.

I saw her point, but was sad she could not fathom the unique and awesome Buell experience.

Financial reality though, was financial reality.

I really wanted the Honda to win the contest, but it lacked hand guards and the luggage kit and the KLR comes with a whole host of other goodies like a bash guard, engine guards, frame guards, fairing, power rail and other goodies I would have been acquiring if I had gone with that Honda.

The Kwakker just needs new foot pegs as one thing Kawasaki still cannot make on Trail bikes is decent foot pegs.

The KLX 300 had Godawful foot pegs and the KLR 650 range also has Godawful foot pegs made of soft rubber that are great until your boot gets water soaked, then it's not funny anymore as your boot slips on the rubber like cold ice.

My biggest consideration though was the terrain I had been taking the Buell over was Highway 160 levee roads in poor to agricultural condition just over the Antioch bridge on highway 160 and I had lived in constant fear of a tire snag deep into one of those levee roads while on the Buell.

I explored these Levees all the way to Sacramento and beyond and this was just the terrain I was riding on.

The reality was those roads require something setup for more agricultural workloads.

The other thing bugging me with the Buell was the fact it needed new inlet manifold seals and it required a 3 bearing rear wheel conversion and new fuel injectors and probably a new fuel pump.

The fuel consumption had dropped from 42 Mpg to 30 and idle was all over the place.

I was about to tell my better half the bad Buell costs news before she had a sense of humor failure over this Buell ownership shit she was experiencing as she had already bought me a fuel pump and a front brake rotor for Christmas and I was piling on another whole pile of dollars with no guarantee it would end.

The next thing I know, we are traipsing to Concord Power Sports to pick out my next ride.

What I did not expect was to leave with a Kwakersaki KLR 650 Adventure ABS.

The irony of this motorcycling journey is actually tremendous.

When looking at which bike to get back into biking with a year ago I had elected the 2024 KLR 650 S as the best value machine for the job.

A KLX 300 and a 2009 Buell Ulysses Adventure later I had somehow arrived back at that intended square zero starting point.

After riding it for just one day, I know I made the right decision.

On Tuesday Dec 9th, when Concord Power Sports opened I traipsed over with all the parts and pannier bags for the Buell and to check where the Kwakker was in it's prep.

I am selling the Buell parts I still have to cover the new footpegs it will be getting.

When I turned up at Concord Power Sports Tuesday morning at just after 9 Bells they were on their Monday start of week routine.

I handed over the Spare Buell keys and asked where they wanted all the panniers and stuff for it and then politely inquired when my KLR would be ready.

The service manager stated 12 PM and I cheerfully said I would be back then.

I get a call at half 10 ten from Concord Power Sports that it were ready but I had just arrived home and had the works in the pipe to attend to.

After I had tended to said works, I summonsed the Ubers and got me a ride back to Concord Power Sports and entertained myself with my piss poor arts of Brazilian Portuguese lingo speaks as said driver of the Ubers hailed from them parts.

My Porra lingos were better than his English and we had a hoot butchering both languages as we merrily drove to Concord Power Sports.

On arrival, said Power Sports store bloke with the knowledges of key and manual location of my chariot was on the lunches and his stand in gave me a KLX 140 manual for my KLR 650 Adventure ABS and then entertained me with a key searches fracas that wuz rather epically frantic.

I had the spare in my pocket but I wuz not letting on. I wanted all keys and stayed mum.

After he found said key he opens one of the side panniers and discovers the KLR 650 Adventure ABS manual nestled at the bottom of the right pannier.

The KLX 140 manual would have been an entertaining puzzle for an actual KLR 650...

He then walked me through the essentials and after a few questions on when to do first service etc. I executed a rapid heterosexual departure.

As it was new it was at first a tad awkward.

Having ridden 103 horsepower of Buell mega-torque the last 6 months meant that the re-calibration was a tad brutal.

I had to stop driving like a deranged Sasquatch and act like a civilized Simian for the purpose of assimilating into the machine.

On the way back I took the 242 off-ramp to Pittsburgh which dumped me on highway 4.

As I was running it in I had to be gentle.

It seemed happy at 65 Mph and I let it do itself.

It was revving rather high on idle when it warmed up and the gearbox took a bit of getting used to but the handling was rather good.

In fact it was fairly astounding, all told.

After 20 miles I wound it up to 72 Mph and held it there until the 160 off ramp and the 18th Street exit on the Oakley and Antioch border.

When I arrived home I were well frigid from the fruzzes the air had fruzzed me with en route.

I had some more works to tend to and after that elected to go for a run to UPS and then on one of my farm trail runs to test the suspensions out.

Once at Funny Farm Airfield I did the turns of the U and headed home molto pronto as I was once again experiencing the fruzzes.

I arrived in time for my three bells PM meeting with my usually absent boss bloke.

After that I went and futzed with my new dual wheeled chariot.

In another three rides I will be completely de-Buelled and should be riding the KLR like a semi-civilized simian.

I like it, pass me a green banana, Bruce old boy, I needs the celebrations!