I spotted this Kawasaki KLR 650 in Roche Harbor, Washington, yesterday.
Earlier this year I posted about what great value this bike is for your adventure dollar. This one looks nicely equipped fairing, tank bag, and a pelican case. It’s nice to see these bikes out in the wild getting ridden.
In some ways motorcycles are the ideal overlanding platform. They’re inexpensive, sip fuel, can get through stalled traffic, or down the narrowest trail. In my experience, they’re two to three times faster over rough roads than 4x4s. And, as this beautiful video shows, they even work for very long distance travel.
Between 2010 and 2012 Alex Chacon, a recent BioMed graduate from the University of Texas, spent just over 500 days traveling up, down, and across the Americas, from Alaska to the Tip of South America, on his motorcycle, a 2007 KLR 650. It looks like it was a stunning trip. If you’d like to dig deeper, his YouTube channel covers his journey in twelve episodes.
Here’s more info on his KLR, the way he equipped it, and why he chose it over a BMW or KTM. He also set up a consulting service to assist other travels wanting to head south.
Update 5/14/2013: Here’s a WCXC post about the benefits of the KLR 650.
The other day I posted about the lauded BMW 1200 GS Adventure, which Expedition Portal named their 2011 Adventure Motorcycle of the Year. For those who’d rather not spend upwards of $20,000 for a nicely equipped GS, I give you the best value in adventure motorcycling, the Kawasaki KLR 650, which lists for $6,299.
This bulletproof, single-cylinder bike remained basically unchanged from its introduction in 1987 to its redesign in 2008. The KLR’s devoted fan base has posted a ton of information online about modifications, trips taken, etc.
Here’s a KLR page with mods and trips on a site called “oldrice.com.”
And here’s the KLR page on Wikipedia.
Happy riding!
