I think the time has come...

Thu May 5 05:11:40 PDT 2011

Great "shock" story Randy.

I hope I'm still into the sport when I'm 70, Art.

Seems like a really good price on your bike, Dave.

I'm sort of back on a bike with an 08 KLR 650 with Givi luggage. As much as I would like another litre sport bike, I would rather have the low insurance and running costs of the dual sport.
Steve Northrop really sold me on a bike I had already been eying. Watching him carve the corners in 2009 Colorado riding with Gpz's and a Beemer, it did everything competently.

So why am I not riding the bike I bought in 2010? Well I was toying around with a 2000 Miata for the past few summers and can only insure, license and drive so many vehicles at a time. The little convertible was cheap fun but hard to get around its reputation as a chick's car. I sold the Miata last winter and have the KLR ready to ride. Between that I went through another marriage and bought a power of sale house off of a Scottish hoarder so I'm still working on that project occasionally. Oh yeah, I also had to find the 71 YO hoarder a place to live after taking over his home but that's for another forum..

Below is an email I sent some friends when I first bought the KLR so I will let it explain the rest of my story:

Mike

Beginning of forwarded email here:
------------------------------------------
Got a smoking deal on a mint '08 KLR 650 off Craigslist Boston last weekend. C/W Givi luggage.
I fit it in the back of my Honda minivan and we toured around New England like that until Monday's return to Canada.

Well I really broke the KLR in yesterday.
Took it to Michelle's cottage in the Laurentians/Quebec side.
Her son, KiLLeR had his KLR300r with full Moto tires and complete Moto x gear.
He takes me immediately to the old mine, up a rocky strewn trail at high speed. Me want to show what a fast former, competition enduro rider I am, keep the 650 right off his rear tire and push him harder. We hit a mud hole and my Kenda street tires get caked. I slide sideways at about 30 mph coming out of the wet and bash my lower engine case on a combination rock log. The case guard is a plastic Barbie arrangement.

We come to the end of the hazard section within 2 more minutes. Keillor's bike lost a valve cover bolt from the bouncing and is spraying oil everywhere, mine is running oil on the ground from a dent/ crack in the left lower casing front of the oil drain plug. In the middle of the Laurentian wilderness/blackflies/mosquitoes. A drunk hillbilly Frenchman with no pants only a long T shirt in a school bus converted to a cabin(permanent residence) gives us a lift to get the truck, after he puts on some pants.
Lesson learned, never go full retard with a new bike. You did that once no?

Anyway hope that I can patch her with titanium putty. Case splitting will mean no riding for a few weeks.

Cost of new bike: 3000$
Number of hours spent riding: 45 minutes
Drunk French hillbilly with no pants: Priceless
________________________________________________________________________________________

-----Original Message-----
From: gpzlist-bounces at micapeak.com on behalf of Randolph Peters
Sent: Wed 5/4/2011 3:59 PM
To: Buehrle, Michael
Subject: Re: I think the time has come...

Hi Paul,
I guess I am in the same frame of mind as you only from a ZZR1200 platform.
The Ninja 1000 caught my attention as a lighter alternative, without the complexity, frills, electronics, bells and whisltes, humongousity,  and above all Trump-deep pockets that the Concours represents for me.
I DID manage to inveigle my local dealer into letting me take a new Ninja 1000 for a 10 minute spin.
Pretty impressive. The cabin space is deceptively roomy (the bike looks like a squid externally) for my 6ft 1inch frame. The bars are at a height as comfortable  as the Contibars I have installed on the ZZR.
Only thing is the seat, which  while seeming to be comfortable enough cants you forward towards the tank. Nothing a Corbin shouldn't fix.
The dealer hadn't a clue about how to get the price of the OEM hard bags I would want to get.
But it was an enjoyable experience to change direction with just a wish for a change.
Also surprising was its remarkable resistance to side winds. It was one of those "burn" season gusty, central Texas days and I had just dismounted from the ZZR on which were strapped the huge, out-there Givi bags and was, on the way to the shop, pretty well shoved around by the heavy winds. 
However on the same roads in the same conditions, straight line progress was more the norm. I don't think that the addition of bags will radically change this.
Re: performance. Not much to report. I respected the dealer's wish not to "violate its virginity" as he put it, and rather concentrated on "feel" "comfort" "fit", etc.
Throttle response is instantaneous, driveline operation smooth enough, no real clunkiness in  shifts; the power is there all right but .........
It requires a total pardigm shift from the raw midrange oomph of the ZZR and the silky surge of the Geeper I had. 
Been doing some more investigation and came up with this discovery of a potential Achilles heel.

http://www.cyclepathic.com/ninja1000/ninja1000suspension.htm

Now, off I go to buy some lottery tickets.

Randy  from New Orleans.

From: Paul Heim <pmheimjr at gmail.com>
To: Randy Peters <ARPEE44 at yahoo.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 3, 2011 6:52 PM
Subject: Re: I think the time has come...

I'm still happy with mine, but the Ninja 1000 looks tempting.  Horsepower a 
little better than the Geeper and weight a little less than my ZR-7S.  And 
human (old fart) ergonomics like the GPz.  I could replace 2 bikes with 
one...  Then again, every week I see a different bike I'd like to own. 
Finances dictate that I stay the course.

Paul in Ohio

-----Original Message----- 
From: Doyle, William
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 12:02 PM
To: Paul Heim
Subject: RE: I think the time has come...

I am with you. Mine is also here to stay.

-----Original Message-----
From: gpzlist-bounces at micapeak.com [mailto:gpzlist-bounces at micapeak.com] On 
Behalf Of Arthur Robinson
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2011 11:52 AM
To: Doyle, William
Subject: RE: I think the time has come...

Getting older!!!?

I went to a Sunday breakfast meeting at a local café where old Brit guys
on their old Brit bikes congregate to talk.

While I was wandering the parking lot a beautiful 'tricked out' BMW
1000RR arrived with a matching rider in his immaculate leathers. He
asked me to help him to disconnect his electrics (which should have
tipped me off) and then took off his helmet to reveal an even older guy
than me (I'm 70).

It turns out that he is 83 and rode in the IOM TT in the 50's.

Let me tell you, I'm inspired and won't be letting my old 95 go while I
can still put a leg over it.

If anything happens to my '95 (God forbid) I'll be looking for another.

Art in TO

-----Original Message-----
From: gpzlist-bounces at micapeak.com [mailto:gpzlist-bounces at micapeak.com]
On Behalf Of Rob Hamalainen
Sent: 02 May 2011 09:43
To: Art Robinson
Subject: RE: I think the time has come...

I also am putting my GPZ on craigslist.
(Dave do you mind if I borrow some of your listing?
It reads a lot better than what I had).
I have a 2011 Concours in the garage waiting for
this weekend.  I am getting older so I had to
go for the slower black one.

Rob 95

-----Original Message-----
From: gpzlist-bounces at micapeak.com [mailto:gpzlist-bounces at micapeak.com]
On Behalf Of David Spaulding
Sent: Saturday, April 30, 2011 1:11 PM
To: r2h at comcast.net
Subject: Re: I think the time has come...

Hey guys, you guys probably know better than I do.  I haven't paid too
much
attention to prices lately, so please feel free to let me know if I have
it
overpriced or under or whatever.  I won't be offended. Luckily, money
isn't
much of a problem for me so I am not trying to squeeze out every last
cent,
just want to price it right.

Dave

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