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KLR650 vs XR650L vs DR750S vs BMW F650 vs XT600E | Which is the Best 2nd-Hand Dual Sport Bike?
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Nov 15, 2022
I chat about 5 of the best dual sport motorcycles I've owned or traveled with. If you own a dual sport bike, please let me know in the comments below. For all the specs (with graphs) of all the dual sport bikes, check out: https://adventurebiketroop.com/second-hand-dual-sport-bikes/ For more info on the Kawasaki KLR 650's, visit: www.klr650.net For the upgraded Doohickey, check out: https://www.eaglemike.com/
View Video Transcript
0:00
In this video, I need your help to help me find the best second-hand dual sport bike for adventure touring
0:08
Hello, I'm Francois from adventurebiketroop.com, where we chat about bike riding, maintenance, travel tips and more
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If you're new here, please consider subscribing and for any links we mention in this video, you can find it in the description below
0:22
In this video I want to chat about secondhand single-cylinder dual sport bikes, specifically the 650 range
0:30
Now these are awesome entry-level bikes if you want to enter the world of adventure riding
0:35
So as a first bike it's fine, some of them are a bit heavy and a bit high
0:41
but if you've been riding commuting bikes or scooters or smaller bikes
0:44
it's a nice place to start into the adventure riding world. But it doesn't necessarily mean it's only a starter bike
0:52
You can use 650's and a lot of people use them to ride around the world. So 650 is really an awesome
0:59
Choice, especially if you don't want to spend a lot of money if you're cheap like me
1:04
Then a 650 a secondhand 650 can really take you very far
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And if you do a couple of mods and get the luggage, etc You can really ride across continents on a 650 dual sport bike now in this video
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I'm going to stick to the bikes that I know the best five of the bikes that I know best
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I've either owned the bikes or I had friends or have friends that owned these bikes and we toured together
1:26
So I have a good idea of what they are about If you have any of these bikes and you you agree or disagree or want to add
1:34
Please pop it in the comments below and then if you have any of the other 650 bikes in this range the competitors that I've left out
1:41
I'd love to hear from you. Let's help out the guys looking for a 650 dual sport bike
1:46
Okay, so let's start with the KLR650. So I'm going to chat about the Generation 1, the first one, the one that's been around since 1987 and that they killed in 2007
1:56
This, in my mind, is, I think, is the best cheap dual sport bike
2:03
And what I love about this bike is it's got that big 23 litre fuel tank. I think it's about 6 point something gallons
2:09
and when I bought the Cal-R, I was looking for a Cal-R specifically for the big tank and I didn't
2:16
know the bikes at all yet. I had an old XT500 that I rode before that. When I got the Cal-R
2:22
I bought this purple and green Cal-R C model and I ran out of fuel and I realized it's only got 14
2:29
or 15 liters of fuel. I didn't know these two types and that was the rarer one. So it was just by
2:35
chance that I found the C model first. I've never seen one since in real life. And I'm actually sad
2:40
that I sold it, but I sold it to get the bigger tank of the A model. And so I owned that bike for
2:46
many years, and we did lots of touring on it, multiple trips to Namibia for two weeks, West
2:52
Coast for two weeks. We sped up for a kayak trip just for a weekend. So I rode that bike everywhere
3:00
I commuted on it, on the highway, on the dirt, played around on the farm where I stayed at the time
3:06
It was just an awesome bike. And what I like about it is the weight. It's still a heavy bike, but it's lighter than the others that I'm going to mention here
3:14
It's got high ground clearance, lots of suspension travel. It's very simple
3:19
It's got a simple carburetor. There's not much that can go wrong
3:24
And if something goes wrong, it's pretty simple to fix. And there's a lot of aftermarket know-how, especially since these bikes
3:30
been around for so many decades you can go to klr.net or any old forum and
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there's always lots of help and aftermarket goodies etc and there's a lot
3:41
of cheap mods that you can do yourself as well and unfortunately that brings us
3:45
to the negatives and there's some necessary mods that you have to do and it's actually amazing on a bike that's been around so long that they never fixed
3:52
this but you all know about the doohickey if you're into KLRs it's a little I'm
3:58
I'm going to explain this wrong, but it's a little lever that tensions the chain, or it keeps the chain tensioned
4:04
So as you loosen the bolt, the spring tensions the chain, and you tighten it again, and this thing breaks
4:10
And if it breaks, the chain will slacken, and all manner of things can go wrong in your engine
4:17
And the funny thing is I asked KLR at the dealership where I bought my bike
4:20
I bought a second-hand bike, but it was at 5,000 kms on the clock. It was pretty new
4:26
And I asked them about the Duhiki, and they just said, no, it's a myth, there's no such thing, and that's the first thing that I fixed, I went to a specialist
4:33
that has done this many times, an old German guy, and as we opened the thing, the whole thing came
4:41
apart, no, no, no, no, that was another one that he mentioned, he showed me a broken one, mine didn't
4:45
even have the spring in it anymore, so they just tightened it, they removed the spring and tightened
4:50
it, so that means if I had to adjust it, that thing would have came apart, and would have, I couldn't
4:56
That would have been the end of that engine. So that is really unfortunate on an awesome legend like this that they didn't pick this
5:05
But luckily, there's Eagle Mike in the US. You can just order the upgraded version
5:09
And it's pretty easy to install. So that's the one mod that you really have to do
5:15
And it's really the Achilles heel of the KLR. Another one is the bolts, especially the subframe bolts
5:21
There's an upgrade kit that you can buy. Lots of different places sell these upgrade kits
5:26
I did that on mine, so I removed all the bolts that's in this kit and replaced it with Loctite
5:33
and I never had any bolts rattle loose after that. Something else that I have to mention is, if you really go on the open road
5:41
it's like 90 miles an hour, 140 k's an hour, that's close to, say, between 5,500-6,000 RPM
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close to the red line and the bike still feels good but it burns oil So you really need to check your oil level and make sure you check it right If I remember correctly there a glass and you have to It has to be hot and then it has to stand for five minutes or something like that
6:03
I can't even remember. But anyways, so just make sure about the oil because it does burn oil
6:08
And I've heard this from many riders. And I've heard of many of the, especially Gen 2 bikes
6:14
that seize engines because they didn't check the oil. Others, the cons that I need to mention is the plastics fade. I don't care. I had mine full of stickers
6:24
I actually liked it. I had to cable tie those little Fairings at the front because they fell off so many times
6:32
Some people complain about the seat that it's uncomfortable. I didn't mind the seat
6:36
I mean we rode through Africa on two Chinese delivery bikes. So the KLR was luxury for me
6:41
What I like about the flat seat the bench seat is you can move around on it in the dirt
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So I actually like it and for luggage, it's perfect. I actually miss mine
6:49
I miss both of mine the C model and the A model and I was actually looking for another one now
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But then I found a Honda XR 650 L which I haven't taken delivery of yet
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But I'm looking forward to that bike and it's going to be fun to ride a different type of type of bike
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And it's also a fairly basic bike or very basic bike And then just one other one other thing that's a big negative of the KLR is
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well the gen 2 KLR, it was just a horrible bike. I rode it a couple of times, it rides nice, but all those plastics and
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It's just, I just don't like it. If you crash the bike, it's gonna cost you a lot of money
7:25
The next bike that I want to chat about is the BMW F650 Funduro
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So this was a bike in the mid 90s They took a road bike and put long travel suspension and spoke wheels on it and they called it the Funduro
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Now, a lot of people laugh at this bike. It looks like a, I don't know, it looks like a road bike
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It's similar to the Aprilia Pegaso that you had back then. But there's a couple of people that has put on noblies and toured through the desert
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I think there's a lady, Ben Capolco, that rode hers around the world for a couple of years
7:59
Now, we bought this bike. It had very little, very low mileage
8:04
I think it was 5,000 miles. It was imported from Japan. and my wife was looking for a bike after a trip we did around South Africa on small 125cc bikes
8:14
She wanted to ride her own bike. So we looked around and this was the only bike we could find at a good price
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low mileage, that she could put her feet right on the ground
8:24
It's a low seat height and that is really a big plus for a lot of beginner riders or shorter riders
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I want to say lady riders, but they're short guys as well. And I remember this was an awesome bike to ride
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It was easy in the dirt because of that low seat height. You could easily dab your boot if necessary
8:42
It was quite economical, more than my KLR, which was awesome. I think it was a bit of riding style, but the bike itself with twin carbs
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it was actually very reliable because you don't open the throttle all the way
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if you're touring relaxed. And so, yeah, so that was nice. It got a tall screen
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So with this low seat height and this tall screen, you're really out of the wind and the elements
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So even in the rain, light rain, you don't get as wet
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And we did a trip, a weekend trip with friends. And it was snowing that weekend
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And, yeah, that actually helps a lot because the engine heats up your legs
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And you've got this tall screen, low seat. So that is awesome
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then on the road it's got awesome road manners with that 19 inch front wheel so
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it feels like a road bike in the corners but then you when you go off-road it can
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handle it a big downside of this bike it's quite heavy it feels top-heavy it
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feels much heavier than the KLR that I had so if you drop the bike it just
9:47
feels more difficult to pick up as well and I don't like the dual carbs it's
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just one more thing that can go wrong and if you need to to clean it out yeah
9:57
that is it's it's a negative for me but it does work well when it works and then
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another negative is that 19 in front wheel front wheel when you do go off road
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so over rocky terrain in the sand it helps to have a larger diameter wheel but
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all in all I love the fund here and after I sold my car or I still rode the
10:14
fund here for quite a bit and the owner actually phone or sent me a text years
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later and he put I think something like 35,000 miles on it by then and the bike
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was still running perfectly so that was an awesome bike. In 2000 BMW brought out
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the F650 GS and you had the standard GS version with the 19 inch front wheel same
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as the Fandero and then there was the Dakar version with the 21 inch front
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wheel. Now this was a lovely bike I didn't own one a friend of mine owned one
10:45
and we toured together and I remember getting on this bike it feels light it
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feels nimble. It's got the tank below the seat, so the center of gravity is low. Even though the bike
10:55
weighs more than the carol are, it felt much lighter because of that low center of gravity
11:01
It's got fuel injections, and that's awesome. It feels nippy, and I think there was initially
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there's a mention of surging problems, and they fixed that with the twin spark models. The one I
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road was a 2004 and that didn't have any problems at all. I remember
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riding up this rocky hill and it just felt light. You could stand on the pegs
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and it just it was just a comfortable bike to ride. Nice thing about it, it's
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got ABS and you can switch the ABS off with the button and that 21 inch front
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wheel it's got higher ground clearance than the standard 650 GS or the
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Fundero, so it's more off-road, it's more of an off-road machine, and the fuel economy is awesome on that bike
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Remember the range that he got on his bike was way more than the rest of us Downside of this bike is the ABS button was a bit fiddly
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I remember I couldn't switch off the ABS. Maybe there was just something wrong with that bike
12:02
but I thought it's off, and then as you break it, you feel it's still on, and you have to stop again
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And I just remember I fiddled with that a bit. And I mentioned that because I had to mention something
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There's not much else I can mention. And if you really need another con, it's, I don't know, not everyone is into the BMW image
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It's a stupid reason to say not to like a bike. But anyway, so this is actually a bike that was on my shortlist for my next bike along with the KLR
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The Dakar is really an awesome bike if you can find a good one
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The Yamaha XT660Z Tenere looks a bit out of place in this crowd, but it's a newer bike
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and it's more expensive but it's not the most powerful it's it's very similar this the power
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specs is very similar to the other 650 bikes in the in this video so i'm going to include it here
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and two of my friends had tenerays and i've ridden them a couple of times and and we the one
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fall and on both big tours that we did the tenerays went with that was least one so i've got a bit of
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feeling of the bike and it's actually very comparable to the other bikes even
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though it's more expensive so one thing that I really like about the Tenere is the looks it just looks aggressive it looks like an adventure bike like a
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Dakar racer that is awesome it's got very low down torque I think it's got
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the most torque of the bikes on my list you can check out post in the description
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below at adventure biketroop.com we've got all the specs of all the 650s I
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could think of and if there's anyone any bikes I left out please mention it in
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the comments below and I'll go and update that list now like I said the the
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specs are very comparable to the rest of the bikes here apart from the price
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because it's a newer bike and what I also like about this is the way it
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delivers the torque load down so when you pull the throttle it just lifts the
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front wheel super easy so we had fun on an old airstrip where we just popped
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wheelies and I'm not a wheelie guy at all but the friend of mine showed me and it was just so easy
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just crack open the throttle and it lifts the front wheel we did a drag race with my KLR this
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660Z the Tenere and the Dakar the 2004 Dakar and every time we did a couple of runs every time the
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KLR won now I am a bit lighter than the other riders but the KLR is lighter and it is just
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It revs nice and freely. So I was very surprised. I thought with the two EFI bikes, this carb KLR will definitely be last
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It has taller gearing, so the top speed might be a little faster. I remember riding behind my buddy's whose bike it was
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He was on a CBR600RR that I was testing. I was trying to stay with him
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And I saw 170 kilometers per hour on the speedo. Now, it's obviously just an indicated speed
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But it did move if you give it enough time. The bikes are unbreakable and I can attest to this because this is one of my best friends has an xt and he bought it in
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2010 or 2011. It's got 84,000 kilometers on the clock now and he's really
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The bike works hard he pops wheelies and drives in places He shouldn't drive and power slides and he's really hard on the bike and he's a heavy guy
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Loads up his luggage and the bike's still doing fine after 84,000 kilometers
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He once stripped the whole bike and painted the frame yellow and rebuilt the bike
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But still the original engine nothing has been opened up. Off-road it's an awesome bike
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It's got a long travel suspension high ground clearance and it's it's just an awesome bike off-road
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It's got proper it's good good brakes much better brakes than any of the other bikes here bigger discs twin discs up front
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And because it's a modern bike no ABS that is quite nice on a bike like this
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especially for off-road riding and and it's got a big tank then stuff that I
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don't like about this bike it's expensive to get second-hand people don't
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want to let them go if you can find one you're gonna pay quite a bit at least
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where I live and it's not the fastest bike so if you if you want a faster bike
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this is not the one even though it seems like it must be faster than the other
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old more primitive 650s it's got a tall seat height so if you're a little bit
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shorter shorter legs you're gonna struggle on this bike but if you're a
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bit more comfortable awesome bike off-road and then not much else I mean
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there's very little you can fault on the 660Z. So the last bike on our list that
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I'm gonna chat about is a weird one it's the Suzuki DR750 BIG or Dr. BIG as
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some people call it or the Desert Express. Now the reason I'm chatting
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about the DR750 BIG and not the DR650 SE is because I never owned a
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650 SE and I don't didn't know anyone that owned one I know this is a super
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popular bike in the US but I managed to find a DR750 BIG and I immediately
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loved the look of the bike and how it sounded and the way it rode so I bought
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the bike I had the KLR so I bought the DR750 BIG with idea of selling the old ugly KLR but two
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weeks later I sold the DR again or I swapped it for an XJ6 old Jag, silly mistake but anyways I
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swapped it and kept my KLR. So let's chat about the DR750 BIG. A friend of mine also bought one
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during that same time and and he ended up riding it for quite a few months and took it to Namibia with us as well with his wife on the back all his luggage I think later on the trip he actually broke his frame not on that trip but later broke his frame that welded piece of rebar in place to brace it
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Anyways, it's an old bike old heavy bike What I liked about the bikes the image it just looks like it's straight from the Dakar Rally
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It's got a big 29 liter tank split into two. So when you remove the tank you have two pieces
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It's a bit awkward and to do on your own I like the fact that it's rare. A lot of people hasn't even seen a DR750
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big yet. So wherever you go people pay attention to this old bike. I think it was
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important to Canada but North America I don't think so I might be wrong but I
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think a couple made it as great import so if you can find one it's an awesome
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bike. I like it that it's got a lot of space it's got a flat bench seat
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again so with all your luggage and stuff it's easy to fit it on there. Negatives, there's quite a long list, it's big, it's heavy, it's old, they only made
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it for a couple of years, then they made it, they upped it to 800cc single
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cylinder and then the Canad had a rear drum baray break, the Electrix was a bit
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funny, that was the Achilles heel of most of the DRs, that neutral cutout
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switch, I just remember mine left me stranded so many times and that's why I
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ended up swapping it for an even worse thing an old British car, a Jag. It had an old
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decompression lever, mine didn't properly work, that you had to pull before you
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started because of that big cylinder and it was air-cooled, not necessarily a bad
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thing but it didn't have liquid cooling. Yeah, I loved the idea of it but living
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with it the Kale R was just so much better and I couldn't get it over my heart
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sell the KLR and and keep this old thing so that's the list of five bikes
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that I've owned or spend some proper time with over the years and all great
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bikes my choice is still I love the Tenere that's an awesome bike but at the
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price I think the KLR for me is an awesome I think I just got a soft spot for it Dakar also an awesome bike for almost
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the same price as an old KLR and because the people love the KLR so much. I'm going to quickly
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mention a couple of other bikes that I've also ridden over the years and new people that own them
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The first one is the XT600E. I also had dual carbs. It's a lighter bike, lighter than any other five
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that we mentioned. Slower bike, but it's, and it's smaller. Off-road, it's awesome, but you can still
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tour. One of my friends is quite a big guy, but he toured two weeks with his wife on the back with
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all their luggage through Namibia no problems no problems at all so it's a
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it's an awesome little bike and very very reliable then the BMW F650 GS the
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standard one so this is sort of in between the Fundiero because it replaced
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the Fundiero it's got EFI a fuel injection and so in between the Fundiero
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and the Dakar the Dakar was the same bike but with bigger wheel up front spoke
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rims well they both had spoke rims for some reason I actually prefer the Fundero
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and the Dakar more than the one in the middle the GS I don't know maybe it's
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just the image thing but anyways it's still an awesome bike and with knobblies
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on and a luggage rack you can go anywhere on an old GS then the old Yamaha
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xt500 I know it's it's it's an old dirt bike but mine had a nice luggage rack at
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the back that the previous owner welded on and he lifted the rear suspension and
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I did it and it also I fitted a 35 litre fuel tank huge tank I could do 700
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kilometers on that old XT so nothing to scoff at and we also did a trip once it
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was at I think it was about eight days it's quite thick sand in the West Coast
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and two of my friends rode XT 500 on that trip I had the KLR like super
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modern bike compared to the XT's and they fared completely fine it was easy to
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pick up the bikes had a lot of talk you can do 100 km per hour on the dirt roads
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no problem so it all the XP500S it's it's almost impossible to kill it mine I
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really neglected my bike I had a 500 as well and it just never died and then
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finally the the second generation KLR the 2008 onwards it's not the worst bike
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and I almost thought of getting myself one but it's just it's just not it's just
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a disliked bike compared to the old one and but nothing wrong with it it's still
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basically the same bike little bigger carburetor a little bit of suspension
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little bit of brakes much more a lot more plastics just uglier bike and but
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yeah it's still a KLR and then three bikes that I've never owned or
22:47
ridden before that I'd love to hear from you is the DR650 SE very popular in the
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u.s. especially the KTM 640 it just looks like an awesome bike and everyone says
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it's an awesome travel bike I know there's a lot of issues around KTM
23:03
reliability and one of my friends had one and I never rode the bike because it
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always stood in the garage there was it just never rode and then he sold it and
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replaced with a 990 adventure so I never got the chance because the bike would
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never run and then finally the Honda XR650L and that is one bike that I'm
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super excited to get my hands on fairly soon so we'll feature that on this
23:27
channel as soon as we can please let me know if you have any of these bikes if
23:31
you disagree with anything if you have more to add on any of the bikes I
23:35
mentioned or the other ones or the ones I left out and and please consider
23:39
subscribing to this channel thank you and goodbye
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