Long Way Round KZ?

So last night I was watching a re-run of Long Way Round. You know it's that show where Obi Wan and his buddy ride BMW's around the world. Well that, mixed with the forum got me thinking that I need a KLR for cross-country stuff. This turned into one of those weird dreams where I was riding a dual sport bike, but was a modified KZ. Hmmmm...

Got me thinking, is it possible / practical? Not sure how the air cooled big fours would do with continued low speed operation.

Thinking what if ma kaw had thought bigger on the KLR?

Anyone attempted this, or seen it attempted.

Any thoughts? :blink:

Hmmm?

Was watching the show a while back and one of those high dollar bikes broke down in the middle of Mongolia, I think it was, anyway they sent it by train to get fixed and ended up buying an old air cooled 750 chinese bike, which was actually better for getting around in the terrain than the bmw's boy I bet bmw hated that episode.

Yeah, that and a half dozen frame failures. They did get quite a bit of abuse however. I'd still love one :S

Actually, there is a fellow in Oz who converted his KZ750L model (early 80's vintage) into a dirt bike...I'll see if I can dig up his photos...

Marneman wrote:

Thinking what if ma kaw had thought bigger on the KLR?

Anyone attempted this, or seen it attempted.

Any thoughts? :blink:

It's been done here on KZR.

Click

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> Dual Sport

Way cool! I'm thinking proof of concept here. I'm gonna give this one a lot more thought. For sure I'll be needing a third KZ project bike... Oh God, I got the disease bad :laugh:

I remember those series', I thought ewan was such a whiner the whole time. He was all tears and shit in mongolia. The KLR motor is the weakest part of the bike IMHO, some people have swapped in the KLE650 motor, which would be great, but I think maybe a KZ750 twin would be the best choice of the kz lineup. Those other bikes with the 4 cylinder kz motors are basically full throttle most of the time whereas an adventure bike often finds itself crawling along. You could put a big rear sprocket on it to give you more torquey response, and you would likely not lose any top speed since the KLR is so slow to begin with...but going slow could be really hard on the motor since it would run really hot.

One other big detriment you might encounter is that the kz motors are wide (4 cylinders) so you would need some serious skidplate action to keep the motor from getting smashed up on rocks or stumps

I was kinda leaning the 750 twin direction too. I was outside looking at the 1000, and it is pretty wide. I think an external oil cooler might not be a bad addition either.

Now just to find a seized up complete KLR.....

My brother just got me the DVD set as a Christmas present, I finished watching it on Saturday evening. Definitely interesting, although, if you had 2 support vehicles, you'd be able to ride anywhere in the world you'd like!

This guy rode around the world on a 1962 Harley Panhead HARDTAIL chopper- advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=462017 . Makes Ewan and Charlie look like a bunch of girl scouts!

Arent those big BMW twins air cooled?

I think the 750 twin would be a good contender for the style bike your building, it has the low end torque good for trail riding. Somewhat narrow, lighter then a 4 cyl, and with an oil cooler hell yeah.

Instead of putting the kz motor in a enduro chassis, enduro suspension on a strenghtened kz chassis would be awsome! an aluminum monoshock swingarm in the rear with a big fat knobby and a cafe tail piece. :blink:

i can picture a 750 twin in this, not very utilitarian though.