new must-haves installed

[snipe-br]

Well, my new KLR is slightly more mine now. I put on some goodies.

bigger brake rotor, billet mirror mount, engine bolt upgrades, rear master cylinder guard, and fork springs.

[Juice]

Did those rotors make that much of a difference?

[snipe-br]

jury's still out on that one. It mostly makes me realize how incredibly piss poor the standard brake lines are.

I'm too used to twin 320mm rotors with twin piston calipers on each side. If I ever used more than two fingers slowing down my 600RR I risked locking up the front end.

[scootertrash]

That Roter looks cool, and I understand about the brakes. My 05 636 had some nice stopping power vs. the slug brakes on the KLR.

[Flying Low]

good jobs on the mods. those are on my list of some-day farkles.

[jollyroger75243]

You'd be surpised how much a little suspension "tuning" up front will improve the KLR's braking on the street.

BUT! since you have the trick rotor, it's time for the trick steel line!

Nice work/report!

(former KLR650A12 owner)

[snipe-br]

yeah, that and the fork brace are next.

[chappy]

yeah, that and the fork brace are next.
How about an update on the oversize brake rotor? The ad says 18% more stopping power. Do you think the improvement is worth the $200?

Thanks

[chappy]

Well, my new KLR is slightly more mine now. I put on some goodies.

bigger brake rotor, billet mirror mount, engine bolt upgrades, rear master cylinder guard, and fork springs.
Also, the mirror mounts, are those the vibration damping mounts listed on KLR650.com and do they work?

[snipe-br]

well, the improvement is probably 18% I'd suspect. The fade is increased a fair amount and was already a big problem to me. Between the fork springs and the rotor the bike stops better but not nearly what I'm used to (600RR). I wish I had to skills to build a bracket to mount a dual pot caliper with a bigger master cylinder off, say, a ZX6! that would probably just cause me to lock the tire at the slightest touch.

[snipe-br]

no, the mirror mount came from dual-star. It's just to keep from breaking the switch housing. I did recently get baja design folding mirrors though. Maybe next time Kenny brings me deep into the woods and I crash it 10 times I won't break my mirrors off.

[chappy]

I would think brake fade would increase in proportion to the increase in stopping power. I assume you are referring to brake fade from heat on repeated hard use? Do you still have the 600RR? My concern with the weak brakes is that I am used to stopping a lot harder on my SV650 and VFR. Could get me in trouble with the KLR on the street.

[snipe-br]

Well, as I'm sure you know, on a sportbike you can basically throw away the rear brake. On the KLR you really start to use it alot. It'll stop just fine when you need it to.

[chappy]

Well, as I'm sure you know, on a sportbike you can basically throw away the rear brake. On the KLR you really start to use it alot. It'll stop just fine when you need it to.
I have not used mine yet but I jave thought about using it! I may be to old to successfully adapt between three different bikes, thus my goal is to try to make them all behave as similarly as possible so the oversize rotor is on my wish list. The vibration damping mirror mounts too because it looks like two cars overtaking... that f*cking blows my mind because on my other bikes there are always at most 0 cars overtaking.

[JayD]

Chappy,
from what I gathered from my fellow KLRistas over the time I had a KLR
is a braided line and better compound pads are about the best bang for the buck
The oversized rotor is way Kewl but in terms of dollars spent it doesn't make near as big a difference as the line, a brake flush and new pads

good luck

[chappy]

Thanks JayD

[kajunKLR]

Well, as I'm sure you know, on a sportbike you can basically throw away the rear brake. On the KLR you really start to use it alot. It'll stop just fine when you need it to.

Amen brother: easier to stop from 80mph then 120 mph. it is proportional.