Today, I purchased a new, 2019 Camo Kawasaki KLX 250 off the showroom floor at TampaBay Powersports. I also own a 2016 Camo Kawaski KLR650 and keep a blog called KamoKLR.
I am an avid dual sport rider and the KLX will be my primary rider for Florida sand trails as we enter into the 2019 dual sport season.
Out of the crate:
When buying a new bike there are a couple things I get after right away. Before rolling off the lot, I take a quick look to make sure there's oil in the crank and, if it's liquid cooled, coolant. As soon as I can get it in the shop, and certainly before doing any significant mileage, especially on dirt roads, I check the following:
Air Filter Oil
Chain Lube
Chain Tension
Spokes (the "sound" approach)
Tire Pressure
Obvious Loose Fasteners
Torque on the Brake Calipers
I was especially concerned about getting after these items and I noticed that my dealer did not take the motorcycle on a test ride. Normally, they're obligated to ride it one mile. I took delivery after closing, so they apparently skipped that item. It was 12 miles back to the homestead.
Most all items checked were fine. As is usually the case when I check an oil-laden filter upon purchase, the oil filter was dry. As we know, it's the oil that does the filtering, not the foam. In Florida, the air quality is bad due to such high dust levels so this is important! I always have a good supply of Uni Filter Oil (and their cleaner for when I need that). Promptly taken care of.
Good grief, would you look at the size of that air filter!
Minor Modifications:
We all need to modify these motorcycles to our liking. As to some of the more minor mods, I'm just going to post here and keep a running tally. I'll make a separate post for more significant items.
Mirror: Mirrors are a pretty good dual sport design. I'll run them until I break them and then I'll get the folding mirrors for $22 each on ProCycle. As to positioning, exactly similar to my KLR650 the mirror on the right is okay and the mirror on the left makes me look at my arm pit. Fortunately, I still had the other riser/extender from my KLR fix.
Bar Height: I had a bar riser kit going into the Wild Bear Safari, but I thought I'd wait it out. Definitely needed a little more height so as not to be bent over forward and able fall out of balance. At the moment, I have 10mm of rise that required no adjustments or mods to the cables and whatnot.
Rear Bag: So that deck bag on the rear fender is supposed to hold the tool bag, but it doesn't. The tool bag is too long. However, my Slime Powersports Air Compressor fit...like a glove! I wired a cable to run it too that slides up under the fender.
Tidy Tail: That rear fender and tail light sucks so bad. I stared at if or a couple weeks before I got my grinder out and went to work on it. I cut the reflectors off the license plate bracket and then grinded it down so it's totally under the plate. The chopped away on the fender itself taking off about 7 inches.
ProCycle has a tidy tail bracket for $60 and I'll probably get it at some point. It appears I'd need to do something with the signal lights to use it. For now, I'm just trying to figure the bike out and that fender was a cosmetic thing that I just couldn't deal with any longer.
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