Looking for a Dual Sport.. KLR650?

[mmonroe]

One major difference is the XT is a single vs. the other two, which are both twin cylinders. Having a big thumper single is fine off road but gets rather tiresome on-road for any length of time.

*** I rechecked my facts and was incorrect about the XT660Z being a twin. Mark

The XT660Z Tenere is a twin, not a single. The specs on it show it making around 60-65hp and weighing in at around 400lbs. If you compare the brakes, weight, engines and whatnot - it lines up pretty nicely to the F800GS. I'm sure it would be Yamaha pricing versus BWM pricing which would most likely put it around 2/3 the cost - probably around $7000-8000.

If Kawasaki took the Versys and make a dual-sport out of it - the XT660Z is pretty close to what you would end up. Since Yamaha really doesnt have a KLR maybe they could be convinced to bring over the Tenere instead. I called them and expressed interest.

Random thoughts..

Mark

 

[Fred W]

One major difference is the XT is a single vs. the other two, which are both twin cylinders. Having a big thumper single is fine off road but gets rather tiresome on-road for any length of time.

The XT660Z Tenere is a twin, not a single.

Not according to their own Website it isn't.

"Engine type Liquid-cooled, 4-stroke, 4-valve, single cylinder, SOHC"

 

[mmonroe]

One major difference is the XT is a single vs. the other two, which are both twin cylinders. Having a big thumper single is fine off road but gets rather tiresome on-road for any length of time.

The XT660Z Tenere is a twin, not a single.

Not according to their own Website it isn't.

"Engine type Liquid-cooled, 4-stroke, 4-valve, single cylinder, SOHC"

I just doubled checked and indeed I am incorrect. I will edit my orginal post to reflect this.

My bad...

Mark

 

[Fred W]

One major difference is the XT is a single vs. the other two, which are both twin cylinders. Having a big thumper single is fine off road but gets rather tiresome on-road for any length of time.

The XT660Z Tenere is a twin, not a single.

Not according to their own Website it isn't.

"Engine type Liquid-cooled, 4-stroke, 4-valve, single cylinder, SOHC"

I just doubled checked and indeed I am incorrect. I will edit my orginal post to reflect this.

My bad...

Mark

It doesn't matter... for I have captured your mistake for posterity!!! Bwa-ha-haa!! :devil:

just kidding, of course.

 

[Fred W]

One major difference is the XT is a single vs. the other two, which are both twin cylinders. Having a big thumper single is fine off road but gets rather tiresome on-road for any length of time.

Why? What's the difference? What makes one more "tiresome" than the other? :blink:

What makes it more tiresome is the heavy throbbing vibration at just about any rpm. Even with counter balancers, the power strokes on big singles (650cc in a single cylinder is big in my books) make all-day cruising a bit tiresome.

Then again, this could be a big attractor for the lay-dees...

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

They (wimmens) will probably be disappointed with the Suzuki DR650 (at least mine)? It doesn't vibrate at all. Maybe doesn't even throb (I don't know...)?

I've got 12K+ miles and have toured border-to-border -- no complaints.

But twins -- now some of those can really set up some hi-freq. vibrations.....

Actually, I think it all comes down to good engineering/design (and balancers....).

Some even say the FJR vibrates...!!

 

[Fred W]

Yeah, well... anyone that thinks the FJR vibrates a lot is just plumb crazy. Even when in serious need of a TBS it is a smooth runner compared to many (most) other engines.

I have never ridden a DR650. I'll have to give one a try sometime. Had a KLR. Have the Pegaso. Have owned and ridden dozens of other big singles and they all had the characteristic throbbing.

Back in the day, I remember riding my buddy's BSA 441 Victor for the first time. The cylinder bore wasn't even all that big on that engine, but the long stroke made up for it. Of course that was before counter-balancers and such. For a bike with only 30 hp, that baby would shake your fillings loose...

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

Fred...give it up! I rode (and commuted, 50+ mi.) on a BSA 441 Victor Special (square barrel). It just ain't that bad -- tooth fillings just fine. There is such a thing as engine vibration -- but singles (just by definition) aren't the culprits 'old-wives-tales' try to make them out. Size of piston or stroke (or any other measurement -- by itself) is not a determiner -- big flywheels, common on most big singles, are great levelers of internal commotion (as well as balancers).

"Characteristic throbbing" (now) -- is that bad...? :huh:

 

[Fred W]

Fred...give it up! I rode (and commuted, 50+ mi.) on a BSA 441 Victor Special (square barrel). It just ain't that bad -- tooth fillings just fine. There is such a thing as engine vibration -- but singles (just by definition) aren't the culprits 'old-wives-tales' try to make them out. Size of piston or stroke (or any other measurement -- by itself) is not a determiner -- big flywheels, common on most big singles, are great levelers of internal commotion (as well as balancers)."Characteristic throbbing" (now) -- is that bad...? :huh:

Give it up huh? Yeah, the BSA was a smooth runner. Huh?

I guess we will just have to disagree.

 

[gr8eyes]

And then there is the new Benelli Tre-K, Dual Sport. Wish I had a picture to post. I saw it in one of the motorcycle rags last night. I'm sure its going to be expensive.

 

[beemerdons]

Fred...give it up! I rode (and commuted, 50+ mi.) on a BSA 441 Victor Special (square barrel). It just ain't that bad -- tooth fillings just fine. There is such a thing as engine vibration -- but singles (just by definition) aren't the culprits 'old-wives-tales' try to make them out. Size of piston or stroke (or any other measurement -- by itself) is not a determiner -- big flywheels, common on most big singles, are great levelers of internal commotion (as well as balancers)."Characteristic throbbing" (now) -- is that bad...? :huh:

I've got to agree with charismaticmegafauna! A BSA Victor 441 Special in stock running condition had hardly any vibration.

Mine was a 1966, the very first year, and it was bought new from Irv Seaver BSA/BMW in Santa Ana, California; bought the year that I graduated from high school. I kept it for ten years and put 30,000 miles on it; not that many miles, but it was sharing the garage with a 1967 Norton Atlas 750 before I joined the US Army and its riding time was split between a BMW R60/2 and a Harley-Davidson Sportster XLCH after I got out of the Army. I wondered if someone lightened the flywheel, or raised the compression, or if the timing was misadjusted, on the Victor that Fred W rode. I know that this was 33 years ago when I last rode my Victor, but I certainly don't remember it vibrating any more than my very low serial number 2003 FJR!

The BSA single that I really wanted, but was out of production and still to expensive for a high school senior to afford, really did shake. And that was the hallowed and famous BSA Gold Star 500. But the Goldie's were really race bikes with plates.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

Thanks Don.

I must mention, tho, that the 441 'Victim' did have pretty strong, every other rotation, firng pulses -- which meant it wasn't a good idea to ride it across a nice lawn!

A couple of the other bikes you mentioned (twins) were well-known vibrators. The 750 Atlas would get the h/b ends as big as the big end of a baseball bat at highway speeds. And Sportsters (CH), for many years, sometimes made it hard to focus you vision at certain engine speeds.

The old BMW you mentioned (R60/2) was 'dream-like' in comparison. A nicer, more 'gentlemanly', motorcycle would be hard to find.

But, it was only a dual-sport in the hands of Danny Liska..... :blink:

 

[beemerdons]

Thanks Don. I must mention, tho, that the 441 'Victim' did have pretty strong, every other rotation, firng pulses -- which meant it wasn't a good idea to ride it across a nice lawn!

A couple of the other bikes you mentioned (twins) were well-known vibrators. The 750 Atlas would get the h/b ends as big as the big end of a baseball bat at highway speeds. And Sportsters (CH), for many years, sometimes made it hard to focus you vision at certain engine speeds.

The old BMW you mentioned (R60/2) was 'dream-like' in comparison. A nicer, more 'gentlemanly', motorcycle would be hard to find.

But, it was only a dual-sport in the hands of Danny Liska..... :blink:

You definitely know your Victors; and your Nortons and the XLCH! I finally had my "Sportster knee" repaired through arthroscopic surgery a dozen years ago; everytime the Sporty would backfire during startup, thanks to the Fairbanks-Morse magneto, a little more lateral maniscus tissue in my knee would get torn away. And its no wonder that Norton brought out "Isolastic" suspension with the Commandos; the Atlas 750 was a shaker. When it was a 650 in the Dominator, it didn't.

I rode my 1966 BMW R60/2 down the length of the Baja California Peninsula while Mexico 1 was being constructed. There would be 100 kilometers of pavement and then the next 100 kilometers would be dirt. The Earles forks made it tolerable.

I was so beat up by the time that I reached San Jose Del Cabo, Cabo San Lucas was just a fishing village then - San Jose was the "big city" back in the seventies, that I took the ferry from La Paz to Mazatlan to get back home. Oh, to be 29 again!

 

[FJRay]

This talk of vibration has me inspired so today I am going to get my Royal Enfield started for the season. It doesn't get many miles on it but it is a ball to ride and does really well on the dirt roads around here.

 

[beemerdons]

This talk of vibration has me inspired so today I am going to get my Royal Enfield started for the season. It doesn't get many miles on it but it is a ball to ride and does really well on the dirt roads around here.

FJRay: When I rode with you and your daughter in Utah at WFO-6 last year you'd mentioned to me you owned a Royal Enfield.

Those Interceptors were the most beautiful machines of their day, even prettier than the BSA Spitfire which was a real looker.

My friend, Stu Lachman - later joined the US Army with me, used to race for Royal Enfield of Los Angeles. We'd always be at Ascot or the Ventura Fairgrounds or the old Santa Ana Airport to watch Stu mix it up with the Nortons, Trumpets and Beezers!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Enfield