This is where a KLR has no business being anytime after wet weather, though sections of it were the most enjoyable. Lots of water holes and creek crossing, some pretty fast and high splashin' fun. There were however a lot of tight sections that the KLR is just too big and long (for my skill level anyway) to negotiate. We started out on wide gravel for a few miles then transitioned onto singletrack. It didn't take long to find lots of wet, slick rock outcroppings and eroded roots in the trail. SwampThing prefers plain old mud to this stuff and communicated this to me by some serious pounding through the handlebars that it was displeased. At the (ahem) stately pace I was maintaining it was easy to either lose traction altogether and thus control or kill the engine negotiating a particularly steep sided obstacle. I began to feather the clutch in tight maneuvering or application of throttle when negotiating steep obstacles. This seemed to help a lot, but got me into trouble on the only real even half-assed hill climb I attempted as I feathered when I should have been used the stick on SwampThing. No matter, it only took six guys, with the engine helping to get the beast moving up hill again.
We were denied much further exploration due to high water and a low bike The Kid brought, but found a long wide beach near a creek that served as a bullshitting stop and gave everyone a chance to ride each other's minibikes. I tried out Dr. Jekyll's KDX200 and found it amazingly user friendly with supple suspension, of course you have to shift every half second when on the gas.... No thanks.
Throughout all the riding Saturday, The minibikes periodically would “shed” parts and pieces. Inevitably, they would look to me for a solution. The KLR has a lot of parts that are extraneous for trail riding and became the designated fastener donor for at least three of the minibikes. I will note the only other Kawasaki had no such issues, even after the saw-briar patch with Brer Larry.
Babysister and stopped on the way home for a chocolate shake at a nearby burger stand and while we were there with his RM250 minibike and the SwampThing in the trailer a fella stopped on the highway to how much that Kawasaki cost, because he really had always wanted one. Babysister remarked there must be something wrong with people in those parts 'cause the Suzuki's were the good bikes to which another bystander explained, “KLR's are awesome!”
Like I always say when it comes to the KLR: “No matter what you ride, I can ride with you but you can't ride with me.”
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