Sometimes it’s ok to sacrifice one bike so that many more can live a better life.
It must be winter, as I’ve been killing non-riding time by perusing the online classified ads (I can hear editor Roberts saying, “Not again!”). It’s a bad habit of mine, I admit, because in the last four years, I have acquired four motorcycles, all of them unplanned purchases made on an impulse after seeing them in ads. Of course, they each mean something important to me, like the 1982 Honda FT500 Ascot, which was my first streetbike (I bought two of them as a package deal, and have since sold one), and the Sportster tracker, a bike I built two decades ago using a frame from a Harley XR750, when I ran a bike shop.
My latest impulse acquisition is a Kawasaki KLR650, the second one now in my possession. Why would I need two KLR650s? Well, I don’t. But the deal was irresistible: It’s a 2008 model, just like my original bike, with only 19,000 km on the clock. The bike is also equipped with crash bars, a centre stand, an aluminum skid plate, aftermarket hand guards and off-road foot pegs, and its bodywork is in better condition than mine. All for a paltry $1,500. But there was a catch: the engine was blown.
The former owner had the misfortune of running the bike without checking the oil and ran it dry, the engine showing its disdain by seizing up. KLR650s produced in 2008 and early 2009 are known for consuming oil, something I’m aware of and keep in check. After a little negotiating, I loaded my new, non-running KLR into my pickup for $1,200, or about the equivalent of the price of the accessories alone.
Now, I would normally repair the bike, which I’ve since inspected and found it needs a new piston and a rebore, and the exhaust cam is discoloured but otherwise looks fine. But I use my own bike on- and off-road, and have wasted countless hours swapping out the street tires for knobbies and back again. You see, I prefer the sharp handling of street tires on pavement, and I don’t want to wear out my knobbies prematurely. I’ve been looking for a set of wheels for a couple of years, but just can’t find it in me to cough up between $600 and $800 for a used set, disc brakes not included. I now have a spare set of wheels – discs and all – thus reducing tire swaps from two hours to about 20 minutes. I also scavenged some of the accessories, and the fairing side panels to replace my broken ones. The replacement panels had blue graphics (my bike is red), which I promptly removed using a heat gun to better match my bike.
I also now have a spare seat, which I’m thinking of experimenting with, by either reshaping it for more comfort or inserting in it a heating element from a heated car seat cushion, thus transforming it into a heated seat. Or maybe I’ll do both; winters are long, after all.
But what do I do with the rest of the bike? Well, I’m parting it out. It’s the first time I’ve done such a thing since I’ve been riding motorcycles. “Parting out” simply means that the bike will be disassembled and all the parts will go up for sale on the very same medium that led to my acquiring this bike in the first place: online classified ads.
However, I actually feel guilty doing this – not because I’m doing anything illegal; the bike is legit, after all. My conscience is stricken because I have taken – with a bit of work and a few parts – what could have been a perfectly good, usable motorcycle that someone else could have enjoyed off the road, forever. I do feel some redemption, though, knowing that the parts salvaged from this donor bike will help others repair their own broken bikes and thus allow them to get back on the road.
As this is being written, I’ve already sold the fuel tank, fairing and instrument panel (enabling at least one owner to mend a crash-damaged KLR), and some other major components, allowing me to so far recover 75 percent of what I spent to buy the bike.
As for the engine, it will be repaired, because it just breaks my heart to tear it down and sell off the parts. I’ll repair it with an updated piston that reduces oil consumption so it, too, can eventually help put another KLR back on the road, maybe one that ran dry, just like this one.
Technical articles are written purely as reference only and your motorcycle may require different procedures. You should be mechanically inclined to carry out your own maintenance and we recommend you contact your mechanic prior to performing any type of work on your bike.
