Today, I listened to an experienced motorcycle mechanic call the Kawasaki KLR 650 the "cockroach of motorcycling." The person said this because it's reliable and tough. But I thought to myself, how can a KLR 650 be a "cockroach" and at the same time suffer from a so called possible "fatal flaw" commonly known as the "doohickey problem?" If your not familiar with the "doohickey problem," you can read more about here:
Kawasaki KLR 650 Doohickey or DooHickie ModificationI would also like like to note that another career motorcycle mechanic who worked for a Kawasaki dealership for 20 years said he never saw a Kawasaki KLR 650 come into his shop for anything related to the "doohickey repair," also know as fixing the balancer chain adjustment.
I have close to 50,000 miles on my 17 year old 2009 Kawasaki KLR 650, and I have not done one modification to the engine, and my balancer chain is still working. Considering everything I have experienced with the KLR 650 in the last 17 years, I'm officially calling the"doohickey problem" dead to me, and proclaiming my Kawasaki KLR 650 the biggest cockroach on the planet. Thank you very much.
