a bad thing too . With its lumpy 650cc single beating away beneath its massive fuel store , it actually feels quite characterful . I ’ m not talking about oddball character either . It ’ s a bike that actually feels like it connects you to the road through mechanics , rather than electronic witchcraft , and I found the thrum of the engine as I rolled through the countryside quite soothing .
ON THE HIGHWAY With the Waikato finally returning to Alert Level Two , I leapt at the opportunity to take the KLR to the Coromandel for a catchup with family , and the obligatory play out on the local forestry roads . Crossing the Hauraki Plains on the KLR was a generally comfy affair . The work Team Green
has put into reducing vibrations felt by riders has paid off compared to my memories of the Gen-2 bike . The cockpit is a pretty pleasant place to be in general . The big brush guards deflect most of the wind from your hands , while the screen and fairing take the pressure off your chest and shoulders . With the windscreen set in its lowest position , I found it directed wind directly at my eye line ... good for keeping me ventilated on a hot day but not so great in terms of buffeting . Pulling out the tools from the factory toolkit and I had the screen mounted in the high position after a couple of minutes . To be honest , I didn ’ t notice much change in the buffeting around my head but it made it easier to duck down into the still air pocket behind the screen .
OFF THE BEATEN PATH With a few hours set aside to muck about on the KLR in the forestry , I set out for a few old favourites from my misspent youth , with an idea in my head of how the big KLR would perform . My primary thoughts were it would wallow about worse than my personal bike ( a CRF250L Rally ) and the non-switchable ABS would prove
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