In this day and age , it ’ s not often we see something come back from the brink of extinction . Sure , we ’ ve heard murmurs that scientists are working to bring back the woolly mammoth , but it ’ s not like we ’ ve seen a mammoth wandering around lately . Something we have seen , however , are sightings of Kawasaki ’ s previously assumed extinct adventure steed – the KLR650 . I ’ ll confess to being genuinely surprised when Kawasaki revealed a revamped 2022 KLR650 earlier this year . Like many , I was hoping Team Green would fill the void left by the demise of the hilariously analogue , second-generation KLR650 by joining the multi-cylinder adventure bike world – preferably with a new take on the KLE500 . Instead , Kawasaki pulled a head-scratcher for multi-cylinder fanboys by resurrecting the tried and true single cylinder KLR650 instead .
KICKING AND SCREAMING But subverting expectations seems to be Kawasaki ’ s modus operandi , and instead of starting from scratch and leaping into the
crowded multi-cylinder middleweight market , the boffins in the engineering department did something that no Japanese manufacturer has otherwise achieved . That being dragging a mid-capacity thumper designed in the 1980s , kicking and screaming into the modern world by adding EFI and ABS into the mix . For the 2022 model year , the KLR650 gets a number of key changes to the engine to bring it up to modern emissions standards , with renewed attention paid to rider comfort along with a new visual design , LED lighting and ABS braking . There ’ s also a factory accessorised KLR650 Adventure model which adds luggage frames , hard panniers , crash protection and fog lights to the package , for an additional cost . As you might expect the cost of entry has gone up a bit compared to the secondgeneration bike , with the 2022 KLR650 entering the market at $ 11,495 . The kitted out adventure model retails for $ 12,995 , which saves you $ 1817 compared to adding each of the Adventure model ’ s extras to a base model bike . Considering what Kawasaki has changed , the
98 KIWI RIDER