For a long time now, I've wanted to own a Kawasaki KLR 650 and now I finally have one.  Of course the one I purchased is an older bike and it is being used as a daily rider so it'll take a little bit of time as I go along.  But that's neither here nor there.  My ideal for this particular bike is to make a "Demon" theme to it's look.  The bike will continue to look similar to stock, however color changes and graphics will be added over time.  So let's get started shall we?

 When I purchased the bike it had 36000 miles on it and it's a 1989.  While it fires up and runs solid it has a lot of little quirks that need to be addressed mechanically and that's the first like of things that where we are starting. 

I recently purchased copies of the service manuals for this bike as well as the owner's manual.  I'll save you the dry talk about what goes on in there, but I went through the bike and did all the regular maintenance that had to be done.   Things like Valve adjustment, chain inspection and adjustment and things like that had to be taken care of first.

There are other little things that still have to be taken care of.  Upon riding the bike home, I found that it had a slipping clutch.  After attemping to adjust it a little, I found that it simply is a burned out clutch and I'm currently waiting for a replacement clutch.  There are also all kinds of stickers all over the bike that have to go.  From the "I drove the Alaska Highway" Sticker on the trunk to the Nicaragua sticker on the tank.  Not to mention finding the oil drain plug was stripped out, a bit of an annoyance to find that on a Sunday afternoon when every place was closed that I could get the things I needed for it.  So for now it's siliconed in.  I so hate myself for doing that!

The person I bought the bike from was a shorter guy and lowered the bike 1.5 inches.  He retained the original parts for me to be able to raise the bike back to the factory height except the kickstand.  He had just cut the kickstand off rather than purchasing a lower stand.  Luckily he had purchased another bike and lowered it as well and gave me the stand off of that one.

Now that the bike is starting to come back together mechanically, it's time to start having a look at the physical appearance of the bike.  I won't be changing any of the plastics or anything like that, but I will be painting it.  I've been teased by some friends telling me I own a "Rat Bike" now and, well, I'm going with that.  However it will have more to it than just the typical "Rat" style.  I have an airbrush and there is an airbrush studio across the way from my Office so we'll just see where things take us.  So more coming up in the future.