The KLR 650 is a great all-around bike. Although it is virtually unchanged for over 20 years, it remains a hot seller and has generated a huge cult following

Like the KLR650, the XR650L has changed very little in over 20 years. It is a slightly poorer road machine with a smaller fairing and tank, and a slightly better off-road bike than the KLR650 with more suspension travel and better ground clearance. This is what my XR650L looked like when I got done with it... ready for the trails!

So in the four years since I started this site, I have owned 7 different bikes, constantly searching for the ideal setup for street/dirt/touring/trail and track. I started out with a 1991 Kawasaki KLR650, which was perfectly adequate for commuting, the occasional road trip, a dirt road or an easy trail excursion. With an electric start and comfortable ergonomics, it is an easy hop-and-go choice for commuting or a Saturday morning ride. It has a wide-ratio transmission and tall gearing, so getting this bike up over 100mph is easy. The KLR is inexpensive, cheap to insure, gets great gas mileage, and if you use it just for riding around town and the occasional off-road adventure, there is little maintenance required. I owned this bike for 6 years, and the only thing I ever did to it was change the tires, the oil and the brakes.

However, the rugged mountains of Colorado were calling me, and I found myself wanting more trail-worthiness and a better off-road suspension, so I bought a brand-new 2002 Honda XR650L. I thoroughly enjoyed the bike, but as my riding ability improved, I found myself needing even better trail capabilities than the stock bike had to offer. Thus began my obsession with making the bike lighter, quicker and more rugged. I removed extra parts, getting rid of anything I didn't really need on the trail, like turn signals, rear passenger footpegs and mirrors. Then I sunk a bunch of money into better trail tires, different gearing, aftermarket exhaust, header, oversized plastic tank, etc etc.

Essentially, I had been trying to turn the XR650L into the XR650R, which had more horsepower and weighed around 50 lbs less. So, the logical thing to do was to sell the XR650L and buy a slightly used 2001 XR650R, right?

The Honda XR650R. Undisputed Baja King. Wicked Fast. Great in the desert or going flat out. The bad? Worst gas mileage of any bike I have ever owned, rides like a 2x4 on the road, no electric start, key, headlight or turn signals makes it unsuitable for commuting or around town.

My 2001 Honda XR650R was an unusual beast. Although it was basically stock (with the exception of a high-flow HRC baffle), it somehow outpowered my friends' XR650R's that had more aftermarket stuff on them than mine did. I could out-drag, out-climb just about any bike out there, including a variety of DRZ's, DR's, and even the venerable KTM 520 MXC couldn't match the arm-ripping acceleration and torque of this particular XR650R (and trust me, it wasn't my riding ability).

I didn't need to do much with the XR650R: it was more than I needed in the power department; the suspension was adequate despite my 6'6", 220 lb frame, but it's range was low and the front end felt loose all the time. I was getting only 30-35 miles per gallon, so a larger IMS gas tank was ordered, and the crappy stock handlebars and thin upper triple clamp had to go. So I ordered a Pro-Taper upper triple clamp and Pro-taper Hi-bend bars, and the bike was close to perfect.

But, after two years of riding this bike, I got tired of wrestling with the extra weight on tight trails compared to the smaller and more nimble bikes like the CRF250x and WR426, and getting beat up on the street with the XR's 2x4 ride quality. What's more, I wasn't comfortable taking the bike to public places without any form of security (like a key or a lock), and honestly, it got a little embarrassing having to kick-start the bike with an armful of groceries in front of a supermarket.

The ZZR1200... insanely powerful sport-tourer based on the Ninja platform. I had a heck of a time keeping it upright on the motocross track, though.

I wasn't ready to sell the bike yet, and really enjoyed it on the trails, so I went out and bought an awesome sport-tourer, the Kawasaki ZZR1200. This street bike is comfortable, big, and comes with almost 150 horsepower bone-stock. It was in immaculate condition, with ony 3000 miles, and I was able to pick it up for a super-cheap $5000. Until the new ZX14 came out this year, the only thing faster in the quarter-mile was the Hayabusa. For a horsepower junkie who got spoiled with the excess power of the XR650R, this was the PERFECT street bike.

I enjoyed the dual-sport/street bike paradigm for a while, but now that I had a street bike, I never bothered maintaining the street-legal aspects of the XR650R. The brake light stopped working, the digital speedometer/odometer (a TrailTech Panoram) completely freaked out and exploded, the tail-light broke, the horn fell off and the license plate holder and plate got smashed into oblivion. I didn't bother fixing anything, and soon forgot to renew the license plates and canceled my insurance. I was trailering the bike to the trails anyway, so I really didn't need all the stuff.

The 2006 Service Honda CR500X two-stroke. Yes, it's for real, it's state-of-the-art and no, I don't own one.

My riding continually improved, and then I got absolutely SMOKED out on the trail one day by a group of guys who ride motocross and trails on their highly-modified, lightweight Honda CR 500's. Although these bikes were discontinued from production a while back, they are still sold by Service Honda as BRAND NEW aluminum-framed bikes in limited quantities. I asked these guys how they got so good, and they said it was due to racing motocross. Although all these guys were a bit older, like me (late 30's), they had gotten into motocross racing and found that it vastly improved their riding ability. There were racing brackets that covered virtually every age and ability bracket, so I figured I needed to give it a shot.

Of course, I didn't really have an adequate motocross bike, so I went to a local motocross track on my XR650R. It was hilarious. I rolled over most of the jumps, crawled around the corners, and then let 'er rip on the straights, usually catching up to or passing a couple guys. But after the next corner, I would fall behind again. Word the wise: the Honda XR650R is NOT a motocross bike! Duh! Okay, so I wanted to race motocross, but I didn't want to give up trail riding. Yet.

My, err, current "trail" bike... a full-race 2003 YZF450. Great at the motocross track, not so great at 13,000 feet above sea level. The search continues...

So I went out and bought a "retired" Yamaha YZ450F race bike from a friend who races in the top-level Amateur class in Colorado. Like me, this guy is a bigger rider, so it was completely set up with stiffer springs, new suspension components and virtually every after-market part you could imagine. I thought this bike would turn me into a champion motocrosser overnight. In a couple weeks at the track, I was hitting 65-foot tabletops, 50-foot doubles, and thinking I had found the ultimate motorcycling sport.

After a few months riding at tracks, reality started to set in. I wasn't getting any faster, and I was really getting beat up badly. Every crash, every fall took its toll. I really wasn't enjoying the atmosphere much either. The tracks were crowded, loud, dusty, dirty, and I had to psych myself up for each day at the track. It isn't the kind of environment where you can just "hang out" and ride. If you go slow, you'll get your ass run over, or someone will land on your head. And yes, both have happened to me. So when the weather got nice this spring, I started hitting the trails of the Colorado Rocky Mountains again, but on a bike that is intended for the track, not the trails. I will keep this one for awhile, (like maybe another week, ha) and continue on my quest for the ultimate all-around motorcycle.

The 2007 WR450F looks to be an absolute thrill ride. Incredible power, light weight, killer technology, good balance... I better start saving my pennies.

So what's next for ME? If money were no object, I wouldn't mind picking up the KTM 950 Super Enduro, but for all that money, I wouldn't want to scratch it! However, I wouldn't hesitate to shell out $7500 this November for the brand-new, aluminum framed 2007 Yamaha WR450F. It has all the race-inspired performance of the YZ450F, including an 11,000 rpm redline and titanium valves. It will come with a better seat for longer rides, Galfer wave rotors, and weighs around 247 lbs. This bike looks to be pretty sick, and will probably SPANK the Honda CRF450x until Honda comes out with a more powerful powerplant. Wish me luck!

Written by Mike DeJonge, June 2006

If you could only have ONE, what's YOUR perfect bike? Sound off in the FORUMS.