Glad it's working out. There are gel saddles and upper pads that will help protect your delicate cheeks. Or you could just build up calluses. 
Glad it's working out. There are gel saddles and upper pads that will help protect your delicate cheeks. Or you could just build up calluses.
I'm considering giving a pair of bicycle shorts a try. The problem seems to be the points of contact with the seat moreso than the specific padding. I've read lots of guys trying different things and success with any one item is random. Spending $200+ for a special seat only to find out it isn't any better doesn't come across as a good plan.
Some bikes are remarkably uncomfortable. I give my current Yamaha 535 top honors for the most uncomfortable factory seat I've ever met. Within 10 minutes I'd be squirming; half an hour would start bringing tears.
Seats are highly subjective, and a I suspect a whole lot has to do with your own seat. Wide in the rear, etc. It all makes a big difference on where things are contacting, and how.
I swapped a Harley cop bike saddle onto mine. Figured cops spend all day sitting on those bikes, and it's likely about as comfortable as I'm going to find. It is. Looks kinda goofy to, as it rather dwarfs the bike. It would look even goofier on yours.
It's not all that hard usually to custom fabricate your own saddle. Might want to consider that. Especially if you determine the problem really is the seat pan. Because then almost no amount of padding will fix the problem.
In the past I've fixed uncomfortable motorcycles with Corbin saddles. Not cheap - but effective,
Dual-Sport Motorcycle - $1200
New Wheel - $175
Proper Clothing - $500
Hop-Up Parts - $5000
Enjoying life, not stressing, not going insane and killing 36 people in a McDonald's.
Priceless
Check into gel seat pads rather than a whole seat. The inserts (requires removing the cover from the seat and modifying the foam) are around $60. The strap on pads that go over the seat are around $80-$90.
About bicycle shorts, here's the secret: you want the shorts to be tight (we used to call 'em 'weasel squeezers') but the pants you wear over them need to be able to slide easily. What happens: with cotton etc it literally pulls at your skin all the time, irritating the skin. Think of the shorts as a 'solid lubricant'.
Very cool! Nice bike man, I've seen KLR's get into (and eventually out of) some pretty gnarly trails, its all the rider. Good tires help too lol.
If you're still looking for gear, I've got a jacket I'd like to sell. Bought an Aerostich Darien jacket second hand to get the pants and liners that came with it, and the jacket isn't my style. Grey, large, if you're interested...
Personally I dislike riding in bicycle shorts, I find it less comfortable. Still, cotton is the devil. Normally I wear under armor boxer briefs, for my next long long trip (several weeks) I'll probably pony up for LD comfort shorts as the seams under the leg on the UA's start to chafe after about 2 weeks. I have a Alaskan leather butt pad that helps a ton too. Seat Concepts sells new upholstery for bikes too as a DIY kit, fairly inexpensive at about $160.
Awww crap, I just PM'd a guy about a jacket on ADV! Skierd, if that doesn't pan out I'd be interested in yours if it's GRM priced. The one I'm persuing is $100 shipped.
After going to 3 places for bike shorts I got some ($90 for bike shorts? Really? I think I'll stick to motorcycles) for $20. Giving them a test today. The problem really is more chafing from the cotton undies than monkey butt so far. Some of the guys are using ATV seat pads from Cabela's. Replacing the entire seat will be a last resort because, frankly, it's not grassroots enough for me. 
I replaced the rubber/slippy pegs with all metal ones from a Suzuki DR and have a center stand that still needs to be installed. I really need to start figuring out some cargo carrying solution as the bare rack is completely useless. I'm liking the Pelican cases.
Couple of 'issues' with the bike. One is an annoying but slight surging while cruising between 3 and 4 grand. There's several threads about it on the boards but no one has found the solution. The other is it won't shut off most of the time with the key and I have to use the kill switch. The second one I can live with if I have to but the surge thing is rather irritating.
pinchvalve wrote: Dual-Sport Motorcycle - $1200 New Wheel - $175 Proper Clothing - $500 Hop-Up Parts - $5000 Enjoying life, not stressing, not going insane and killing 36 people in a McDonald's. Priceless
This, but without the $5000 in hop up parts.
I'm not sure you can spend five grand hopping up a KLR. 
I tried the ATV seat pads, and they did nothing for me. I just bought a sheepskin seat cover. I'll let you know how that goes.
Surging at steady speeds is a strong indication of too lean. 3-4k cruise RPM is a small throttle opening, you are in the 'transition' phase from low speed jetting (controlled by the low speed jet and idle mixture screw) to the very bottom of the main jet's operation with the low speed jet doing most of the work. DS's were built with emissions in mind and as such run pretty dang lean. They also usually have tamper resistant idle screws, etc. Try this to easily richen up the low speed circuit a bit: raise the wet float level a bit, say 1/8", and see if that helps.
I'm looking at a few other things first (though thanks for the idea J-man). There are, of course, numerous low or zero buck mods on the internet for these things and one of them is the "L-mod", which is drilling holes in the top of the airbox to let more air in. Great claims of increased throttle response abound. I find that mine was already done, but it doesn't look like any of the carb mods have been performed which makes me think it's getting too much air now and thus leaning out (not to mention this mod tends to make the filter get cruddy pretty quickly). In looking at the airbox design I don't see how it is as restrictive is most suggest, so did my own "duct tape mod" and closed off the drilled holes. We'll see how it runs with that done. I was going to futz with the carb but I'll wait and do things in stages to I can actually see what makes a difference. I pulled the plug yesterday and it sure ain't running rich, which supports both of our views that it's too lean. I wish the carb wasn't such a complete beeotch to get out so I could at least hold it in my hands and figure out how it works. I'm guessing it's similar to a SU?
Oh, and the idle enrichment screw is plugged. Easy enough to remove the plug, and most sites indicate it is set too lean at the factory. Just needs a small twist to make it run better. Problem is access is straight up from the bottom, which means you have to loosen and spin the carb every time you want to adjust it, or replace the needle with one with a knob on the end of it.
You can't tell by looking at the plug, even if you do a proper throttle chop. If it gets to the point where you think it looks good, you'll be way rich.
The air box mods can cause surging like that.
ddavidv wrote: After going to 3 places for bike shorts I got some ($90 for bike shorts? Really? I think I'll stick to motorcycles) for $20. Giving them a test today.
Got a Target nearby? Go over to the mens clothing section, and look at the athletic undies. They have what you're looking for, for about $10 a piece.
After an admittedly very brief test ride, I'll report that slapping a piece of duct tape over the holes drilled in the top of the airbox seems to have fixed the surging. And if pressed, I think I'd also say the throttle response is better. If all this continues to be true, the internet GRM-style-instant-power-y0! modification everyone does to their KLR is apparently bogus. I always question when a guy with a drill thinks he's smarter than an engineer with a flow bench.
I always question when somebody makes a change to the airbox, and doesn't adjust the carb to suit the change in airflow. Do the mod properly, and you'll see that it works.
zomby's right, air box mods can be a good thing but you have to go all the way through, you can't just stop at punching holes. Same with opening up the exhaust, it has to be jetted even richer.
That should be a diaphragm type CV (constant velocity) carb which is more similar to a Stromberg than an SU but they all work on the same principle. When you whack the throttle, it causes the diaphragm to pull the needle up, thus richening the mixture temporarily.
There were a couple of different companies offering 'easy adjust' low speed needles.
I bought one for $600 that needed the carb cleaned and a new battery to run. I did an Odyssey battery for $100, a pair of aftermarket CRF50 footpegs, a milk crate attached with bungies, and some military surplus crap strapped to it and rode it from Colorado Springs to Seattle. I bought it with 25k and sold it later than summer for $1800 w/ 38k on it. I owned it for a whole 6 months, and it was the best bike I've ever sold to pay rent.
I wore tennis shoes, jeans, and a hoodie all the way to Seattle. I still have a pretty nice Simpson dirt helmet with a flip open shield that I also wore on that trip. Coming back I rode 900 miles in 18 hours, and the last 200 of that were through an apocalyptic Front Range storm.
I've spent 10 times that much, easily, riding and racing bikes on closed-course tarmac.
ddavidv wrote: I always question when a guy with a drill thinks he's smarter than an engineer with a flow bench.
If the engineer with a flow bench is tasked with maximizing flow, you're be absolutely correct.
But if the engineer is tasked with maximizing flow while simultaneously quieting intake noise, then there are almost always performance mods to be had (just as with mufflers if flow and not sound control is the primary design goal).
Fully agree with the other posts though that mods to one system often require mods to other systems to realize even the baseline performance, much less improvement.
Sound? On a Kawasaki one lunger? No discernible change in noise either way Bill. But I get your point, and it certainly applies to cars. It is true modern cars are loaded with ridiculous plastic piping arrangements that do nothing but quiet intake noise. The only car I've ever wanted slightly less intake noise in was my Mini, but that's what you get when the air inlet is right behind the speedometer as you well know.
I've had more than one bike with those newfangled plastic airboxes containing those anti noise snorkels that when you whack the throttle the sides of the airbox pull inward due to the pressure drop. That tells me right there they are restrictive. Pulling the snorkels will generally fix that, but since you no longer have the pressure drop to help pull fuel through the low speed circuit, you wind up with a stumble and then it's jettin' time. Some of the newer carbs with accelerator pumps are better in that respect.
On my WR400, pulling the top snorkel which was part of the removeable lid had an unexpected side problem: the snorkel stuck about 3/4" above the top of the airbox. In wet conditions, water would fling off the rear tire on top of the airbox, then run inside it. I found mud on top of the air filter. I then cut the bottom off of the original snorkel and put the lid with the radiused top part back on. No more water in the airbox and if there was a loss of power compared to removing the certainly didn't notice it.
Best low-cost seat mod = sheepskin buttpad (yeah, i wrote it) best source is alaska leather online.
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