No luck in Wisconsin, back to Montgomery, IL

Kyle and I had just returned from a couple nights camping just North of Wisconsin Dells yesterday.  We brought the KL250 along but never unloaded it because there was nowhere in the area that we found to ride it.  We decided to bring it to Montgomery the following day and went kayaking on the Wisconsin River instead.

Nevin's first ride

Today I taught Nevin to ride on the Kl250.   Since my plan was to get the bike running and use it to teach both of my sons to ride on it, that felt good.  He learned very quickly, popped a wheelie the first time he pulled the clutch out!  I am a bad teacher, but nobody got hurt.

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Installed new chain

The chain was at its limits, and the sprockets were both like-new.  I purchased the cheapest o-ring chain that I could find on ebay.   It arrived today so it got installed.

Kyle's first ride

Today, Kyle and I went to Farm and Fleet to get him a helmet.  We brought the bike with using the Harbor Freight motorcycle carrier, to test that out.  There are trails behind the store, where I have taken my KLR a few times.  We had a great time, and Kyle learned really fast.  I'm already looking forward to the next time... hopefully with my KLR and more time to kill!

Kyle got stuck in the same spot twice, but did not drop it either time

This was the second time getting stuck, a classic 'no need for a kick stand' moment!

The Harbor Freight motorcycle carrier did fine, but our Jeep Patriot's suspension sagged a little too much

New tires!

I removed the wheels on Tuesday and this is how the bike sat until Saturday when I re-installed them with their new Kenda K270's.  New treads just seem to make the bike look much better.

Waiting patiently for new treads

Installed intake and exhaust

I had to remove the rear tire in order to install the exhaust, but no big deal w/o the chain.  The intake side was nice and easy without an airbox.  I will have to rejet after we get it running of course.

46mm pod filter from Amazon.com

The carb looks nicer without the accelerator pump

Yes, that is electrical tape on the carb holder... for now

Gotta paint the header at some point

The muffler mod was performed by the PO

Extracted a broken bolt and installed handlebars

When I began to install the handlebars (just to make it easier to roll the bike around), I found a broken bolt in the top clamp.  Luckily, I had a set of handlebar bolts from a previous parts bike.  Fortunately, the remnants of the bolt came out easily.

These bars are very temporary