The KLR - In a parking lot

I was definitely excited to have the KLR. However, I was keeping it at Dylan's place up in suburbia near a massive movie theatre parking lot where I could get some practice in. A couple of evenings that first week we'd go to the parking lot and I'd practice all the things I'd learned in the safety course.

The first thing I noticed was how incredibly tall the bike really was. It was fun to have a chuckle at my brother's expense watching him teetering on it at stop lights, but it was another thing altogether for me to be still learning to ride and having do deal with the same thing. The first panic stop I practiced I nearly crashed the bike. I had been cheating in the safety course by deciding in advance what foot I would put down after the stop. I'd lean the bike that way slightly just prior to stopping and then put my foot down. Quickly I learned that, due to the KLR's significant height and weight difference, it would decide what side it wanted to lean, not me. By leaning the bike over a bit near the end of my first panic stop, I realized the bike was going to really go in that direction and it took all my strength to keep upright.

By the second evening I was ready to try the KLR on the road. Well, that and Dylan was tired of breaking in the engine and riding the KLR altogether.

More to come...