klrman, you green bike brought me back years ago when the Kawa KDX came out. After it came out, I started to buy cycle magazines, unfortunately my father wouldn’t allow any of us to own a bike.
KDX was a winner of a bike, I liked them a lot. Got my KLR because the range is so huge on one tank and in BC, where I live, there is almost 400,000 miles of dirt roads, mostly through mountainous terrain to discover. Plus the KLR being street legal is the best of both worlds around here.
It's not really a version of the KDX, it's it's own machine sold since 1987 and upgraded a few times. It's a 650cc four stroke dual sport, and with a few minor mods such as advancing the exhaust cam one tooth and some gearing changes, is a great all around bike.
It boosts compression and makes the motor much more snappier. I geared the bike higher for the highways but still needed the grunt down low for all the dirt trails and that did the trick.
You won’t feel it - it’s a 1.300 ccm, so you normally have enough power and here in Germany you don’t have so many days above 30°C. Even at that temperature the oil won’t get above 110 °C while cruising at 180 km/h for a long time…
In general you just have to take care in a traffic jam… but in these moments I just take a right and have a shot & a brew…