Just Know the KLR is a gateway bike. You'll start out fine on it and will want something more capable. I think we have all been there. The KLR was fine for me but my wife wanted to ride with me. Which is cool, we did a few trips on the KLR but would stay in motels. Then she said we should look at something bigger. That's all I needed to hear, we got a KTM 990 Adventure. Then we started camping off the KTM, worked out great for us. We could carry everything we needed to a week trip, For food we would cook breakfast and get lunch out, and then try to find a supermarket that we could buy something made we could take to camp. Most markets now have where you can but chicken, fish, pizza, soup, sushi. Really made it easy. The nice thing about Moto camping first is you learn how little stuff you really need. We made the switch to camping out of the Jeep when we got it, mostly because we are getting older and had a few injuries that make long rides uncomfortable.
We lived a few hundred mile north of you and a little east. We had a long ride just to get to nice riding and camping. I hate long miles on the interstate just to get somewhere fun. Some people like to drone on and on mile after mile to get to say Colorado. Me I would rather put the bike on the trailer and drive out in comfort.
When we moved to AZ we got a Jeep and used that for camp trips. I am building an offload teardrop now because the tent thing is getting a little old, because we are getting old. LOL. I'm still planing on doing some trips on the KTM but will probably do the hotel thing, and just for a few days at a time.
I can't say which I liked better, between Moto, or Jeep, we haven't finished the teardrop yet some am not sure where it fits in. But if I was living in AZ when we started the Moto camping I think I would prefer that over the Jeep. 4 wheel camping is so much easier then Moto, and now as we get older we works for us. We are looking forward to camping with the teardrop it should go most places we want to go.
My thoughts on the KLR. It will do most everything but not well. I had a 2006, in 2008 they changed the style to the current look. The older ones would take a harder crash with out much damage, the newer one not so much. The gearbox needed one or gear for those long runs on pavement. It's heavy, I couldn't believe how light my brothers DR 650 felt. Plus side they are cheap. The thing you need to find out is what kind of overloading you want to do on a moto. Tight single track, mountain trails, all dirt. Or more long distant paved or easy fire roads. I still don't think there is one bike to do it all. The closest I think was the Husaberg FE 570. But those are getting harder to find. I have an FE 390 but is is a little small for long runs on the pavement.
Get the KLR, run the wheels off of it and see what you like, then look for a bike more for that type of riding.
Bonus rant...Most people think "Adventure Moto" has to be on a BMW GS1200. It doesn't, If you are only going to be on paved or graded roads it's great for that. Trails, single track it's a 580 pound pig. And thats without gear. Sure you will see people doing it, but is it fun? I have a friend that has a few GS1200's, and an F800. He thought he was going to go anywhere on it. He learned fast that is is no fun on anything more than easy trails. He is a 40-50,000 miles a year guy. He loves the bike now that he knows the limits.
Todd
