Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127243
The KLR650-B2 Tengai (left) and the KLR650-A4 (right) have a lo t in common, including performance. Test: Kawasaki KL6S0-B2 Tengai & KLR6S0-A4 The KLR adopts a big brother firs t intro du ced to th e u.s. four years ago. exce p t for th e standard yearly graphics cha nges . T h e KLR an d the T engai share man y features. Both a re powered by th e sa me electric-start, DOHC, fourva lve, single-cy lin der , wat er-cooled engi ne ; tu cked ni cely inside th e sa me semi-doub le cra d le, high -tensile steel frame. Beyond th e fram e a n d en g ine, max tir es grace th e Tengai. Both have 21-inch front and 17-inch rear wh eels. Even though the KLR-A and the Tengai look somewhat similar , th ey hav e distinctive styling. The KLRA h as a more off-ro ad appearance with a high-mounted front fender, motocross-looking radia tor shrouds and lon ger-travel suspension. The Ten ga i, on th e 'o ther hand, looks more at home cru isin g down the highway th an on the dirt trai ls, mostl y due to its low-m ou nted front fender a nd full fairi ng. T h e instrum ent panels and ha nd co n tro ls are a lso sligh tly diff erent. The tach om eter a nd spe edometer are reversed from each ot he r and th e turn-indicator swit ch es are different. T he T en gai has a push-to-cancel switch , whil e th e KLR-A's switch is th e slide-b ack -to -the-midd le typ e. Rath er large and stu rdy h and guards are standa rd items o n both. Both m otorcycl es h av e fr am emount ed fa irings surrounding th e headlight with sm a ll, bu ilt -in, non tinted windscreen s, and th e sam e 6.1ga llon ca p acity fuel tank. As far as weight, both b ikes are p orkers. Th e KLR-A is th e ligh ter of th e two at a claimed 337.7 pounds , dry, whi le the T engai tips the scal e a t a claimed 350.6 pounds dry . Copping a feel Wh en swinging a leg o ver both th e KLR-A a nd the T engai, th e most noti ceab le differen ce between the two is th e seat heigh t. The Tengai si ts much lower than th e KLR-A, giving th e n ew T engai a more co n fide nce-insp iring , less intim id a r- By Kit Palmer Photos by Nate Rauba. Karel Kramer/Dirt Rider Magazine It all started fou r years ago when Kawasaki introduced the KLR650-Al a singlecylin der, four-s troke, water-cooled, 651cc, dual-purpose bike that, at that time, looked The KLR650-A4 has seen little change since it first appeared in the U.S . f our years ago . It's approximate ly 12 pounds lighter t han the Tengai. The Tengai made its debut last year in Europe, and its success overseas has paved it s way to the U.S. It weighs a claimed 350.6 pounds dry . like no other motorcycle in th e U.S.. Since its debut, th e KLR has turned the world of dualp urpose riding upside-down with it s Paris-to-Dakar styling a nd ยท bett er-th an -exceptional a ll a ro u nd perfor ma nce"on both th e str eet an d the dirt. The KLR650-Al was a big hi t in the wo rl d o f dual-purpose ridi ng. Four years lat er, th e KLR650-A4 is st ill alive and kickin g, but it ha s a new brother for 1990 - a slig ht ly porkier KL650-B2 T enga i. Why is Kawasaki offer ing a new m ot orcycle so simi lar to the a lreadypopu lar KLR650-A, you ask? . Well , first of a ll, th e T engai is not 'exactly a n ew mo torcycle. It was introduced last year in Europe wh ere it sold ex treme ly well. So wh en th e Japanese manufactu rer asked Kaw a saki USA if it wanted toi rnp ort th e a lrea dy -b u ilt, test ed a n d p ro ven T engai into th e U.S., hassle-free, th e a nswer was obvio us - yes. By th e way, Tenga i is th e Japanese word for h orizon . So a fter bein g marketed in Europea n and South Pacif ic co u ntries, it 's head ed for a new ho rizo n - Am eri ca. So here th ey ar e - the KLR 650A4 an d th e KL650-B2 T eng a i - two si mi la r motor cycles wi th two distin ctly' d ifferen t person a lit ies. Technically speaking T he KL R650-A4 is basi ca lly th e sam e motorcycle it wa s when it was h o wever , th e "d iffere nces become more appare n t. T he 38m m telescopic a ir-ad justa ble forks a nd th e singleshock Un i-T ra k rear sus pe ns io ns are virt ua ll y identical , excep t for th e fact th at the KLR-A4 has sig n ifica ntly mo re sus pe ns io n travel a t both en ds. T h e T en gai ha s IOmm less trav el up front th an th e KLR -A a nd 30m m less a t th e rear , whi ch translate to a 20m m low er seat height. Chassis-wise, on e of th e bigg est diff eren ces betw een th e two m o tor cycles is th e brak es. Although both b ikes feature fro n t a nd rear di sc stoppers , the KLR-A still co mes with a wi mpy single-p isto n d isc up fron t, w h i le th e T en g ai h a s a more po werful doub le-p iston setup . Plus, the d isc d iam eter on th e Tengai is la rger a t 9.9 in ch es co m pa red to th e KLR -A's 9. I-i nc li rotor. Both rear discs are s ing le p ist on -a ctu a ted. U n li ke the KLR- A, t h e T en gai co mes sto ck with fro nt a nd rear plastic dis c br ak e g uards. The KLR -A a nd Tenga i come with Du n lo p tires but wit h d ifferent tread designs. Knobby-t yp e K750 tir es ar e fo und o n the KLR-A, whil e m ore stree t-or ienta led K750 Trai l- in g feel tha n th e ta ller KLR -A , espec ia lly if th e rid er is under six feet in heigh t. Plus, th e KLR-A feels a little to!?-h eav y due to its lon g-travel suspe ns io n. Neither th e KLR -A nor th e T en gai ha s a very com forta ble sea t - th e padding is just too so ft for our liking. We found that a fter long sti nt s in th e sadd le, o u r rea r ends and th e back sides o f our legs became a lm ost numb and needed to be consta n tly str etch ed. . Hit the road, Jack ... BOIh th e KL R-A and th e T en gai ar e good per formers on th e tarm ac, but th e Te n ga i's lo wer o ver a ll hei ght, more street-ori entated tires an d stronger br ak es g ive 'it a n edge over th e KLR-A on th e pavem ent. P rob abl y th e m o st sig ni fic a tll differen ce between th e two motorcycles is the fron t brak e. The sing lep iston dis c o n th e KLR -A doesn't prod uce near th e sto p p ing power o f th e double-p iston design on th e Tenga i. Altho ugh th e KLR-A's disc 'h as eno ug h gr ip 10 get th e job done, the overa ll feel is m ushy a nd sloppy, wh ile th e Tenga i's fron t brake feels