When most people, even casual bikers, think of Kawasaki, they think of mean, green, tarmac-eating machines, superbikes as much of the company’s DNA as flat-twins are for BMW.

But there’s one Kawi that elicits even more product loyalty than the company’s Ninjas, Z900s, and fire-breathing ZX-10s combined — the KLR 650.

Now, at first glance, the KLR is nothing but Walter Mitty milquetoast dressed up in pseudo-dirt-bike clothing, its 40-or-so horsepower barely a fart in the ZX-14’s exhaust pipe. Truth be told, despite being the most avid of bikers, I’m not sure I get the attraction, either. But know this: amongst diehard adventurers, and not the poseurs who throw mud on their KTM 1290s in a desperate attempt at street cred, the KLR is the ne plus ultra of around-the-world adventure tourers.

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