200 vs 220, Current Wisdom?

[Eyedoc]

My son is selling his XR200 and buying and new bike for trails and play racing. He is 165 lbs and 5' 10" and a good rider (better than his old man). What is the current preference, the 200 or the 220?

We are all ready planning some mods. What is the best fork valving? How about rev pipe for the 220? Has anyone bored their carb for the 220?

Thanks
Ralph
Clarkston MI

P.S. Asking $2000 for an immaculate 98 XR

 

[TnKDX'er]

I believe the general thoughts 200 vs 220 are really not that apparent. Both bikes do what their designed to do equally well.

However, the 220 seems to have more grunt down low, where as the 200 seems to have a little more top end. The CARB situation, on the 220(or so ive heard)can be resolved by swapping out a KX 125 CARB, or one from the KDX200.

Pipes for both bikes seem to be of the FMF kind. I, on my 200 are very satisfied with my PRO CIRCUIT PLATNUM series pipe. Its a little weak, but i run a pipe protector.

As for forks, the only real concern ive heard, or had explained to me, is that the front forks are only good for 130-140lb riders. Im 175, so i decided to goto a higher rate spring via FREDETTE RACING PRODUCTS. I dont have my forks re-installed yet so i can give you and A-B comparison, but i will in the near future(4 days). Jeff has a home page, but for the life of me i cant remember it. If you do a search, im sure its easily accesible, and has MANY TIPS AND TRICKS.

Have fun with either bike, you cant go wrong

Tony

P.S. Im no technicall wizard, so if i missed something dont hold it against me. All i know is that you mix the gas 44:1 and go RIDE!!! :confused:

 

[spanky250]

It depends on how far you want to go with the mods. They are both fantastic machines, but the 200 has a little more hop-up potential, especially if you want to go as far as porting it (highly recomended). They are basically the same machine, but the 220 has different porting specs, a smaller carb, and a different ignition curve.

 

[DANIEL JOSEPH]

Read this . http://justkdx.dirtrider.net/200vs220.html

 

[fishhead]

Eyedoc
I have a 220 with frp porting , bored carb,boyesen reeds, modified head, revpipe (fmf kg 30)and tc2 silencer. in retorspect I could have gotten a 200 added the same mods (less the carb bore) put a 2mm big bore in it and gotten a 200cc class legal bike that had more snap along the way. I would suggest the 200 which was my first choice but I got a great deal on a 1yr old 220 because it wasn't what the original owner wanted. He bought a 125 mx.

That all being said I would not sell or trade the 220 for a 200 at this point but if I were to start over I would go for the 200 add a 1)49 tooth sprocket and set of 21lb springs from frp,2) a set of reeds,rev pipe and modify the air box 3)revalve the suspension,4)when the top end needs service port and consider the bigbore.

 

[BloodEclipse]

I own a 00' 220 and I got it for the extra grunt. I'm 5'8 and 180 and the bike is awesome. My son is 13 and has just out grown his TTR-125L. I am getting him a 220 also. I have owned both and I perfer the 220 for the style of riding I do. Tight woods and technical hills. As has been said more times than can be counted you cant go wrong with either bike. One consideration you might have is if your son decides to race for real. In this case it would depend on which Class he would perfer to be in. The 200 qualifies for the lightweight class(0-200cc), the 220 however is in the heavyweight class(201cc and up)
I have raced my 220 in its stock form and it preforms well against the other bikes, especially when the conditions are bad. Best of Luck.

 

[Eyedoc]

Thanks for the info. Has anyone riden the 220 with the FMF Rev pipe? I've riden the stock bike and it really needs to be short shifted.

Ralph

 

[team-green32]

i have.

when you get the rev pipe or PC platium pipe you really wake it up.

You get better power everywhere and more over rev and if you want to come close to the revs as the 200 just bore the carb to 36mm.

 

[fishhead]

When I put the FMF rev (kg-30) pipe on mine it made quite a difference. The port timing and combustion chamber is different on the 220 so it wont be really rev happy unless you port it modify the head and bore the carb. Freddete Racing products did my porting and I was happy with the results .
iIf you are a begining rider and going to ride tight trails then the 220 would be a good choice but for play racing the 200 would be the ticket. Its a little more versatile platform to start with in my opinion I recall that I saw a dyno test and there was less than 1/2 hp difference at the rear wheel in stock trim. 26.5 and 27 comes to mind on an inetia dyno like a Dyno jet