89 KDX200 Street Legal Conversion ANY HELP?

DirtyRyan

Member
Jul 29, 2009
63
0
Hey ya'll,
So, I recently bought an 89 KDX200. I'm getting started on a street legal conversion for it right now. As the guys at Woods Fun Center are having me understand, the only thing I need here in Texas is going to be:

A) High/Low Capable Headlight
B) Horn (even as much as a squeeky ball horn will pass)
C) 1 Rearview/Sideview Mirror
D) Running Tail light
E) Brake Light
F) License Plate White Light

As I understand it, you don't have to have signals on the bike for it to be legal.

So far I've bought the headlight (capable of high/low), a handlebar mounted toggle switch (for switching from high to low), collapsible handlebar mirror (which is nice since I won't have to keep taking it on and off when going between trails and street), a single unit brake light/running light/license plate light/ license plate mount, and the brake light switch (so the brake light actually comes on when i hit the brakes). I also picked up some parts to replace the kickstand that was busted when I bought it. I may or may not have questions about that as time goes on.

I also went ahead and stripped all the plastic off the bike to gain access to all the wiring.

So...here's where ya'll come in. I'm posting this in hopes of coming across a few folks who have done this before. I'm basically just looking for any and all tips, tricks, no-no's, advice, etc as I go into this thing. If I can avoid doing something stupid during this project, all the better. I'd hate to have to buy a new (fill in the blank), because I did something that I thought was a smart idea at the time.

I'll have pictures as things progress. Again though, if anyone's done this, let me know. Electrical systems aren't exactly my strongest point so any help is much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
DirtyRyan
 

julien_d

Member
Oct 28, 2008
1,788
0
Tips, tricks, or advice... Get a bigger bike?

Seriously, the KDX is not going to be ideal for on-road use, and it's not going to like you much for torturing it in that way. It probably will have a short life....

Aside from that little problem, the stator output is wimpy at about 35w I think. I'm not sure if you took that into consideration when you purchased your high/low beam headlight. You can get the stator rewound for higher output, that should probably be step 1. There are dual sport kits you can buy to simplify the wiring, and that's probably the route I would take if I were undertaking a similar task.
 

sr5bidder

Member
Oct 27, 2008
1,463
0
I would just get a tail light/ brake light kit from frp and one of those under fender light/ liciense things from accerbis.. the older kdx 1984ish has a high and low beam in there headlight
stay off the highways and anything over a few miles at 45-50
Jullien is right you could blow that thing up real quick with high and steady rpm's
 

DirtyRyan

Member
Jul 29, 2009
63
0
Thanks for the advice ya'll. Yeah, I kinda thought about the rpm thing. On the upside, most any street driving that would be done on this thing is in town, stop and go type of stuff. I don't think there's much "opportunity" for me to hold consistent high end rpms on the roads I was considering. If it does blow up though, I'll of course post about it, most likely asking advice and giving the chance for anyone to get in their earned "toldjaso"...haha.
So, question time:
I got one of the MOTO LED Edge 2 LED taillight kits (includes the brake light, tail light, white license plate light, and mount for license plate in one unit) the other day when I was going through that shopping list I mentioned earlier. Anyway, I'm sitting here in the garage looking at a rear fender, and then looking at the kit, and thinking to myself, "huh?"...
Have I a case of the brainworms, or is there just no way to mount that thing properly to the rear fender? Anyone have any experience with this particular tail light kit?
 

porterdog

Member
Aug 22, 2005
71
0
Tip 1: Use good wire. I bought mine from McMaster-Carr. Heavier, oil-resistant jacket.

Tip 2: Protect your good wire- my favorite thing to do is to use vinyl (clear Tygon) or polyethelene (the milky stuff they use for icemaker water supplies) as conduit. Available at your local hardware store.

Tip 3: No solder splices. The vibes will kill them eventually- use butt connectors or bullets instead.

Tip 4: Use a proper crimper on your crimped connections; I just had to help a co-worker rewire some foglights 'cause he crimped his connectors with a plier.

Tip 5: Heat-shrink tube is your pal. There's some *really* good stuff available with sealant on the interior if you want to go nucking futs..

Tip 6: Use good electrical tape. Scotch Super 33+ from McMaster-Carr.

Tip 7: Plan for maintenance- build your harnesses as subassemblies and use plugs (either single-wire or multi-wire) where they come together. I missed this step on the last re-wire I did and am now re-fabbing the center harness.

Tip 7: Tie the harness(es) down ever couple inches with zipties. Dirtbikes vibrate. A lot. And they're also often pretty dirty (no, really!). Plastic wire insulation bouncing at 100 Hz against sandy mung.... plastic loses. (See Tip 2, above.)

Tip 8: Brake/tail and plate lights should be LED to allow more reserve juice for your headlight. Look at SuperbrightLEDs.com

Tip 9: Draw a schematic so that 5 years from now you can go back in and work on it more easily.

Tip 10: Route the wiring to the brake/tail/plate lamps on the side OPPOSITE your pipe. Don't ask how I know this...
 

DirtyRyan

Member
Jul 29, 2009
63
0
Hey, how do you post pictures in the threads here? I've tried using html code from photobucket...nothing there. Tried putting the html code in between the "
" brackets....no go. Kinda confused why I can't just post a picture on here. IF you can help with that it'd be appreciated. That way I can show you what I'm looking at here.
 

SS109

Member
Jul 27, 2009
310
0
I think you have to have a certain number of posts as the same thing happened to me. Try it again.
 

DirtyRyan

Member
Jul 29, 2009
63
0
Ok awesome....that helps. thank you. So does anyone know how much juice all these different electrical components eat up? I recall someone saying somewhere that the stator on this bike does about 35w, and I think that the tail light/brakelight/license plate light eat about 12w. I have no idea at this point if I'm gonna have to have the stator rewound, or if I'm gonna need to add a battery or what. The guy at the shop didn't seem to think I would need to, but I'm not sure. If anyone knows what parts eat how much juice, let's hear ya!
 

Simmons1

Member
Jan 25, 2009
7
0
You may need an aftermarket stator from Baja Designs to light everything.

I have plated 98 here in Texas. I bought mine with the Baja kit already installed. I am using a 35w hi/lo beam and an led tailight.
 
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