I'd like to say, first off, thanks for your post.
If you've got a chance, could you email (zeeven@nospam.xtra.co.nz, removing nospam.) me or post here about more bad things about the raptor, for riding in the woods ;) Explanation: a friend of mine used to ride a Blaster and she keeps wishing she was back on a quad, mainly a Raptor. I agree they're damned sexy machines, but we keep telling her it's not suitable for the riding we mainly do. BTW, she spends a lot of time following her daughters (on LT80 & XR80, but the XR is soon to be replaced with something bigger).
Anywho, back to your post. Check out the post stickied to the top "FAQ" (which I haven't forgotten I'm working on and it bugs me that I haven't added anything to it lately). There is a post in there about lowering the KDX, with links to places to get longer linkages & previous posts on the subject. If you find it too heavy to start with, just run half a tank of gas (if possible), to adjust. It has a 3l reserve (think that's the right #, but a decent reserve in any case).
Hope that helps some & if you could help me with convincing my friend that two wheels is the way to go, that would be way cool. (I'm thinking the only way we can convince her is to borrow a quad for a day so she can remember what it was like - it's been two years since last riding one & the LT80 doesn't count lol).
Michelle