KDX200 How much play is too much with front axle

Are you sure the movement is in the axle area and not the wheel (loose spokes). Move the wheel and see if the hub is moving, or just the wheel. If the hub is also moving, I see three possibilities: 1) The nut on the axle may be a little loose; 2) The axle could be worn; or (most likely) 3) You need new wheel bearings. If you have a local shop who has the bearings, you could take the front wheel off and take it in. They will probably replace them while you wait if you ask.
Good Luck-

You're right. It is a roller bearing set-up. They are sealed bearings for both the front and rear wheels. Unless your bike has mucho hours riding with bad bearings, I seriously doubt that your axle is worn. From past experience, you could ride the bike. I said could, not should. If you do decide to throw caution to the wind, I'd definitely suggest not doing any triple jumps, unless, of course, you just want to leave a pile of scrap to your heirs.

I'm with cfr. My money is on worn ball bearings on the front axle. There are a pair of them. One toward each side. If you have a bearing house that has a good selection  of sealed ball bearings, you can probably save a few bucks getting the bearing from them, instead of your dealer. You may need to give them the bearing number, or give them one bearing to compare. There may be cross reference numbers on the bearing or they may be able to match by using actual dimensions.

I think there was a previous thread that mentioned "<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA">Guaranteed</SPAN>" bearings. They may cost a little more, but they are easy to exchange in the future. If you have any mechanical aptitude, consider changing the bearings yourself.&nbsp; Good Luck.

Sorry for the nonsense in the above thread. I made the mistake of cutting and pasting from MS Word because I forgot how to spell guarantee. But the main thing I wanted to add was that if you can feel ANY play&nbsp;in the front wheel (or rear) it is&nbsp;TOO much and needs to be remedied. Yes, you can ride on it, but it is not recommended. The bike will be squirelly and might spit you off. In my case it will spit me off more often than I'm used to.

The play you feel when you COMPRESS the forks with the front brake applied is the floating disk brake. The side to side play is most likely due to the bearings.

Buy a shop manual for your bike. Helps you see how everything goes together so you can repair and maintain yourself.

I am with the others--it is probably the front wheel bearings, which are easy to replace and easy/cheap to purchase at a bearing house.