I thought I would start a post here in case people were interested in following my problem.
My bike is a 2003 KDX 220, but I purchased it brand spankin new this summer, so my warranty is good till January 2nd, 2005. I put it down for winter already, since I've got lots and lots of mods I plan on doing (it's already a bare frame sitting in the spare bedroom :) ). Yesterday I pulled the cylinder to put in a new Wiseco and was shocked at what I saw. One, single, DEEP gouge in the cylinder wall. Everything looked perfect, even the piston. Then I noticed the pin that locates the end gap of the lower rings is not in the piston. The groove it left in the cylinder is probably .030" or more deep, pretty bad. It must have worked at it for a while.
So now it's time to see how well Kawasaki will back it's bikes. After work today I'm going to the local dealer (not where I got the bike, I didn't live here then) and see what they say. I'm hoping this post becomes one of those great experience with customer service type ones, and not one about getting screwed over. I just figured some people might be interested in following it, so I'd keep things posted.
Oh yea, the bike only has about 600 miles on it, is stone stock other than fork springs and lighting (dual sport). About 75% of it's use this summer was getting me to work and back.