What's bad/good on my used KDX200?

[hulagun]

hi folks-

I'm new here. I just today picked up a well used '96 KDX200 with a Baja Designs kit and current CA license plate. It has a few good bits on it, looks a bit scruffy, seems in fair shape. I thought it would be interesting to post here and ask the experts to give me their opinions.

Bike is fitted with FMF Fatty pipe, not too dented up. MSR spark arrestor that seems hollowed out (loud). Plug is Champion NC4. Stock carb. No airbox lid. Foam filter. One piece billet upper bar clamp. Billet guard on rear disc and on water pump housing. Alloy bars. Acerbis handguards. Acerbis lights. Generic speedo in round chrome housing. O-ring chain in good shape.

I have not looked at the jets yet. Have not inspected the KIPS valve. Have not counted the sprocket teeth yet.

BTW - How can I tell if the reed valves are upgraded, and/or the carb modified?

Bike starts easily cold using choke, smokes a lot, makes the infamous rattle. Riding it, it seems to splutter or blubber - until the main jet kicks in... then it makes a nice hit of power. First gear is short and sputtery, but then it goes pretty well. I ran it thru the gears and it seems fast enough, but not much low end. At a stop, it idles OK for a few secs, then drops down and dies.

Owner says he added too much oil. Normally he runs a semi synthetic at 35:1. He also said the jetting was too rich... try dropping the needle.

Very oily exhaust outlet. Plug looked new but a bit wet/oily after my test ride... clearly the owner had recently put in a new plug.

Clutch feels fine. Maybe slips a bit at high RPM. No wheelies on the throttle. Brakes were fine for a dirt bike. Suspension went up and down nicely, and the fork seals leak.

Mainly - I'd like to know what to look more closely at... and to look out for (and fix), to bring it back to the great bike I have heard so much about. And - If any of you live in Calif, is there anything special I need to be aware of to go ride the KDX in a public riding area?

Thanks in advance-
Hulagun
:ride:

 

[dirt bike dave]

If the silencer is hollowed out and loud, that is not good for a dual sport bike or for riding in most of our public areas (96 db is the new noise limit). Try repacking it first and see if that helps.

A street plate will allow you to ride anywhere a green sticker bike can go, plus roads as well.

Sounds like the jetting is stock. Even if you ride at sea level you will want to lean it out. If you ride at 4,000'+ you will want to lean it out a lot. More than just dropping the needle.

If the powervalve has not been serviced and the owner was running the bike rich, I would strongly recommend cleaning the power valve.

Unless you know it has had rings recently, I would put new rings in while you have the jug off to clean the powervalve. Inspect the piston and reeds while you are in there.

Kawasaki usually puts too soft a front spring with too much high speed compression damping in the fork. Fixing the forks will make the bike much much better.

Good luck with the new bike!

 

[AZRickD]

I bought my bike from a guy who changed the jetting richer for me to mellow it out for me and because I ride it on the road a lot to get to trails near my house. At 1200 feet and 100+F in Phoenix, he gave it to me with a 150 main, DEK-3 needle, 38 pilot.

It smoked quite a bit and it sputtered off-idle up to about 1/8th throttle with the RB Designs modded carb air/screw turned out 2.5 turns (indicating either low needle or pilot being too rich). I swapped the DEK for a CEK with modest improvement. I went back to the DEK and then swapped out the 38 pilot for a 35. The A/Screw was more useful there and it took away most, but not all of the off-idle burble. Still working on it.

The exhaust was cleaned up quite a bit. Plug looks good, but I do so much low-speed single-track that my plug is a little dark. I don't want to lean it out much more, though I might go back to the CEK needle.

Rick

 

[hulagun]

Good advice - thanks

This is useful stuff, thanks guys! Now I just have to figure out what tires to buy, and who makes the best seat cover for cheap...

 

[80elkster]

Great Bike

There are several things I would do to the bike
1) Change the spark plug to a NGK BR8ES (Stock Plug);
2) Change the oil in the transmission (I use Chevron 10w40)
so you know you have fresh oil in there. Change it about every 100 to 150 miles;
3) Use a full synthetic premix (I use Mobil 1 MX2T) oil with premium gas at 40:1 (1 Pint to 5 gallons of Gas) and drain out the gas that's in there now (run it through your lawn mower or weed wacker;
4) Pull the carb and clean it with some carburetor spray cleaner then Identify what jets and needle you have. From your description of the bike you would want to start with a 155 main jet and a 45 pilot, then run a plug chop test to see if you need to go up or down on your main (search for plug chop on this site for how to do the test);
5) while you have the carb off pull the reed assembly and check to see if the reeds have any cracked or frayed edges, also see if the reeds are setting flat and even on the reed cage. I would just go ahead and put in a set of Boyesen Power Reeds that will get you better throttle response off idle and may clear up your blubbering at idle;
6) Adjust your airscrew on the carb. First GENTLY turn it in all the way then back it out 1 1/2 turns to start with you'll probably have to fine tune it more later (search for adjust airscrew on this site for more info);
7) It is very likely that your swing arm and shock linkage bearings are shot unless the previous owner wisely greased them shortly after he purchased the bike and kept up on that. You need to grease them at least once a year. You can quickly check the bearing's condition by raising the rear tire off the ground and pushing side to side on the axle. If there is any play then the bearings need attention or replaced, Pivot Works makes a kit containing all the bearings and seals you need to bring that part of the bike into good working order;
8) Pick up a Service Manual for your bike so that you can work on it and get it all back together correctly!!!
I'm sure there is more to list here but lunch is over and the boss if hovering.
Good Luck you're gonna love the bike!! :cool:

 

[hulagun]

Dumb question: what are the correct tire sizes for the '96 KDX 200? I havent obtained a manual yet and can't find the tire size info on line. (Don't want to assume the tires on the bike are correct). Thanks in advance!

Elkster, AZRick, DBDave... thanks for the helpful tips. I cleaned and repacked the FMF spark arrestor today, 3 hours of work... almost decided to buy a new one it was so bad. I'll do the other items as soon as I can.