92 KDX200 value

[ohgood]

Hey all,
So I bought my 92 dx200 in awful condition, on somewhat of a whim/personal challenge.
Fast forward 6 months, and I've got it all rebuilt and running RIDICULOUS fast.

Rebuilt engine by Millenium Technologies, including NICASIL lining, case matching, port and polish, rebuilt crank, new bearings and seals everywhere, wiseco piston, BDK steel KIPS valves.
New k760 rear tire, chain, fresh fluids all around, new steering stem bearings with marine grease, rm250 front end with forks totally rebuilt by ZR1 racing, fmf gold pipe. Stock carb cleaned and working great, oem reeds. D'Flex hand guards, UFO headlight/tail fender,
Hydraulic brake light switch installed and LED 1157 tail light and mirror mount so it is ready to be street legal where possible.
After all that building(which was fun), and all that money(which far exceeds the value of the bike), what do you guys think is reasonable price to ask for it?
IT'S TOO MUCH BIKE FOR ME! I'm actually scared to ride it. It has less than 5hrs on the rebuild.

Thoughts?

Fun Wheel Drive

i'm not saying kdx's are worthless, because they are a ton of fun...

but

when a 6 year old ktm is avaialble for around 2 grand, it makes paying that much for a 20+ year old kdx pretty tough to swallow.


I say put the stock pipe and arrestor back on it, detune the intake a little, and enjoy one of the best woods bikes ever. as far as 'not enough time for it' well, there are priorities, and there are FUN times, they don't always mix, but they're both worth it.

detune and enjoy

[Friedom]

Hey all,
So I bought my 92 dx200 in awful condition, on somewhat of a whim/personal challenge.
Fast forward 6 months, and I've got it all rebuilt and running RIDICULOUS fast.

Rebuilt engine by Millenium Technologies, including NICASIL lining, case matching, port and polish, rebuilt crank, new bearings and seals everywhere, wiseco piston, BDK steel KIPS valves.
New k760 rear tire, chain, fresh fluids all around, new steering stem bearings with marine grease, rm250 front end with forks totally rebuilt by ZR1 racing, fmf gold pipe. Stock carb cleaned and working great, oem reeds. D'Flex hand guards, UFO headlight/tail fender,
Hydraulic brake light switch installed and LED 1157 tail light and mirror mount so it is ready to be street legal where possible.
After all that building(which was fun), and all that money(which far exceeds the value of the bike), what do you guys think is reasonable price to ask for it?
IT'S TOO MUCH BIKE FOR ME! I'm actually scared to ride it. It has less than 5hrs on the rebuild.

Thoughts?

Fun Wheel Drive

i'm not saying kdx's are worthless, because they are a ton of fun...

but

when a 6 year old ktm is avaialble for around 2 grand, it makes paying that much for a 20+ year old kdx pretty tough to swallow.


I say put the stock pipe and arrestor back on it, detune the intake a little, and enjoy one of the best woods bikes ever. as far as 'not enough time for it' well, there are priorities, and there are FUN times, they don't always mix, but they're both worth it.

detune and enjoy

I actually decided to get a stryker carb and own up to my decisions. Thanks :]

Fun Wheel Drive

[eprovenzano]

Well I actually took it out for a trail ride today. Had a blast. Is the jetting normally finicky with these? Best throttle response was from cracked to 3/4. Any more than 3/4 didn't really do anything. It's odd, because last time I tried full throttle I could find the top end of the pull before I ran out of open road. Now it doesn't pull any more beyond 3/4. It's humid and rainy today, would that do it?

Fun Wheel Drive

Good question... I wish I could give you an answer, as mine is not complete yet... Was the temps different since the last time you had it out? Temps can have a dramatic effect on jetting

[Friedom]

Well I actually took it out for a trail ride today. Had a blast. Is the jetting normally finicky with these? Best throttle response was from cracked to 3/4. Any more than 3/4 didn't really do anything. It's odd, because last time I tried full throttle I could find the top end of the pull before I ran out of open road. Now it doesn't pull any more beyond 3/4. It's humid and rainy today, would that do it?

Fun Wheel Drive

Good question... I wish I could give you an answer, as mine is not complete yet... Was the temps different since the last time you had it out? Temps can have a dramatic effect on jetting

Not necessarily much different temp, but different humidity as it was a rainy day (usually very low humidity in the desert).


Fun Wheel Drive

[eprovenzano]

Different temps 10-20 degrees can have an affect, but not so much for humidity. If you're running out of top end, that points to the main jet. My 1st thought is it's too small.. but it's odd that it was fine before. Do you know the current jetting settings?

[Friedom]

Well here's another dimension.
The bike sat for a few weeks with a good 2 or 3 gal of premix in it. So when I first took the bike out Friday, I shook up the bike really well, poured a gallon of premix that I had pulled out last time, drained another gallon out of the fuel valve into a gallon jug, poured it back into the tank, sloshed it around some more, and drained the carb by loosening the drain screw (but i didn't remove it, so I probably didn't get it all out). My logic was that if the premix oil settled down it would fill the carb with more oil than gas and affect my mix ratio.
Bike started right up 1st kick, but without choke. Probably 70°F out. I let it idle and warm up for awhile, and it puffed out a LOT of smoke for awhile. Then a few blips and the smoke cleared and it stopped dumping smoke. I rode it around for 1/2 hour maybe, cleared out the cob webs, ran through the gears, and everything seemed to be working great.
So did I lower my premix ratio due to a lot of 2t oil accumulating in the carb, thereby making the system run rich from less oil in the mix? Seems far fetched, but plausible.

Fun Wheel Drive

[ohgood]

Well here's another dimension.
The bike sat for a few weeks with a good 2 or 3 gal of premix in it. So when I first took the bike out Friday, I shook up the bike really well, poured a gallon of premix that I had pulled out last time, drained another gallon out of the fuel valve into a gallon jug, poured it back into the tank, sloshed it around some more, and drained the carb by loosening the drain screw (but i didn't remove it, so I probably didn't get it all out). My logic was that if the premix oil settled down it would fill the carb with more oil than gas and affect my mix ratio.
Bike started right up 1st kick, but without choke. Probably 70°F out. I let it idle and warm up for awhile, and it puffed out a LOT of smoke for awhile. Then a few blips and the smoke cleared and it stopped dumping smoke. I rode it around for 1/2 hour maybe, cleared out the cob webs, ran through the gears, and everything seemed to be working great.
So did I lower my premix ratio due to a lot of 2t oil accumulating in the carb, thereby making the system run rich from less oil in the mix? Seems far fetched, but plausible.

Fun Wheel Drive

stuff pools in the expansion chamber, and the bottom of the arrestor. it's usually oil and water. when you warm up the bike, all that stuff goes out again, as steam n smoke. the bike gets warmer, runs better, smokes less. thats normal.

if you're worried about fuel / oil turning into distinct layers, give the bike a nice wake-up shake and don't worry again.

if it sits for more than a few days, plug the pipe and check the airbox for rats.

[SS109]

You're overthinking it. My bike sits for a week with the same fuel in it. Sometimes even two weeks without gas/oil separation and I'm running 927. You won't get separation unless running castor and it gets below 35F degrees. Just always make sure to shut off the petcock when finished riding and you won't have a problem.

[Friedom]

Stuff pools in the expansion chamber, and the bottom of the arrestor. it's usually oil and water. When you warm up the bike, all that stuff goes out again, as steam n smoke. the bike gets warmer, runs better, smokes less. thats normal.

if you're worried about fuel / oil turning into distinct layers, give the bike a nice wake-up shake and don't worry again.

If it sits for more than a few days, plug the pipe and check the airbox for rats.

Haha thanks for the thoughts. Bike is kept in the garage, thankfully. Rats are a legitimate concern for wires around here.

I read up on weather changes affecting jetting, and humidity could have done it. More water in the air = less oxygen available for combustion = rich condition. Same thing when it gets hotter, air thins, less oxygen available. Same thing at higher altitudes - thinner air.
So I'll take it out one of these days and see if anything changes.

Fun Wheel Drive

[diymirage]

my KDX sat for 4 months over the winter with premix in it
took three kicks instead of one to get her going but that was it

[Friedom]

Nice. You guys are awesome. Mine didn't sit for more than a month. So it's normal to smoke a lot on startup then clear up if it's been sitting?

Next thought - anything that can be done to mitigate engine vibes? I couldn't believe the buzzing in my feet through mx boots.

Fun Wheel Drive

[eprovenzano]

Engine vibs... you will get used to it over time... but in the interium go over the bike and check and recheck every nut and bolt... Also you may want to consider replacing the exhaust springs. I had that issue once on a KTM. The exhaust springs were so weak allowing the pipe to vibrate, which shook everything...

[Friedom]

Thanks! I actually did replace the springs, but with the ones that came from a donor bike, so they might not be any better. I'll check that option out. Maybe I'll stick a rubber damper between the pegs and the frame and see what happens.
Say, how are you supposed to verify the torque on the head bolts? AFAIK you have to apply more torque to break a bolt loose, so using a torque whence at their intended value would not necessarily be accurate. If I loosen them then tighten them back down, I can get an accurate reading, but will it mess with my head gasket seal?

Fun Wheel Drive

[david]

You don't loosen a bolt then re-torque it. You only tighten it to the proper torque setting.

[Friedom]

You don't loosen a bolt then re-torque it. You only tighten it to the proper torque setting.

Why not? My understanding is that a bolt torqued to, say, 20 lb/ft would take more than 20 lb/ft to break loose once the threads have set.
Am I wrong in this?

Fun Wheel Drive

[david]

When you torque a bolt down, it imprints the gasket. If you loosen all the bolts it could move out of place. To re-torque after warm up or break in, you simply go around the proper sequence at the proper torque setting to make sure everything is as tight as it should be. No where ever, in any service manual, on any vehicle does it say to loosen the bolts and then re-torque.

[Friedom]

Great. Easy answer, thanks!

Fun Wheel Drive

[Friedom]

Well I took it out for a nice long varied hilly rocky watery ride today. It wasn't all that exciting until it fell over in the sand, flooded the cylinder and plug, and forced me to change the plug.
Now the bike is scary again, but in a very good way. Low end grunt, high end scream. Blip wheelies. Way too fun. The ride back was like a whole new bike.
I might have spent my nonrefundable money well on this!

Fun Wheel Drive

[royadams]

I would recommend a g2 throttle tube. They have a couple different profiles you can switch out. My buddie has one on his yz and it takes a lot of the snap out of it,with out removing any power you may need on top.what helped me a ton is a seat bump. It keeps me in the front of the seat. I'm tall and tend to creep back in the seat to the point the front end gets real light. I hit a couple trees wisky throttling it, the seat fixed that.

[Friedom]

I'd like to check that out. The seat shape was hard to hold with my legs and I got moved around a lot.

Fun Wheel Drive