KDXRIDER.NET

i'm looking at trading for a 1990's (i think) kdx220. after quite a bit of fun on my -really-well-loved- drz, i've decided a twosmoke may be just the woods weapon to satisfy my urges.

during the week, the drz has 17" bandit wheels with sticky tires on it. it gets commuted, wheelied (poorly), and run around cones for fun (gymkhana is a blast!). come the weekend, i pick it up 12-15 times while displaying terrible riding skills on hills smashed out of iron ore and black bogs by gods own hand, in central alabama.

occasionally, we find glorious flowing walking trails - er, i mean 'motorcycle approved' singletrack, and we have a good time. if we're really lucky, we find glorious flowing, er, motorcycle approved singletrack that smashes BOTH bark busters at once, and flail the clutch lever like a nickles worth of titty to get through it.

but, this is with a drz. big, piggish, heavy, slow, geared-too-tall, or geared-too-short, or gears missing, drz. i love it. every ugly, stained, broken piece of it. really i do.

some friends have upped the game by buying smelly, ringading things. they're light like a feather in comparison. they always start on the first kick (weird!), and rarely flood (unpossible!). not to mention their electrics don't ground fault every 15 oil changes, like my bless-it, drz.

they've convinced me that two smokes are better than four. green better than yellow. light (omg i love light!) better than piggish. and a few other things.

so here we are, on kaydeesexridardotneat. and i'm curious. what, will my soon-to-be-mine kdx220 have for chinks in it's armor ? bad electrics ? puking carb ? swing arm bearings corroded to the point of immovable ?

tell me, what will my new-to-me kdx need, on a 6 month basis of LOTS of riding ?

ps- the sticky street wheels will also be going on the kdx, for motogymkhana, and other 'fun'.
pss- it will be tagged, eventually

so, that's hello.

For any 220 the first and most important bit of maintenance is to get rid of the stock, OEM piston. It is a timebomb waiting to suck your available cash into a complete rebuild/replate. Once that is done a good going over of the linkage area (most abused/least maintained area on these bikes). finally, jet it for your choice of premix. then ride the hell out of it. Eventually you'll start looking at suspension (the most limiting facto IMO) Stock it is sprung out of whack, unbalanced front/rear. Sprung correctly it woks as well as any bike from its generation. As for maintenance on a onth basis, same as your DRZ mostly...regular oil changes, chain maintenance, filter cleanings.

The KDX is definitely not a pig like the DRZ..you obviously know they weigh very little in comparison. I have owned my KDX for many years now and will probably always own one. Stupidly reliable, cushy ride when your getting quite done with a day and super easy to maintain. Absolutely one of the best bang for the bucks to be had out there in USEDBIKELAND is a clean low hr KDX220 IMO. Good luck!

thanks guys!
this bike has been sitting a lonnnnng time. finally got it out for a good ride this past weekend....

http://vimeo.com/100132073


nice and light, nice smooth power, one kick and it's ready. normal?

things I noticed:
throttle is hanging ... is this common ?
I burned about 2 gallons in 25 miles or so of riding. normal?

it has lowering links, they need to go away, quick!

whats the regular place to find used stuff for these machines? I need a right side plastic.



also, I looked at the super motto wheels today. that's definitely happening :-)

missed your original intro somehow...welcome aboard


looks like a 96 or 97 model (gotta love the purple plastics)
too bad someone removed the lights, I always liked those, come in very handy when you get caught out past dark or in a bad thunderstorm

good to see you enjoyed it


ever get that piston replaced though ?

diymirage wrote:missed your original intro somehow...welcome aboard


looks like a 96 or 97 model (gotta love the purple plastics)
too bad someone removed the lights, I always liked those, come in very handy when you get caught out past dark or in a bad thunderstorm

good to see you enjoyed it


ever get that piston replaced though ?

this was my first ride, so no, i haven't replaced the stocker yet. I'm looking into information about the bike, and just starting to find all it's needs. I will replace it, once I know exactly which piston is considered the sanest.

for lighting I'm hoping to put a 20w led light bar on it, with home made brackets.

I think most people would suggest a wiseco piston but I think anything forged would be good
I have never heard anything bad about any pistons other then the stocker

hopefully the previous owner didn't mess up the wiring when they removed the headlight and just tucked it all in underneath the seat
the stock stator is good for about 35 watts at full bore and drops off quickly after that

it can be rewound with ease for a healthy 80+ watts though

there was at least one member on here who has installed an LED headlight and he seamed pretty happy about it

ohgood wrote:...throttle is hanging ... is this common ?

Throttle should never hang, make suer the cable is properly lubed and routed, the return spring inside the carb body is in good shape, and there is nothing hindering the slide movement.

ohgood wrote: I burned about 2 gallons in 25 miles or so of riding. normal?

Of course, mpg is going to depend on riding conditions, but that sounds pretty off. I ride wet/slick/muddy Pacific NW in the winter and can get 50+ miles on a tank riding nothing but nasty singletrack. A good carb clean, proper jetting probably in order.

ohgood wrote:it has lowering links, they need to go away, quick!

Yes they do if you don't need them to reach the ground! When you remove the links (the stock ones are 112.5mm center-to-center) check the forks. If it was done properly when they installed the links they also raised the forks in the triples. If so, you will need to reset the forks to the stock position.

ohgood wrote:whats the regular place to find used stuff for these machines? I need a right side plastic.

Lots of online places, I use Motosport, they are quick and prices are in line with other places. Members on here are always selling things as well, so don't pass up the For Sell threads.

For some reason in the video the front of your bike looked angled up. Also try standing up when you are riding. After a weekend of standing up youll be surprised how much of a better rider youll be

changed rear tires
greased everything with a nipple
new 13/47
new oring chain

taking it to tennessee to play in the woods today

update


ice spent two months chasing down issues, but finally:

new top end
new suspender bearings
new led head/tail lights
bars
bark busters
brake pads
cable
wiring harness
seat foam
grips
and finally, street legal, tagged, insured

thanks to south Dakota dmv for making it so easy to title. :)

I am glad you got it going.

Have you driven it on the street in Alabama past a cop?? I am real curious to see how it goes.

Jason wrote:I am glad you got it going.

Have you driven it on the street in Alabama past a cop?? I am real curious to see how it goes. [emoji14]lease:

yes, most of them have waved, if they weren't texting/eating/Facebooking/etc.

just went for a test ride with new jetting.

distanzias spooned on, and gymkhana competed. great time, friends had a blast on the kdx, as did i.

my daughters first dirt bike ride



kdx just got it's place in the forever garage.

i guess I'm just keeping a log now...

total milage 107 miles and 4 hours on the bike since top end:

what app is that?

newbbewb wrote:what app is that?

Locus Pro ($8.00) on the android market. there is a free version too. works offline, has awesome map options, tons of features.

others i would suggest that aren't quite as powerful or feature packed:
oruxmaps
osmand
maverick
backcountrynavigator

Thanks! I've been using cruiser. It's a free app that I load my GPX files onto. It works offline as well. Not quite as feature packed as that screen shot though.

another great weekend of smashing
http://vimeo.com/132124196