Picking up a 2002 KDX 220 Friday. What to do to it first?

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JasonK94Z
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Picking up a 2002 KDX 220 Friday. What to do to it first?

Post by JasonK94Z »

I am picking up a 2002 KDX 220 this Friday evening. It is all original except for a skid plate, new handlebars and brush guards. The bike is mint! Very clean, and low hours on it.

I won't have much time to ride it with winter coming, etc. So now is the time to sort the bike out. What maintenance should I do to it right away?

I'm 230 lbs in full gear. What springs do I need for the forks and shock? Gold valves will have to wait until spring or summer next year. I will be using this bike to ride single track in rocky terrain. Should I do the mod to remove shims from the forks?

Any advice you can give would be great! I'm a guy that loves to tinker so i'm ready to make a list. I already have a bad azz KLR 650 dual sport with gold valves, springs, custom shock, and all the rest of the farkles. So I love to wrench, and I love to mod my rides to perform their best possible.

So far I have:
Grease swingarm bearings
Change out fork oil
Change transmission oil

Thanks everyone!
2002 KDX 220R
2003 KLR 650
JasonK94Z
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Re: Picking up a 2002 KDX 220 Friday. What to do to it firs

Post by JasonK94Z »

Also, I have read on here about sag settings for the rear, but what about the front? I'm thinking my klr is different because I had to set sag up front using a different length of pipe in the forks to get my sag to a certain measurement.
2002 KDX 220R
2003 KLR 650
sarrant
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Re: Picking up a 2002 KDX 220 Friday. What to do to it firs

Post by sarrant »

I imagine what you're most likely to hear is to swap out the stock piston for a forged one, as on the 220 they have been known to have caused some pretty catastrophic failures.
JasonK94Z
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Re: Picking up a 2002 KDX 220 Friday. What to do to it firs

Post by JasonK94Z »

Where is the cheapest place to get a piston kit?
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2003 KLR 650
spl383
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Picking up a 2002 KDX 220 Friday. What to do to it first?

Post by spl383 »

I bought one on ebay it included everything
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wiseco-Top-End- ... 5ad0355cd6
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Re: Picking up a 2002 KDX 220 Friday. What to do to it firs

Post by spl383 »

A pipe makes a huge difference I have a pro circuit platinum and love it. While your doing the piston put in a set of reeds. I would also recommend changing the brake fluid.
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Re: Picking up a 2002 KDX 220 Friday. What to do to it firs

Post by JasonK94Z »

spl383 wrote:I bought one on ebay it included everything
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wiseco-Top-End- ... 5ad0355cd6
Awesome. Thanks!
2002 KDX 220R
2003 KLR 650
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Re: Picking up a 2002 KDX 220 Friday. What to do to it firs

Post by JasonK94Z »

spl383 wrote:A pipe makes a huge difference I have a pro circuit platinum and love it. While your doing the piston put in a set of reeds. I would also recommend changing the brake fluid.
I'm guessing I would need the fmf gnarly pipe for woods riding.
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Picking up a 2002 KDX 220 Friday. What to do to it first?

Post by scheckaet »

check sig for newb thread.
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adam728
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Re: Picking up a 2002 KDX 220 Friday. What to do to it firs

Post by adam728 »

JasonK94Z wrote:
spl383 wrote:A pipe makes a huge difference I have a pro circuit platinum and love it. While your doing the piston put in a set of reeds. I would also recommend changing the brake fluid.
I'm guessing I would need the fmf gnarly pipe for woods riding.
The porting is different on the 220 vs the 200. The higher reving 200 pipes act more as lowend pipes on the 220, and the gnarly acts as an ubber lowend pipe and hurts top end.

Sent via morse code
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Re: Picking up a 2002 KDX 220 Friday. What to do to it firs

Post by JasonK94Z »

adam728 wrote:
JasonK94Z wrote:
spl383 wrote:A pipe makes a huge difference I have a pro circuit platinum and love it. While your doing the piston put in a set of reeds. I would also recommend changing the brake fluid.
I'm guessing I would need the fmf gnarly pipe for woods riding.
The porting is different on the 220 vs the 200. The higher reving 200 pipes act more as lowend pipes on the 220, and the gnarly acts as an ubber lowend pipe and hurts top end.

Sent via morse code

I see. So I am guessing the desert pipe is the way to go for the 220 then.
2002 KDX 220R
2003 KLR 650
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Re: Picking up a 2002 KDX 220 Friday. What to do to it firs

Post by jerry malbeck »

open up the air box , Put a pipe on it , rejet and reeds that alone will wake it up. I own three of them and that is the first thing i do . I run the desert pipes myself , we ride cross country sage brush country , and eastern washington ,oregon woods . The woods pipe when jetted right will give you plenty of RPM. I weigh over 200 with gear and my 220 will go plenty fast enough to get you HURT . LOL. I can hang with the 250 four strokes and the 2 stroke KTM's . suspension is going to be spendy BUT well worth the cost , weak link is the forks . I have yet to have a piston problem BUT we let our bikes warm up real good before riding . Maybe im flirting with disaster --- well see in time. Other then the above mentioned about all that is left is the RB updates to carb and head . I have opted to leave mine stock as they are plenty fast enough for me in that form . Grease, Grease and grease the bearings all over the bike , Did i mention to grease all the bearings :lol:
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Picking up a 2002 KDX 220 Friday. What to do to it first?

Post by Chaz955i »

I also picked up a pre-owned 220 this year. I decided to play it safe and do a top end swap immediately. Also, packed all the bearings and pivots with marine grade grease. I know a lot of people suggest a pipe but I think it might be a good idea to take the bike out once you do the new piston and see how you like it. I think the stock setup is actually really good as a trailbike and I've found no reason to mess with it. Only thing I have planned for this winter is having the suspension set up for my weight. These are great bikes. Wish Kawi would release a updated version as 2 strokes are still very popular with the non-motocross crowd.
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Re: Picking up a 2002 KDX 220 Friday. What to do to it firs

Post by jjavaman »

1st thing to do is ........ride it!
97-220 with a PC pipe. 2015- RB carb and head mod
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Re: Picking up a 2002 KDX 220 Friday. What to do to it firs

Post by s10gto »

And show pic's! :grin: Everyone likes pic's ! Congrats ! :boogie:
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Re: Picking up a 2002 KDX 220 Friday. What to do to it firs

Post by KarlP »

Ride it until the snow comes, of course.

If you have time and money this winter I'd do the following

Top end, just so you know it is right and fresh
RB head mod. I think it is the best bange for the buck on a 220. What, $45?
Pipe and silencer. The stock pipe is pretty limiting, the stock silencer is O.K. but can plug up.
Open up the air box a bit to complement the pipe

Seriously consider a fork swap. The correct springs in the stock forks will help a lot but a KX front end makes the bike night and day better.

All the usual grease and fluid changes
'08 KTM200xc
'99 CR/KDX Hybrid with that RB stuff done to it
KX100 for the boy
JasonK94Z
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Re: Picking up a 2002 KDX 220 Friday. What to do to it firs

Post by JasonK94Z »

KarlP wrote:Ride it until the snow comes, of course.

If you have time and money this winter I'd do the following

Top end, just so you know it is right and fresh
RB head mod. I think it is the best bange for the buck on a 220. What, $45?
Pipe and silencer. The stock pipe is pretty limiting, the stock silencer is O.K. but can plug up.
Open up the air box a bit to complement the pipe

Seriously consider a fork swap. The correct springs in the stock forks will help a lot but a KX front end makes the bike night and day better.

All the usual grease and fluid changes
This is my plan so far. What about the RB carb? Worth it?
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Re: Picking up a 2002 KDX 220 Friday. What to do to it firs

Post by turtle »

KarlP wrote:Ride it until the snow comes, of course.

If you have time and money this winter I'd do the following

Top end, just so you know it is right and fresh
RB head mod. I think it is the best bange for the buck on a 220. What, $45?
Pipe and silencer. The stock pipe is pretty limiting, the stock silencer is O.K. but can plug up.
Open up the air box a bit to complement the pipe

Seriously consider a fork swap. The correct springs in the stock forks will help a lot but a KX front end makes the bike night and day better.

All the usual grease and fluid changes
I know I need to review in the RB section, but for completeness can you give the short version of what the RB head mod does for the 220? I also seem to recall reading it makes the bike more sensitive to jetting. Is that true as well?
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Re: Picking up a 2002 KDX 220 Friday. What to do to it firs

Post by KarlP »

The RB carb is ~$250. Ron changes how the pilot circuit works, bores the carb and puts in a divider plate. The carb will behave like a small carb up to about 1/2 throttle and like a big carb at full throttle. I really liked it on my hybrid. Whether it is worth it or not is up to you. For a really nice running bike I'm not sure it is needed.

Ron also adjusts the squish in the stock 220 head and raises the compression a bit. The 220 motor really benefits from that. I saw quite an improvement in low to mid rpm performance. I did not find any greater sensitivity to jetting.
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'99 CR/KDX Hybrid with that RB stuff done to it
KX100 for the boy
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Re: Picking up a 2002 KDX 220 Friday. What to do to it firs

Post by deltap »

:pop:
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