Evaluating my new to me 96

[3darcher2]

About a month ago I picked up my first dirt bike in 30 years, a 1996 KDX 200 for a really good price. That's a good thing, because my wife is not too excited about me picking up a dirt bike at almost 60 so I am on a limited budget.

Now that the initial euphoria has worn off, it's time to actually make sure it's trailworthy. I've been pretty busy since grabbing it but I would like to actually hit the woods for real here in the next month or so. My evaluation once I started shaking it down found the following issues:

Bar risers were bent/not lined up. Pulled out riser bolts, swapped bushings around, now straight(er). I am looking at riser options to make the cockpit a little bigger. Would also like to go to aluminum hand guards, just has plastic Acerbis guards on it now.

Rear wheel missing one spoke. The one thing I forgot was to check it before I left with it - the seller said it was missing a spoke and I left it at that. Just about every spoke was loose, and on top of that there is a small crack on the rim. Bought wheel off eBay complete with broken hub - going to swap my hub into that wheel - first time ever lacing a wheel, wish me luck!

Silencer is an old FMF PowerCore - attached to a FMF Woods pipe. Nothing wrong there but intended use is USFS trails so an approved arrestor is in order. So far been striking out here, although I do have an offer to swap the PowerCore via shipping for a stocker. Hoping to find a stocker or TurbineCore locally.

Front pads look pretty low. Still material on them but not a lot. Pretty straightforward here, even for me.

Stock spring on the shock. As it came, I have almost a whopping 6" of sag in shorts and t-shirt . For ten bonus points, guess my weight. Found a guy on a KLX forum with a 6.0 spring weight so that should help. We'll see how that works out, but it's gotta be better than the current setup.

Stock forks. Based on the shock info, likely way too soft. Despite being obviously soft, I am not going to be hammering this bike for now, so this could be a winter project. Probably should look for a KLX650 front end. I will be riding like a 60 year old guy who wants to prove to his wife he's not going to wind up in the hospital - to start .

Front headlight there but not hooked up. Tail light works. Another winter project.

Kicker constantly falls out to the side, won't stay folded in. This is annoying. I need to pull that off and see about getting that BB back in from what I understand.

Very short crack, less than 1/4" on tank, up near the filler neck. Seeps a little bit in limited riding during shakedown. This is a tragedy as this is the violet tank. Going to try to solve the plastics repair here, I love the grape.

Tires have nice tread but OLD. Expect they will chunk off although I don't see any dry rot. Plus it's a 120/90-18 rear. See the post about the rear wheel - it comes with a generic tire that looks like new and it's a 110/100-18. It will do for now until I decide what to run on it.

Oil looks good, gears shift pretty nice. Looks like motor oil, was going to change out to Type F. Guess that's an autoparts store deal - Couple Wally Worlds I have been have had zero stock.

Engine actually starts in a kick or two and idles OK. It's been so long since I've been on a 2 stroke so I'm not sure but I feel like the bottom end is off a little and the hit is a little harder than I was expecting. It does feel like it flattens out on top, maybe a little early. (Previous bike was an 89 YZ250 with a flywheel weight added.) I haven't really stretched its legs but I likely need a good cleaning and see where I am at on jetting. I've had very limited carb experience so if it's running half decent I'll let it go until I get a serious ride or three in.

I'm sure I'll turn up a few other things but this will get me started. I tried to pick up a KLX250 roller for $100 but never got an answer. Could have gotten a rear wheel and a fork swap in one swoop.

[Chuck78]

Hey buddy!
My offer still stands to trade for the Power Core or sell/ship you the nicer of my two stock spark arrestors if you don't have any luck finding an FMF Turbine Core 2 or Pro Circuit Type 296. The PC Type 296 is the nicest of all of them.

Bummer I didn't realize your purple tank had a crack in it. There are two or three on eBay last I looked, but at least one had damaged threads on the brass inserts.

Always store aging plastic fuel tanks full to the brim. When stored empty, if the plastic dries out too substantially, they will occasionally crack once fuel is reintroduced.

Also, on the power band hit, you might do best ordering a Keihin DEL needle and running in clip position #3 for starters, tune to suit. And somewhere around 42 pilot / 152 main jets at your altitude.
Also, do the mid body jet block gasket while you have the carb apart. They don't age well, and when they start leaking, will cause a lot of erratic jetting/running issues.

Lastly, the ignition timing static setting (stator plate rotation vs crankcase mark) will alter the engine traits significantly. With the FMF Gnarly Woods pipe, the top end rev-out will be cut back a few thousand RPM's, but the bottom end will be stronger. Keeping the ignition timing in between the middle and upper marks on the stator plate will be the best match for this pipe on a 200's stock-ish cylinder porting. On the upper mark will give the strongest most responsive low end, but will further cut the top end rev-out down slightly. In the middle between the upper and middle mark is a nice compromise. I just set my buddy's 200 with Woods pipe to a few hairs below the upper mark, but a few more hairs above splitting the difference between the middle and upper marks. This worked out perfect in my opinion, and his 200 rides a little bit more like a 220 and has the same rev out as a 220 with Gnarly Desert pipe + Lectron 34mm carb + head mod.

That's about the way I would want a 200 if I owned one. I would probably do a bit more low-end porting on it if apart.
In an ideal world if I had a 200, I would bore it out to 69mm and have the cylinder re-plated, running a Wossner forged piston for stock 220 bore size...and woods pipe + Lectron Billetron Pro Series, SmartCarb SC2 36, or PWK35 Air Striker carb with probably a CEL needle and #7 slide...

Best of luck with your bike, I hope you get some great enjoyment out of it!
Make sure to wear full safety gear - Leatt, Alpinestars, or Fox body armor chest protector, good knee pads, good boots (Alpinestars Tech 7 Drystar Enduro boots are $$$ but definitely some of the absolute best, the extra options add waterproofing and treaded soles fyi Drystar and Enduro.

[Chuck78]

IRC VE33s Gekkota rear tire also, for when the time comes... Classic VE33 tread but the "s" & Gekkota means softer rubber, a semi-gummy compound, grips rocks and roots a lot better. Great all around tire...

[3darcher2]

Thanks Chuck. I have a lot of work ahead of me and a lot of learning.

I got a 6.3kg spring for future installation. Going to add PVC pipe for some preload with the stock springs for now. I also tracked down a stock silencer (thanks Chuck78) and a parts bike with a good rear wheel assembly.

Definitely need to check out the carb too. Bike runs really strong through the middle but sort of feels like it breaks up a little down low. Not boggy. Maybe a carb cleaning and adjustments.

Next thing I need to look at is the clutch basket. I have a feeling it's pretty notched. It exhibits a lot of the symptoms. I need to fix that kick starter so it folds in correctly too.

[Chuck78]

Jet block gasket aka mid body gasket on these carbs is always a suspect for iffy running conditions. It's not shown on Kawasaki parts diagrams, you have to get it OEM Keihin from Sudco, Jets R Us, or JD Jetting. Small tamper proof torx bit is needed, look at the underside of the carb with float bowl off.

You can file the clutch basket carefully to get some more life out of it, but a Wiseco billet clutch basket or Mitaka billet basket is really in order. I wish those came with the steel inserts like the Rekluse auto clutches come with, then the aluminum would never wear out. Doing a Rekluse on my wife's KTM 200 XC-W today, to help with the nasty technical rocky rooty steep terrain for less stalling and more riding...