Welcome to your new ride! I at 50 bought the KLX as it reminded me of my old KDX175. I wanted something plateable ,reasonable pricing and able to bring my 205lb body for a ride on the trails. As a former dirt rider the more I ride this bike the more I find its likes and dislikes. I do more technical trails with mud, roots, ruts and rocks I just put New tires as I thought the stock tires sucked, Brakes feel ok in the woods as you can only get the stopping power that is available between the tire and the surface,but I do notice that anti-lock feeling that was mentioned when on the pavement. Being a road rider for the duration away from the dirt, I would rather have brakes that by my control I stop from locking, this way I feel like I am getting the most stopping power that I have available. I do not like the feeling that I am standing on the brakes and its not locking up and thinking I am stopping because it is slowing down.Which is how I think it feels on pavement. I am not on the pavement much with mine just casual ride to the trail head then I let her rip. You might want to check out this Break In Secrets--How To Break In New Motorcycle and Car Engines For More Power for your breaking in info comes highly recommended by many I also changed my oil and filter at 30 miles. Good luck and you will find TONS of valuable info in this forum

 

Yes, the Clark (2.7 gal) is a direct swap and so is the Acerbis (3.7 gal). Some people don't mind the looks of the Acerbisand say that it looks better in person, but I think it's downright 'fugly.' It holds the most fuel of all the aftermarket tanks available though.

Man, if you think there is nothing available now, you should have been with us 2 years ago! Since then we have seen HMF, 2Bros and FMF develop slip-ons (FMF also came out with a PowerBomb header). During that same time period, Clark developed their KLX250S tank,Utah cylce developed askidplate,Unabiker came outwith rad guards andKustom Kraft came out with a large bore kit.

This bike still has a pretty weak aftermarket following though.That probably won't change dramatically, but at least the situation has improved over the last couple of years.

 

Clarke tank is direct bolt on.

I made my own lines and between that and my other brake mods the stopping power is a lot better!
I also bleed them with my snap on power bleeder and that pulled a ton of air out.
I also sometimes tie wrap the front brake lever down overnight to pull some more air out.


Kevin

 

I guess your post is probably directed towards me as usual........I never said that the 13-tooth is the end all mod, I said it's the best economical mod to wake the bike up. This is a proven fact, not just what I think. It makes the bikes powerband broader and come on earlier while letting it cruise the highway at normal rpms (documented everywhere on this forum). As far as brakes go, I've had several sportbikes, recently a GSX-R with 6-piston calipers on each side so I know what good brakes are. The KLX's brakes are plenty adequate for a cheap dirt bike and I will say comparable if not better than most MX bikes stock stuff. His brakes will quite likely improve as the bike gets miles, it's brand new and everything is just starting to break in including the brakes. You ask who's right? Well, I'm here to tell you that I am. Heck, my DRZ had brakes that would flip you over front at 100mph if you really wanted to. But, that bike is supposed to stop fast. The KLX isn't supposed to have sportbike brakes so stop wishing they were something they were never meant to be in oem form. Sure, you can add SS lines, new pads, etc. But the likelihood of noticing or improving the stopping distance with these add-ons is minute. Seat of the pants they may feel stronger, but I highly doubt they improve the ability to stop the bike in a shorter distance. And why would anyone measure the power of a bike's brakes bases on how well they can lock up the wheel? Welllll...........that's their job isn't it? If you apply your bike's brakes and they don't lock the wheel up the harder you squeeze wouldn't you be a bit concerned? It's up to the rider to control how well the brakes stop the bike, not the brakes. These aren't Lexus'.

 

I did check to see if they were improved. From 30 mph I cut 7 feet off my stoping distance! I'm sure if I inceased speed it would have dropped even more. I did it just to baseline to see if it would really work.

 

I have benn doing some searching for stainless steel braided lines & found this company:

http://www.galferusa.com/html/offroads.html

IfI find out they have a set of lines that will fix my KLX, that will be a done deal.

Anybody know what other similar models of Kawasaki lines in the catalog might fit? They dont list one for the KLX250S

 

I rate the stock KLX front brake as woeful at best. Adding a 320mm rotor & stainless line got it into the ballpark.

 

Not sure what they have for the 250s, but for my RC51 racebike, I went to Galfer steel lines along with after market race pads & fluid & it was an incredible change. Unfortunately for me, except for race bikes, I havent really ridden anything that comes close to the feel & stopping power on those.....

 

I wish i could break my bike in again.... i dont think that following the factory breakin is right after reading http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm soooooo maybe you dont have to wait to have fun on it.... he says the first 20 miles are the most important. change your oil at 20 miles when you first get it and dont go synthetic till you have at least 1500 miles on it. and dont be afraid to go up in the higher rpm range. now i'm no mechanic but the way it was explained in full detail made sense to me. just read it at least...

 

Yea I got lucky and found the Mototune break-in a couple of weeks before I picked up my bike. I went that way, and have not regretted it one bit.