Brian,

This whole 300 cc kit thing is a love / hate thing. I love to read about the power - especially torque - increases, but hate to think about going through another level of performance upgrades. Of course, reading your repors are quite tempting. I'm sure you are getting closer to 30 rwhp now and in a 262 pound bike, that is quite impressive! Especially one where you don't have to rebuild the top end every 10 hours of operation or one race, whichever comes first!

With the 300 kit in place, the KLX250S is quite close to a Suzuki DRZ400S, which is a 300 pound motorcycle with 30 something horsepower. The KLX250S is now something outstanding. Thanks for your work and reports.

Got to start saving again!

 

True, but remember the caveat about the roads being wet since it was raining and my Kenda 270's which aren't known for good road traction. This was definitely not a dry road good traction burn-out. I just want to make sure I don't misrepresent this.

 

Yeah, I'd be interested in that too. Is that a whole new cylinder and head, perhaps just boring out the existing KLX300 cylinder or what? I've seen reference to folks taking KLX300's up to 331cc and 340cc, but not higher. And these require overboring and aftermarket pistons. Please fill us in on this.

 

That's interesting but by the time they were done, they'd have been a lot better off to start with a KX instead of a KLX since nearly all major components were replaced with KX components. Sounded almost like an excercise in transforming a KLX into a KX, piece by piece.

 

Hey no brakes, after I sell my VTX, I might be getting that 300cc kit, how bout I ride up to your house and have you install it for me too, since now you can do it in under 10 minutes, I'll buy you the beer.
Seriously though I like the VTX and all, its just the fact that I am addicted to dirt, I like the bike to slide under me, to wiggle all around, and then jump some stuff when I want too. The VTX is a great street bike, but it just gets boring after a while I guess. Its fun to ride up to the mountains on a bike rather then trailering it, but its no fun riding all over the mountains and seeing tons of fire roads everywhere and not being able to ride them, arrrggg. I was looking into trading the VTX for a supermoto, but I don't know how that would handle the fire roads?

 

Yeah, but the article was in 2000, there was no KX250F at the time.

 

Sure thing, incabiker - no problem helping out a fellow KLX brother. I don't drink, but you can load me up with coffee and espresso and I'll work 'til dawn We can do Gravy Train's too since he's fairly close by. I offer no warranties, though - if it blows up on the first crank, well, a solemn sorry is about all I can offer.

I'm sure that VTX is a lot of fun, especially slow-cruising along the strip in the evening around sunset and opening it up out on the highway. But like you, I tend like the off-road or at least "unimproved" roads. I've got ideas for a new bike in the back of my mind, but I haven't quite found the perfect bike yet. I love the Honda XR's - probably more due to riding them as a kid. And I love the look of the XR650R:

http://powersports.honda.com/motorcy...odelId=XR650R7

I bet it would not be too hard to make it street legal. That's probably my bike right there. Yes, I know the XR650L is already street legal, but it's just not the same.

But also under consideration is the BMW F650GS Dakar. Nice bike and is right at home fitted with a set of DOT knobbies. Glen Heggstad rode one around the world and had a grand time. Not that I'd seriously consider doing that, but it stood up pretty well to most everything he threw at it. I think parts and maintenance could get pretty expensive, though. The TE610 you mentioned before is also up there on my list. Again, parts and maintenance probably pretty high with that one too. So many great bikes - so little time

Right now, because of price, and other factors, the XR is pretty close to the top. But the top three positions tend to change daily based on my mood. I think this is telling me I need to plan for several more bikes in my future.

 

incabiker,

Sorry to hear about the short-lived honeymoon with the VTX. Did not want to say a thing, but once you've ridden a dual-sport bike, it's hard to ride a cruiser ever again. Something is missing - perhaps it is the fun factor, I'm not sure.

All I know is that I have multiple dual-sport / dual-purpose / adventure touring bikes at this time. The ergos are quite well suited to my height and required seating limitations. They're flat out fun to ride. My KLR650 is a bike that will do just about anything except expressway communting. Yes, I know there are those that use the KLR650 for that, but I like to have something in reserve if I need to get out of the way of a newspaper reading, hair curling, cellphone talking, breakfast eating, coffee drinking cage driver! Not that they're distracted or anything like that, but I've seen them have trouble keeping the car between the white lines at 35 mph!

The KLR650 is an excellent value. You can ride most roads with it, it works good lasts a long time and once you change out the balancer chain lever, affectionately known as "The Doohickey" it's a pretty rock solid bike. I've done 600 miles days on mine - mostly backroads - that consisted of 250 miles of road, 100 miles of Apalachicola National Forest Roads followed by another 250 miles of highway. That to me is the essence of dual-sport riding.

You already have the KLX250S for those times when you need or simply just want to have something even lighter to go even further back into the areas that the KLR can go, but you feel like you've just been in a wrestling match with a 800 pound gorilla.

I don't think there's a similarly sized thumper that will run all day long with the KLR650, dubbed by Motorcycle Consumer News as "America's Favorite Dualsport" in a recent edition.

 

sssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh play it up ... be a hero for 2 mins lol

 

I had a DRZ400SM last year, and on a loose surface, it was sorta similar to riding with knobbies on a muddy surface. Not so bad, really -- just watch out gassing it in turns, especially in sand or gravel top. On straights, you are okay -- just limit your sudden swerves, to just gentle ones.
If you're into it, it makes it easier to back into turns and other power-slide fun.