Cool setup... let everyone else's criticism motivate you a little. I would love to take my bike on a few longer trips next year. Everyone says a little 250 is no good for touring but your setup looks pretty good so far. Check out advrider, there are a few guys that tour their klx 250's with sucess.

 

Thank you. The rated 70 mpg this bike gets is not with a 13 tooth sprocket in a forest.

 

Good start on your setup.

If you don't have frames to support the inside of the saddle bags, I recommend using the thick, moto-cross style tear-off decal material to protect your plastic panels from abrasion while you are touring...just pull them off and throw them away when you're done.

Keep an eye on the clearance between the RH panel and the muffler once you put some weight in the bags....don't ask me why I'm saying that! You might not have any issues with that because you still have the stock muffler.

A seat mounted tail bag, along with those saddle bags, will really help you carry all of the essentials easier. The saddle and tank bags alone will run out of room quickly. I went with Motofizz brand seat/tail bag that mounts with 4 compression straps..it doesn't budge once you cinch them down and the bike handles the bag just fine. I went with the their medium sized bag, but the small will do, because they have expansion zippers on each end.

I have a really rugged rack that unifies the rear subframe, so you probably would want to mount your seat bag further forward...like entirely on the seat. That's what I did prior to having the rack and it worked just fine. As it is now, I still mount the bag partially on the seat. Sorry, no saddle bags mounted in this pic.



Check out this thread on 'minimalist (250cc and below) touring. There a 126 pages to go through, but it's pretty interesting reading if you plan to tour with a small displacement bike. Good luck!

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...01349&page=121

 

Oh, almost forgot. I have the 15T sprocket mounted right now, and while it feels better for cruising on my 300cc jug, I personally don't recommend using it with stock displacemet.

When I still had the 250cc jug and 14T sprocket, 6th gear felt like an overdrive (could for cruising in anything from a level road to moderate hills. When I bumped the displacement up to 300cc, 6th gear felt how 5th gear used to feel with 250cc. With the 15T and 300cc, 6th gear is back to feeling like an overdrive. I will difinetly use this setup for touring and commuting. Engine speed drops by about 500RPM in 6th gear at 60-70mph.

With 250cc and 15T, I think you would be spending most of your cruising time in 5th gear because I think it would be lugging the engine in most situations.


Just my opinion. It's not like it will break the bank to give it a try though.

 

Tremor,
Do you have a picture you'd like to share of your mounted rear rack?

 

I say your bag setups are cool,, just use the strap and buckle method and remember take lots of pics during your adventure

 

Here's a shot of it before I plugged the holes from the tool pouch and changed the tail light.

Picture tightning down the 2 bolts that go into the top of the rear subframe, then actually having to applying pressure to the forward part of the rack until it lines up with the bolt holes for the seat, inserting those bolts and tighting them down. Just the action of installing this rack noticeably strengthened the subframe.

There is another rack built for both the 06/07 and 09 KLX250s at cycleracks.com. It's not the most sleek looking thing -actually kind of ugly- but it has forward rails that bolt into the passenger peg anchor nuts, so it's really strong.

The racks that bolt exclusively to the rear subframe rails (ala stock unit for 06/07) are kind of a joke...especially if you take it off road with any kind of load.

 

with a stock motor setup and 15T front ......... you might find it impossible to hit 70 mph loaded up.
I would really try it out before you get too far from home; and if it doesn't work that great- you'll still have it around for a few MODS.

this is great! I'm also looking at some longer trips- just trying to get the wife riding motorcylces- she likes horses too much- no shifting involved!

 

Dean that has to be the sweetest setup I have seen on our bike. Very nice man!!!!

 

do you have a link to the bag?