I'm starting to really hate my KLX. Part of me wants it gone. A big part of me.

So, I signed up for this "dirt bike instructor class." I thought it'd be cool to teach people how to ride (and to get training on how to ride better myself). To get ready for the classes, I did up the whole suspension finally. Gold valves and new springs up front, and a Moto-Pro setup in back (new spring and valving too).

So I get it back together a few days ago, and go for a 20-mile ride. It runs great. Cool, park it, go to bed. Go to work the next day (Friday), the first day of class taking place that night and then on the range starting today.

Well I get home from work and the back tire is flat. WTF? I end up replacing the tube, which had a hole in it. I load it onto the carrier on my truck and load the truck with gear, tools, etc. This morning, I drive out to the range, gear up, unload and get ready.

I let my friend Cory take it for a ten-minute test ride to see how he likes the suspension and my bar risers, since his KLX is all stock. As he gets back, it dies on him. He starts it up and rides it over and parks it. No biggie.

Now it's time for us to start class. I hop on and try to start it. It wouldn't run. It'd run okay with the choke on, but turn off the choke, and it'd idle, but barely. Give it ANY gas and it'd die. WTF?

I check all the basic stuff. No good. I ended up loading it back on the truck, driving home and riding back on my DR650 to do the class today. Not a whole heck of a lot of fun on a BIG heavy bike (comparatively speaking) with highway gearing and street-ish tires in a wet, grassy field.

So I get home from class today about 4:30 pm, exhausted. I unload the KLX and decide to just pull the carb and clean it out again. I put it back in.. oh gee, what's this? My new rear shock, with the preload set at the absolute minimum (the way it came from Moto-Pro) won't let me get the intake boot back on the airbox. The damn screw collar things are in the way. So I jack the bike up and have to (slowly) add about 3/4" of preload. Then I reinstall the boot and everything.

It won't start. WTF? Oh great, there's gas running out of the bowl. Damn float must be stuck. I tap on it with the screwdriver... no good. Crap. Take it out AGAIN, open it back up, spray it out, reassemble and reinstall. FINALLY the damn thing runs, just as light is fading (it's now 6 PM).

I get it all back together and hop on it. Oh crap. I can't even touch the ground anymore. The preload change has raised the bike. I was already on my tippy toes. ****. So I (slowly) reduce the preload to about half of what it was. That's a little better, but crap, still not great.

The shock was setup with a special spacer in it to lower the bike 1" over stock. He had me put stock dogbones back on to make up for that. Now I'm seriously considering putting the 1" lowering bones back on, but that will affect the spring rate because it changes the pivot point (or so John explained it to me).

So it's now 7:30, it's dark and getting cold out, I'm beat, and I'm dreading going back tomorrow for day 2. I don't want to take the DR650 again, and I don't really want to take the KLX either because it's too freakin' tall. And I half expect it to act up again. I think if it does, it's getting burned down.

End of rant. Thanks for listening.

Rob

 

Bummer of a day Rob. Falls into the "when it rains it pours" category.

My opinion - take the KLX. Even though it's a little taller than you like, the new suspension will wow you offroad. Give the bike a chance to redeem itself.

 

Man that sucks! What a headache at the worst time. Hopefully you can get that suspension dialed back in.

I'd like to take a riding course one day too. I follow the Shane Watts schedule but there's never anything close by.

 

It's unfortunate that you're not getting to just ride the "new" bike by yourself for a while but are in the class, that's quite a bit of extra pressure.
Hang in there.

 

Thanks guys. It felt good to vent.

I wish like heck I could just go RIDE tomorrow, but instead I'll be doing "stupid ****" on the course again, but necessary, since we need to learn the exercises in order to teach them. Stuff like riding around in a circle, clutching, shifting, stopping, starting, weaving, etc. Later in the day it gets a little more fun with an obstacle to hop over. Tomorrow's supposed to be largely a repeat of today but with a little more focus on coaching. Next weekend we start practicing teaching. By the last weekend, there's going to be a real class that we're actually teaching (while under supervision). Should be interesting.

Rob

 

Rob, that sucks. It's hard to keep your chin up when it's one thing after another.
I'm confused about the intake boot comment. You said you couldn't get it "back on". The boot was on there (with the new shock) before you took the carb off to clean it , right? I'm confused as to why it wouldn't go back where it already was.
Good luck
Dan

 

Rob, what method are you using to set rear preload? That's an interesting deal on the 1" spacer deal you mention. I'm not familiar with that.

 

When I reinstalled the shock, what I didn't realize was that those silver collars on the shock were pressing against the intake boot. I removed the boot as usual when removing the carb. Then when I went to reinstall the boot, I saw that there was no clearance to slide the boot back on. Those rings sit right next to where the boot goes into the airbox, and I can't get the boot back on unless they're moved down a bit.

Make sense?

Rob

 

TNC:

Method? Just screwing the collar thing down. John said he had it already set so I shouldn't have to do anything, but that has the spring fully extended.

He said he put a spacer inside the shock that, somehow, causes it to lower the bike, without needing dogbones. I have no idea how it works, but it cost me an extra $60.

He said it's easy to remove; i.e. disassemble shock for an oil change, remove spacer, reassemble, done.

Rob

 

Rob,
However John had it set, I think you'll want to check and set the preload properly. I think this is somewhere around 90 mm of race sag. If you need more info on that, let us know.