First Dual Sport Ride

[Kurt Franz]

Well...finally have the KDX ready for a one day 300 mile dual sport ride. The ride will take place in Ohio and will consist of 40 percent 2 lane highways, 50 percent dirt roads, and 10 percent trails.

Eveyone is busting my chops telling me that I am a fool for attempting this and that the bike will fail on me because it is a 2 stroke, that mixing the oil and gas will be a pain, etc....

The way I see it, the only thing I really need to be aware of is not using the engine for braking when decelerating from any significant speed.

A temp guage would probably be a good idea.....anyone ever put one on their KDX?

Any other thoughts for me before I depart - please only serious things that need to be considered, not the fact that my keister will be sore, my hands will be buzzing, etc.....I already know this....

My gut feeling is that the bike will fare OK but I will be hurtin afterwards....

KF

[scheckaet]

How fast will you be going on the highway? Gearing? mods? Just curious.

[Kurt Franz]

Highway speeds 55 tops.
Stock gearing

[september9]

Do you have a computer? If you get the right one you can get your temp gauge and also MPH, RPM, and/or a variety of other things.

[KarlP]

Sounds like fun!
300 miles, I get 20 mpg in the real tight trails, I'll guess 40 on the highway? Guess you'll need 4 fillups? Doesn't sound like a problem.

[Kurt Franz]

Do you have a computer? If you get the right one you can get your temp gauge and also MPH, RPM, and/or a variety of other things.

Do you have a recommendation on the computer?

[TPMtec]

I just completed an AMA Dual sport in PA on a 220. 100 miles a day. Mostly unkept state forest trails and fire roads. Stock gearing is fine. I use a etrex gps for mapping , speed, odometer instead of a computer. The odometer cable got beat a long time ago. With a 48 main and a 45 pilot I was getting 25 mpg by staying off the main. Which was about 45-55 mph.

When you fill up at the station, close your petcock. Add th oil after you add gas. Heavy oil will sink to the bottom. Shake it up real good and then open the fuel. I saw a motor get fried becasue of it.

It isn't the best bike for soing lots of road miles, but it works.

[september9]

Kind of depends on what you want in a computer/gps. I went with a Trailtech Vapor, but I got a friend with a Trailtech Endurance. Some people just run GPS's. There are other options available, but not sure off of the top of my head. I went with the Vapor for the temp gauge it has and I wanted a speedo for running roads. A GPS is cool, it can give you your speed, but also map where you are going. A computer won't do that, but some computers have different gauges like a temp and/or a tach in them. Some have count down timers for running checkpoints in races. If all you want is a speedo, you might be better served by a bicycle computer because they are cheaper.

[Kurt Franz]

how often between top end jobs if you are doing rides like this? I am a four stroke guy and still learning a bit about 2 strokes....

[TPMtec]

I'm still new to this 2 stroke thing also. My kdx had it's top end done 2 years ago. I just had it pressure tested and it was still within factory specs. I rode 15-80 trail miles a weekend.

[Jeb]

. . . When you fill up at the station, close your petcock. Add th oil after you add gas. Heavy oil will sink to the bottom. Shake it up real good and then open the fuel. I saw a motor get fried becasue of it . . .

Out of curiosity - what happened in the case of the fried motor? Are you saying that someone added oil, then the gas, shook the mix, and still "fried" their motor?

[Ogre]

I'll throw my lousy 2 cents in.

If your looking for a way to keep & measure your oil, I got a plastic liquor flask and marked it off in 1/2 gal increments of premix.

My longest one day run has only been about 130 miles, but I found the flask a very convenient way to keep and measure the oil out on the road.

I always add oil last as its the only way to know how much gas I put in and how much oil I need.
Never thought to close the petcock though as it has a reserve tube and think it is very unlikely that any substantial amount of the oil would actually go into the petcock/fuel lines, specially when adding oil last.

[Kurt Franz]

I wonder if it is possible to install oil injection - as the KMX200 bikes have from the factory. If this were feasible I would do it in a heartbeat.

[radonc73]

Oil injection is great but I would be worried that it would crap out on you, but it would allow you to carry more.

[Kurt Franz]

Did some of the earlier model KDX200s come from the factory with oil injection? I was reading some posts where it seems like this is the case. If so, would it be a tough job to implement it?

[radonc73]

I have not seen it on a KDX, but I had and RT 180 as a beginer bike that had it. I had heard horror stories of it failing so I always pre-mixed it.

[GS]

I've never heard of a oil-pump system failing...but of course anything *can* fail

[Indawoods]

I have! Happened to my DT125... gunk!

Only premix anymore....

[Ogre]

I've never heard of a oil-pump system failing...but of course anything *can* fail

They must not have outboard motors where you live.

[radonc73]

That was my thought also. The oil would be more likely to gum up in the line especially if you didn't use all of it. I didn't have it working long before some guy told me they can fail.