KDXRIDER.NET

Hi folks,
Y'all have been so great about answering my questions (thank you!), I thought I'd ask another.

I have a 97' KDX 220 and have had it for about a month (my first dirt bike). I ride primarily at about 5500 ft elevation and higher in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. I've noticed that the bike seems to smoke quite a bit (especially as it's warming up), which I assume to some degree is normal since it's a two-stroke, but... After my last ride, I noticed that there appeared to be some oily residue on the exhaust pipe which wasn't there when I began the ride. It has a FMF pipe and turbine core II silencer...

So anyhow, my thought is that the bike is riding pretty rich due to the altitude. I'm not sure if it's had any mods done to the jetting or needle, but I'm guessing not. With that said, what should be my first course of action to lean it up a bit?

Thanks all!

Dave

Paging Colorado Mike.....

Your first course of action is to get the head fixed for that altitude.

No. That didn't answer your question.

Mike will tell you all about it.

Hint: Never jet by spoo. Jet it RIGHT...period.

...your first course of action is to find out what's IN there to start with.

Maybe some sand riders in Floridia can help you out!

(..just yankin' your chain Bailey)

Dave, Im with CC on this find out what you have then go from there. get can or two of air (the kind you blow computer stuff off with) use it to blow the loose dirt off the carb between adjustments, a hand full of main jets, three good pilots go to a place you can ride a short loop and plug and play till its feels good then. clean and repack that silencer cause you cant judge anything from oil soaked packing. read up on what others jetting range is at that altitude
print this http://www.kdxrider.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1156 and take it with you.

CC is right about the head. 220's have low compression anyway, and it gets worse when you get high. Uh, I mean when you go up higher in elevation. Having Ron fix your head is a very good idea. To me, it would be foolish not to.

As for jetting, it seems to me most people (in the riding public, not on this forum) are clueless on how to jet their bikes. so just cuz somebody else rode your bike before you, doesn't mean it's jetted properly. This forum has great info on how to do that. The thing to do is get your bike at a configuration you are going to stick with for a while, and then jet it. This would include the fuel mixture ( I use 40:1 Maxxima synthetic), engine mods, reeds, carb mods and stuff. Personally, since it's a 220, I think you have 2 major things going against you; the compression thing and the carb is too small. Now if you have money, you can solve both of those problems easily by sending the carb and head to RB designs, and in a week or so you will have a much better bike (get the knurled air screw). If you don't have the cash for that stuff, jet the carb using the methods listed on this site, ride and be happy, while you save up for the carb and head mods.