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Recently bought a 97 kdx220r as a practice/backup race bike. Its in great shape and has a full pro circut exhaust and KN airfilter. Love the bike in the woods but in more open stuff or on moto tracks it just isnt agressive enough and doesnt handle the way id like it too. Any suggestions on how to improve the handling and performance?

Stay in the woods?

It is not going to be that great where it was not intended to be used.

click on my signature link and go to the page for motocross mods for power and handling.
it talks mostly about the 200 but lowering the rear and raising the front still applies in your case since all these KDX have too steep a steering angle for MX.
You may have to raise the exhaust and transfer ports for better top end power.

Jason wrote:Stay in the woods?

It is not going to be that great where it was not intended to be used.

+1 Though it shares some lineage from the MX line, that was like 25 years ago. Two best things you can do are spring it properly and jet it properly. At that point you will be able to keep up with anything out there given comparable pilots.

Suspension suspension suspension. I don't agree with slacking the fork angle though. Stability was never a problem with any of my KDX's, where all the 125 mx bikes I raced over the years would want to get a little headshake at speed. The KDX's are 26.5 deg, popular KX125 chassis for hybrids are 26-27 deg I believe.

Put the motor in a KX125 frame and you have the best of both worlds.

Thanks for all of the replies! I have gone through the entire carb and it is jetted correctly for the exhaust and filter. Also re-set the float level.Was thinkin of getting thinner gaskets, an aftermarket ignition system, and boysen reeds. Does anyone have these parts and have a review on them? As far as suspension goes i got the rear shock about where i want it and am considering doing a fork swap with a kx125.

If you're running mx with it, a fork swap is an excellent idea. I'll go with the other comments though. the KDX is an awesome machine on the trails, not so much on an MX track.

I race harescrambles, so i love it in the woods but i also have too use it on moto tracks on at least part of the course. i just want to make it transition form trail to track better, not make it into an mx bike.

You can gain some good HP from the 220 with a port, head & carb mods....altering the timing will also give you a better ignition curve which will help at the top end of the Rev range...
I had the above mods , & a few other things done to my 220 which brought the Power to just shy of 40hp with a good spread of power from down low right through to the top end of the Rev range.

cornishwrecker220 wrote:You can gain some good HP from the 220 with a port, head & carb mods....altering the timing will also give you a better ignition curve which will help at the top end of the Rev range...
I had the above mods , & a few other things done to my 220 which brought the Power to just shy of 40hp with a good spread of power from down low right through to the top end of the Rev range.

Second that. My 03 220 was ported, head modded, carb bored, FMF rev pipe and Turbinecore 2. Excellent engine with WAY more power and revs than stock, but still smooth and linear.

Up 2 teeth on the rear sprocket, but the extra revs gained 9 mph top speed (gps, dual sported bike).

I would check the suspension out.

Julien D wrote:If you're running mx with it, a fork swap is an excellent idea.

Agree with this 100%. I put '02 KX125 forks on my '97 220 and they're worlds better.

And ditch the K&N.

Suspension before power......Also agree that a K&N is a BAD (very, very bad) idea.

6 Riders wrote:Suspension before power......Also agree that a K&N is a BAD (very, very bad) idea.

I am looking at new forks but the rear shock is good enough for now. Disagree though because the kdx is seriously lacking power, even with all the mods money can buy, they still only turn out 40hp. Whats wrong with the K&N? I found that on all of my race bikes they make a noticeable difference in power with some adjustment to the air screw.

Here's an update as far as what I'm doing. Headlight and taillight are removed, new oversized radiators, pipe guard, tag x5 bars and new grips, oversized ims pegs, coolant tank has been removed to save weight, and new rotors.