Torture test magazine KDX in depth review

[thirdgenlxi]

Thought this was kind of cool..... was just posted the other day. Of course stuff probably most all of us already know, but cool to see an outsider that rides a lot of different bikes put it through it's paces and give some feedback too. A lot of what he says here is almost verbatim of what I've been saying about my own bike all along, lol. Cool to see our older bikes still getting a little love and attention.... they deserve it

https://torturetestmagazine.com/

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/embed/eeDUPSG5wkI[/youtube]

[John_S]

I've been waiting for this video. You can tell from his other videos and comments that he was loving this bike. There's one that I was going to link to a while ago where he rips on it mostly on the pipe in the higher gears. He's flying on that video. What a great bike!! The fact that he did all the testing on stock forks plus airbox lid with snorkel makes it that much better. Thank you for sharing.

[John_S]

Here's his wide open video. This guy can really ride!! The ol kdx takes it like a champ.

[KDXGarage]

WOW! Thank you for posting that. I like how he did several comparisons to the CRF250X, as that is about as close to a "modern" KDX as one could buy now (Yamaha WR250F also).

It was surprising to see him hit 81 mph with a 14T. I did not know it would do that.

Thanks again for posting that!

[VTMTcowboy]

Awesome post! Would love to see the major magazines do a recap on the KDX someday. Thanks again.

[Skoalman]

Outstanding review for an outstanding bike that has withstood the test of time! Thanks for sharing this video with us.

[Tyl3r]

Sweet vids! Loving the on the pipe one, could listen to that all day haha

[collkdx03]

ouch
he went down at the end

[jjavaman]

I never knew these bikes could go that fast!

[thirdgenlxi]

I never knew these bikes could go that fast!

Oh yea they most def will! But prob won't do it without a gearing change and going to a 14T front like he did.... they just won't rev high enough with the stock gearing. I did a track weekend on mine back in 2016, and mind you I was on street tires and on pavement, but the fastest I could get mine was 83.5 mph. I was running 14/45 gearing. Smallest bike out there but she still held her own

IMG_2622 by Jared Penttinen, on Flickr

IMG_2623 by Jared Penttinen, on Flickr

IMG_1052 by Jared Penttinen, on Flickr

IMG_1051 by Jared Penttinen, on Flickr

[pumpguy]

That's really neat to see a KDX performing like a road racer. Surprised they let you keep the kick stand on.

[Grobo]

Does anyone know what killed it in the end

[Vossman]

He’s a pretty dang good rider too.

[thirdgenlxi]

Does anyone know what killed it in the end

I downloaded the entire report..... The big needle bearing on the crank pin end came apart..... Kaboom

[thirdgenlxi]

Screenshot_2018-12-07-21-10-51 by Jared Penttinen, on Flickr

Screenshot_2018-12-07-21-10-59 by Jared Penttinen, on Flickr

[pumpguy]

I wonder what oil and mix ratio he was using?

[spencerdiesel]

I know old thread, but I just came across it and had to add for future readers. I downloaded the KDX200 torture test when he released it and read it through and through. I recall him running Lucas 2t oil at 40:1 and a 160 main.

It’s incredible to me the bike went 150 something hours with his skills/ WOT on-pipe riding in 5-6 gears on a 40:1 Lucas blend. I’ve seen more threads on dry engines and seized failed engines that were run on Lucas 2t than any other oil. Come to think of it, that’s actually the only oil I have seen CAUSE failures (other than people mixing oils at too thin of ratios causing failures).

I’ve read 3 posts on thumper talk of seized/ scuffed 2t bikes running Lucas. I’ve seen 4 posts on OPE forum of torn down saw top ends that were COMPLETELY dry running Lucas 2t. There is an 800 page oil thread on OPE forum, I’m 651 pages in right now. One guy lost a bottom end on a 346 husky running Lucas (never had a failure on any 2t equipment before that). Another ran Lucas at 25:1 and was milling. He pulled the muffler afterwards to find aluminum dust and a COMPLETELY dry piston.

I bet the 160 main is one of the contributing factors that kept the KDX together that long. Super impressive regarding the bike!

[SS109]

To counter your point for future reference for other KDX owners, I 100% disagree about Lucas being the problem. Why? Lucas doesn't produce crap products to start with. All of their other products have a great reputation so why hurt that reputation by making a crap product? It makes no sense that they would produce a 2T oil that harms 2T bikes as that would be a piss poor business decision.

Second, I've been running it for years now after switching from 927. I run my 220 hard to keep up with the bigger bikes in sand washes and such. I'm at 150 maim, 38pj, CEK needle @ 2000ft. To date I have had zero issues and everything looks as it should. Another example, my buddy has run nothing but Lucas in his 2018 YZ250X since new and I, literally, just did the first top end on the bike this week. Guess what I found? Other than some blow by due to being way overdue for a top end, the cylinder looked absolutely mint. The piston had no scoring or scuff marks and no sticking rings. This is with over 300 hours on a stock cast piston! (he's a cheap bastard ) There was plenty of oil on the cylinder and the piston itself. This was running the bike pretty lean with a 168 main, 45pj, 40 power jet, and Suzuki tri-taper needle running 40:1 with Lucas and 91 pump ethanol fuel @ 2000ft. For both of us, this is riding and racing in the Arizona desert, with lots of super hot days, wide open sand washes and hill climbs.

Third, I do have a theory as to why Lucas might show up in more "failures" than other oils... I think it is largely due to it being available at most auto parts stores (unlike 927, Motul, etc.) where the uninitiated noobs that don't don't know squat about jetting, bike setup, or working on 2T bikes in general, can easily use it. I would bet, if most of the people that had failures were truly able to diagnose the real issue, it was something else (forgetting to actually add oil to fuel, guesstimate oil ratios, jetting way too lean, cheap/knock-off pistons, improper ring gap, cheap/knock-off bearings, air leaks, etc.) that caused the issue(s) but the oil is easy to blame. Not saying these people didn't have an issue but it's physically impossible to add the proper amount of oil to your fuel and the cylinder to be completely dry unless you weren't getting fuel at all.

That all said, use what you like and what you feel protects your bike. After tearing down top ends that have been using Lucas for hundreds of hours without issue, I feel completely safe running it in my bikes and will continue to do so.

[KDXGarage]

spencerdeisel, how many bikes have you read about that blew up while not using Lucas oil? How many bikes have you read about that ran Lucas oil and did not blow up?

Why did you come on here 2.5 years later to dig up an old thread and try to talk bad about a particular oil company?

[spencerdiesel]

I apoligize if it seems like I had an agenda, that was not the intention. Being consumed in an 800 something page oil thread at the moment and having just watched the latest Torture Test Magazine videos I found this thread.

I know in the world of 4hp per ci (and higher) dirt bikes engine issues/ failures are far more prevalent than something as low output as a non-piped saw. In all the 2t failure threads (be it thumpertalk/ vitalmx or OPE forums) I’d not seen a scuffed engine that the oil type was the only change before the issue. Any time I’ve previously seen a failure thread, there’s always a logical reason for said event; too little oil/ straight gassed/ detonation/ too high temps/ too lean etc.

I maybe shouldn’t be referencing saws, and it’s very possible the VERY high running temps of an air cooled saw engine provide conditions that are harder to achieve in a liquid cooled bike?

With that said, both (or 3, can’t recall) posters on the saw forum are long time operators with no previous lubrication issues until trying the above mentioned oil. I’m glad the oil is working well for you and I apologize if I’m out of line.