Farm Vehicle → Mountain Goat

[KDXGarage]

Hey. Worth a shot to get a ride in! Good job on the filing.

To anyone else, DO NOT do that to keep a basket going. That is way too much for normal, continued use. :-)

[mobile chernobyl]

Ride went well - 50 mi of mixed rocky mtn singletrack, probably 20 of it was bar banging tree riding! During 2 of the uphill sections I did manage to boil the coolant pretty good, lost nearly all the overflow capacity on one and had to give it a drink from my camelback! Not sure whats going on there as I straightened the radiators, the fins and flushed them then put new coolant lines on and flushed the bike with distilled water before finally filling it with engine ice which I've been loyal to here in Colorado's thin air...

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The bike ran what I felt was rich up in the 11k and up elevation. It ran pretty good around 9k to 10k though. I'm thinking a different needle which can let me fine tune will be better - more research to be done there, currently running a DEK on middle clip.

First day plug on left, this ride's plug on right.

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New basket arrived today. The new pro-x plates fit very precisely in this new lightly used basket. It has marks of plate use but no real grooves - just going to use it as is. Another interesting observation is that the last plate staggered groove width is just under 14mm (13.95 to 13.98mm) whereas the main slots are just over 14mm (around 14.08 to 14.12). So i think that may have something to do with why the last plate is suggested to go there.

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And finally - my filed basket held up decently for the ride! But I do notice very obvious light damage - its already nearly as bad as my new / lightly used replacement! It was noisy too - you could hear the plates being racked back and forth as the bike transitioned from drag to power output.

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[KDXGarage]

Congrats on getting a ride in, PLUS... giving feedback on how it went.

I think that left plug looks a little too white for my taste.

[mobile chernobyl]

Got the new (lightly used) basket and pro-x clutch kit in yestarday. Went together as expected and the pull is a little stiffer now. I may look into getting a kx125 clutch arm like I've seen on here with the longer arm length. But it was pretty manageable tonight!

I also ordered a CEK needle. The DEK I have is nice but I like everything I've read about the CEK being more responsive and for $10 I figure its a cheap upgrade!

Tonight I got out for a 16 mile ride on some great singletrack (2nd and 3rd gear stuff with occasional 1st gear sections). The new clutch was very noticeable - throttle blips in 1st and 2nd now loft the front wheel - progress! But my favorite part was the continued power delivery in the mid to top end! Slamming trail whoops and just accelerating in general is as expected now.

I'm actually very interested to try my beta 200rr out back to back to this bike now (it should be done it's recall warranty work tomorrow!). I feel that the kdx almost has better throttle response, but my beta does have a lectron on it and they are notorious for getting rid of some sensitivity.

Fun position to be in! 200s are a great capacity for trail riding, no doubt.

[KDXGarage]

Congrats on getting in a satisfactory test ride, as well as getting the Beta back.

[mobile chernobyl]

One thing I forgot to add.

I assume my pipe's upper exhaust hanger is bent way out of the original position. I tried to bend it to be inline with where the stock exhaust hanger mount would fall but no luck. I ran an aftermarket hanger made by ORG engineered products - so it's not some cheap knockoff, they actually are pretty passionate about their products. It failed anyways and I hate not running all pipe mounts if I can help it so I re-made their mount with some elastomer dampers I had from an old project (on McMaster Here)... results below:

Failure Mode: Sheer on exhaust side - possibly from heat and being at a constant bend angle.

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Replacement:

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On the bike:

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Held up fine for last nights ride. I'm at the point in this bike build where I don't feel like continually dropping $20 here and there on replacement parts unless they actually provide an 'upgrade' so this is part of my DIY adventures haha.

[KDXGarage]

The pipe hanger is REALLY bent, causing the hanger to fail. Good workaround.

[mobile chernobyl]

The fruits of my labor - A great half day of riding in the high mountains of CO before snow moved in this week! This trail is likely covered by 8-12" of snow just 2 days after riding it haha.

Y'all likely know the bike by now, the carb settings for this ride are as follows:
Air Temp: Was predicted to be high 50s to mid 60s this day
Air Humidity: Most likely low (15% to 25%), but with tons of smoke from nearby fires
Elevation: from 10,500' to 12,500'
Carb: Factory PWK AirStriker 35
Main Jet: 150
Pilot Jet: 40
Slide: #5
Needle: CEK, 2nd clip from top
A/S: ~2 turns out

At first I almost immediately noticed what some have said about the CEK needle - it will cause wheel spin. It took me an hour or two of riding but I got used to it. I'll have to admit - my 2020 Beta 200 does not lift the front wheel at 12,000+ ft in 1st/2nd as easily as the KDX!! It does have a 'power robbing' Lectron though...

Now the fun part... my favorite trail section - I road a bunch but this was the best 'single cut' I had of uninterrupted riding footage.

[mobile chernobyl]

She's still running like a tank! She boiled over a few times but 12,000+ft + Wide open throttle runs for minutes on end I imagine will do that with the tiny KDX rads! Fortunately the catch tank works pretty well and then I always have my 3L hydration bladder to top her off once we get to the top!

Taking in some of the last high elevation rides I can last weekend before snow arrives!

[jedidan45]

Digging up this old thread! Still got your KDX and Beta 200?? I really enjoyed watching the progress on this bike and the awesome videos from Colorado!!