96 forks on a 2006 220r ?

[NoBs]

Upgrade, downgrade or basically no difference ? Apparently they are the KX forks. Would they make the bike higher or no change ? Not crazy about the upside down forks for woods riding..

[Chuck78]

'96-'97 KX125/250 forks (same as 97-04 KX500 forks) are a great upgrade, but they are at least 1.625" taller than stock and will need all of the preload spacers removed and substituted by top out spring spacers to internally lower it, and then you will need to slide the triples down over the fork tubes additionally to make up for the height difference.
They also have Motocross valving, which will be fairly rough riding on off-road trails and will result in losing traction quite often as you get deflected off of roots, rocks, and bumps.
Internally lowering these forks, doing a steering stem swap which requires some minor machining unless it's a KX500 triple clamp, and revalving the compression base valve and mid valve (Race Tech Gold Valves are recommended for these to replace the base valve piston and revalve according to Race Tech 's online digital valving calculator), and you end up with as good of a fork as any average amateur racer or trail rider could need. The only reason to go to a closed chamber fork is if you ride a lot of high-speed desert trails or are a really serious racer.
They're 46mm KYB mid valve forks. You'll need to add a little bit more mid valve float gap which will also be an inadvertent byproduct of removing a couple of the larger shims in the mid valve compression valve stack. The Race Tech Gold Valves and online valving calculator will only address the base valve. Forbthe mid valve, consult info on this in the forum and as well as the Thumper Talk forum, which is one of the best online sources for valving information for forks.

[Chuck78]

Are you looking at upgrading to these forks, or are they already on your 2006 KDX200?
Stock KDX forks with uprated springs and Race Tech Gold Valves are all that's really needed for recreational Woods riding. If you are around 150-195 lbs, I always recommend shopping for some Showa 43mm forks & front wheel from an XR400R if you're 160-195lbs or 96-98 Suzuki DR350/DR350SE forks for 150-185lb riders, assuming they are likely to have the stock springs still. Then revalve those with Race Tech Gold Valves. Those forks have less underhang and have externally adjustable rebound, and firmer stock springs than a KDX fork. The front wheels also have larger 17mm axles and larger wheel bearings, morefront end rigidity os a bonus well as potentially not needing to buy aftermarket springs, and having less underhang to catch on roots and rocks and ruts.
These will slide straight into 95-06 and 89-92 KDX triple clamps, so no additional machining work is needed and they are the correct height or thereabouts.

If you ride in mud a lot, you will find that inverted forks often get mud/dried mud dust passing through the dust seals and getting stuck under the lip of the oil seals, which eventually will cause an oil leak every year or so or even every month or two if you ride in a lot of mud and put in a lot of trail hours. Right side up conventional forks are really nice as they don't suffer from this problem and almost always have accordion pleat fork gaiter boots on the chrome tubes to keep mud off and prevent stone chips from damaging the chrome tubing which is a hydraulic sealing surface also.



EDIT - the '96+ DR650SE forks are the same externally / visually, but use very basic damper rod internals.
The XR400R Showas use Race Tech Gold Valves # FMGV 2001 with .40kg springs, whereas the DR350/DR350SE use FMGV 2040 and .39kg springs.

[KDXGarage]

The KX forks are better, but require a bit of work to get them onto the KDX properly.

[Ewbarger]

In my situation, going with the xr400r forks is the easiest for me. I have the forks on hand, I just had to get a xr400r wheel. I went with the warp 9 front wheel in black. I should have it complete by this weekend.

[SS109]

Over the stock KDX forks they are a major upgrade. They are stiffer, have less underhang, and have full adjustability.

I did '96 KX125 forks on my old '90 KDX and absolutely loved them. For off road they were some of the best forks I've ever ridden after a revalve. It was a pretty straightforward swap (read up on the swaps in the Fork Conversion subforum) and I did not lower mine internally. I just slid them up in the clamps to make up for the height difference and get the geometry correct. If I did it now I would lower them internally to match the stock KDX height to make getting the suspension set up a lot easier.

[Chuck78]

Over the stock KDX forks they are a major upgrade. They are stiffer, have less underhang, and have full adjustability.

I did '96 KX125 forks on my old '90 KDX and absolutely loved them. For off road they were some of the best forks I've ever ridden after a revalve. It was a pretty straightforward swap (read up on the swaps in the Fork Conversion subforum) and I did not lower mine internally. I just slid them up in the clamps to make up for the height difference and get the geometry correct. If I did it now I would lower them internally to match the stock KDX height to make getting the suspension set up a lot easier.

Yes swapping the preload spacer stack for top out spacer height would definitely be the best bet to try and get the ride height back to stock, because they are approximately 1-5/8" taller than the stock forks.

The 96-97 KX125/KX250 / 1997-2004 KX500 forks are absolutely a great fork. I have a pair of these myself. I am, however, swapping to an even better fork, Showa Twin Chamber 49mm 1998 RM125 right side ups. If it weren't for them being conventional forks, I would probably just stick with the '97 KX inverted forks, or perhaps RMX250 46mm right side up Showa open chamber forks or DRZ400E 49mm Showa open chamber conventionals

[KDXGarage]

Is there a spacer in the KX forks? I do not remember spacers in any KX USD forks. I thought it was just shorten the stock springs and put a spacer / longer spring on the rebound rod.

[Chuck78]

Some KYB forks have preload spacers, others do not. Cannon Racecraft sell springs that are shorter than stock but the exact diameter, so if you're already needing a different spring rate than what the 125 or 250 offers, that's the way to go.

[Ridea200]

I installed gold valves in my 97 kx125 (now 200) and after messing with the clickers a bit, it rides real nice offroad.
As Chuck78 has said, I myself was fighting leaking seals. Haven't ridden in much mud either. This last time, I used kyb brand seals, and haven't had a problem...

[SS109]

Only use OEM type seals if you can. They last way longer than SKF and don't leak as easily. Yes, they have more stiction but will people like us (ie; not Pros) even notice? I don't think so. Also, if you keep having seals leak, check fork tubes for burrs and stone them down if you find any. Also, another big failure of seals isn't the seals themselves but actually from worn bushings. Make sure you're bushing, both inner and outer, are in good shape.