New member in Ohio

[Chuck78]

Hi all,

I've been lurking here all year since getting my first KDX, & I couldn't take it anymore...had to join to partake more in the wealth of knowledge!

I've got a 1999 KDX220 that is near and dear to me, that propels me through endless miles of smiles in the 75 mile Monday Creek Trail System of Wayne National Forest here in SouthEast Ohio, 60 minutes from my home.



I got the bike on a whim that started after my bmx & street bike buddy had been nagging me for 7+ years to get a dirtbike, & then me seeing the hundreds of miles of back country fire roads just across the northeast WV/VA mountain ridge border in George Washington National Forest in Virginia at the eastern edge of a handful of the best pavement riding roads in the east in the Monongahela National Forest area...
(Reddish Knob, Monongahela & George Washington-Jefferson National Forests WV/VA border)

(Smoke Hole Canyon between North Fork Mtn & Cave Mtn, one of my favorite places in America...)

Then I rode the ATV trails at Wayne National Forest in Appalachian SouthEastern Ohio, which exceeded my expectations 350%! Now, riding rugged twisting winding trails in the Appalachian hills has become another serious addiction...

(80% of The Dorr Run area of Wayne National Forest's much larger Monday Creek ATV trail system, this is 1 page of a 6 part map of just the Monday Creek Trail System of Wayne ATV trails, I still have 3 other 30 mile long trail systems to explore!)

Now riding those fire roads with epic views such as "the Meadow @ Flagpole Knob" are just a side note with most of my dirt thoughts focusing on riding the Dorr Run area of Wayne National Forest's Monday Creek Trail system and trying to make it out to the other 3 distant ATV trail systems of Wayne National Forest, AND some weekends in western WV at the 700 miles of Hatfield-McCoy public trails... The best riding in the East, so I hear...




Basically, I'm totally hooked! Rugged twisting winding trails in tightly packed hills is every bit as fun as finding the ultimate pavement twisties for me. In my youth in the 1990's & beyond, my extreme adrenaline addiction was primarily fueled by riding/building BMX trails. My two-wheeled repertoire has expanded significantly since then... The KDX (& similar $$$$ orange 2 smokers) is an excellent budget buy-in (the very attractive power to weight ratio is what sealed the deal) for yet another extremely addictive hobby... good thing I don't have any kids to distract me!

[Chuck78]

Due to my likings of the aftermarket frame kit wrecked ex-roadracer chassis project I acquired a while back, a 1977 Rickman CR900, I really was hell bent on getting a Rickman dirt bike. After riding an '00 CR125 and the KDX220, and riding Wayne National Forest, the Rickman was very cool in its own right and very beautiful, but the suspension on a pre-'74 mx machine just doesn't cut it!
A vintage suspension buddy in Oregon (& KDX racer since WAAAYYYY back) set up a pair of longer travel Fox Gas Shox for the Rickman, & I ordered a TuBliss system and a taller Kenda Equilibrium trials/trails hybrid tire for the rear to help add some suspension via a tall tire low psi setup. Now my OCD has me begging my buddy for parts to swap 8" long travel sliders and damper rods onto the Betor forks, & add the racetech piston/valving kit for Betors, & a spring upgrade. Kenny even taught me how to add 3/4" more travel to those forks...

Well the rear gained 2" in shocks and will be gaining a bit more in tire squish/height, but to counteract the extra added capacity in front, an 80-81 Suzuki PE175 aluminum swingarm is now in the works to mod and swap on. Additional chain guides will also be needed to help this old school piston port beast of an engine cope with the long travel rear.



Now I'll be off to learn about fork mods vs elusive 97 kx500 triples with 96 kx125 forks with travel reducing top out spacers to maintain original ride height, Fredette/FRP $86 carb service versus RB $168 carb mod service, the need for milling a 220 head even with Wiseco piston (?), & if there is much aftermarket support to get exhausts/pistons/reeds/etc for 86-88 KDX200 air cooled kips engines, as one of those would go real well stuffed into a Rickman Zundapp 125cc vintage frame with a PE175 swingarm...

Garage shot:


A few bikes are migrating to the basement shop for a more productive hibernation period:

[Chuck78]

The KDX220 now has an FMF Gnarly Desert pipe, Tusk pipe protector, & Turbine Core Spark Arrestor. New wheel bearings, new x-ring chain and +2t on the rear sprocket. TwinAir foam filter. Worn out tires from a right wrist twisting disease/addiction I seem to have...

I'm probably going Neutech Tubliss on the KDX also. Lower psi capabilities, lighter weight, can plug any punctures without levering (i.e. cursing) the tire off the rim on the trail, 360 degree beadlock inner tube air chamber...

I am sold on Pirelli for a lot of street tire reasons, so the Scorpion XC MS and other tires sounded like the hot ticket. After reading a very well versed extensively tested CafeHusky forum post by a guy testing various tires for TuBliss, I took in his tips that his #1 favorite "do-it-all" Sedona 880 rear tire was now taking 2nd place to the Shinko 520. Shinko makes some AWESOME quality affordable super gripping street tires, & I trust them to do the same on dirt.
The Husky guy said 3 way tie for best all around front was the Pirelli Scorpion XC Mid Soft, Bridgestone M59, & the copycat generic Artrax SE3. Turns out the Artrax SE3 is a copy of the Shinko 540 tread, which is the soft terrain version of the very similar mid-soft Shinko 546.
Thanks to the Aussie Enduro Cross training youtube channel guy giving such great reviews of this front 546 & the Shinko R505 Cheater Hybrid rear (may try that next on the Rickman, see if either comes close in mud traction to an all purpose tire), I ordered up a set of the Shinko 546 80/100-21 & 520 110/100-18.




To give me a bit if old school throwback nostalgia, I picked up a 1980 KLX round headlight/# plate assembly since my KDX headlight was butchered and I have an affinity for round headlights. Looking for a super bright LED drop in bulb or reflector assembly to swap in.


I'm definitely wanting to toss that almost brand new OEM kdx220 piston (time bomb design flaw so I've read on these pages) the previous owner just swapped in last year in favor of a Wiseco. If I have it apart, it's just all too tempting to send Fredette the cylinder for porting work (& head to mill???), & I am really wanting to look into what the differences are between Fredette's FRP carb boring/mods and the more expensive RB carb boring and mods... I have no qualms with the power output of the KDX220 now, & the excessive +2t up in the rear that I did has it tractoring up even the steepest hills that I attempt even at low rpm. But... I just cannot stop tinkerimg/modding things long enough to just leave them alone and ride! My adrenaline addiction is nearly equal to my wrenching on / modding cool stuff addiction...

I may also get some new Chinese pretty lookin' tig welded Aluminum radiators and Devol aluminum radiator gaurds, as one of mine was missing and that radiator is a bit banged up now...

Those are my KDX plans as of now. If anyone could be of good advice on the RB vs Fredette carb mods pros and cons, please help me figure this one out..

Thanks!

Chuck

[bufftester]

Now that's an introduction!

Welcome to the fold. Awesome riding out there. As a vintage bike aficionado this was a great post to read (and look at!).

I can attest to the RB mods, have not had any work done by Fredette, but I hear it's of similar quality. Cost wise they are pretty close for the head work, don't know if Fredette does the carb divider plate as part of their rebore or not. I am with you on the wrenching addiction, which is why my KDX motor now lives in a KX125 frame, an RMX250 motor in a later model RM frame, several first generation water-cooled GSX-Rs in various fully dressed and naked conditions, a newly acquired snowmobile that is begging for shop time, etc..lol...it really is an addiction!

[doakley]

Can't address the engine mods. My suggestion if you really want to enjoy riding, spend some money on the suspension. You might want to discuss this with FRP. Riding will become easier, faster and safer. Might not be as sexy as engine mods, but in the end I'm betting you'll gain more from suspension set up than power mods. Just my $.02.

[bufftester]

+1 on suspension being the highest priority. Dollar for dollar there is no bigger bang for your buck than properly springing the suspension, but the OP was asking specifically about the motor work. I agree with you that it's not as sexy, but it gives much greater return on your investment.

[Chuck78]

Yes...suspension is a very important thing for me. I spent a fair bit of time on here reading of KX fork swap mods...
Basically this is my take on reading experiences of KX fork swaps done on KDX's:
"It's SUPER EASY, you just use a 20 ton press to push out the KDX steering stem and press into the KX lower, but first find a machinist who can add knurling to the inside of the KX lower triple to take up the slop so the smaller kdx stem will fit snug for now, press it it, then get these 2 special adapters machined, & ditch your wheel for a KX wheel and axle, then revalve and respring the KX forks with racetech parts to suit an enduro bike. Now you have much better fork technology! Oh wait, forgot to mention you need to add top out spacers to the KX forks as travel limiters to bring the ride height back to normal kdx so it doesn't steer like a chopper!"

Can you sense my sarcasm?!

Still, 97-04 KX500 unobtainable extremely scarce triples will bolt in to the kdx frame and run the same basic forks as the 1996 kx125 & 250, so I figured if I ever found this rare triple used, I'd get a set of the 125 forks, as the stiffer motocross spring rate from a 20lb lighter bike would work potentially quite well in a 20lb heavier kdx woods bike. Then the only huge issue is the height. Maybe make a slight top out spacer and then also slide the triples down on the forks slightly?

If the unobtainable used 97-04 kx500 triples never turn up for me to buy, I read a cheap DIY mod on this forum to remove a bunch of the spring shim washers out of the valving stacks to get damping where it should be, & to swap in .38 to .42kg/mm springs to the forks, & swap out a slightly softer rear monoshock spring & have FRP rebuild/revalve the rear shock.

Really the stock 95-06 KDX forks with Racetech fork valves and springs seem like a far easier method to getting better suspension on your KDX vs just going for the upside-down fork setup for the sake of the "more modern technology." The KX fork swap just seems to generally be an extreme amount of work to get similar results. Also, I haven't ever heard of anyone scrutinizing the geometry as far as the KX triple clamp offset differences from the KDX (different frame rake would be the only reason it'd be much different), but I wonder if that dies much to the KDX's handling as well?
I'm also leery of USD forks, as I'm afraid to crash on rocky terrain and damage the chrome sliders since they are sort of out there on their own in times of visiting with mother earth a bit closer than usual & horizontal vs vertical...
I'm leaning towards upgrading the internals on the kdx forks , but may also be tempted to do the KX swap IF I ever run into a pair of those elusive 500 triples... still though, upside down forks to me seem like they are putting extremely critical components (the chrome stanchions) in harm's way for an enduro/woods rider.

[doakley]

I decided on respringing the existing conventional forks for my weight, doing the shim stack mod and playing around with oil level and compression settings. I've been very happy with the results and didn't have to worry about messing up the geometry of the bike. On the rear I had FRP rebuild the shock. They do their own revalving based on your weight and riding capabilities. Even more pleased with the rear now.