KDXRIDER.NET

Well - what a great resource this board has been after I bought an 89 KDX-200. A bunch of us decided it was time to man up and we all bought bikes for some trail riding. Did some research and found the KDX was a good beginner/intermediate bike that can progress with you all the way to advanced riding. Found an 89 KDX in Houston for $400 - needed some minor work. Ended up rebuilding the rear suspension/shock linkages. Ordered a washer for the clutch to fix a non dis-engagement issue, put a lighting coil on it, lights, working towards registering it, and a few other things.
Found out some nice things about it - first, it was sleeved and is a 1.5mm overbore with a nice Weisco piston,(good shape). Kips valves were broken,(surprise!).
Ordered brand new ones and created my own "bigfoot" plate - i.e. the Julien D plate for the Kips valves to hopefully protect my investment.
A set of 609 reeds, some used Ebay plastics and it has been great!
First ride was last weekend at Fort Sam Houston with about 15 of us - 1 night ride, 3 day rides of 20-30 miles each. What a blast.
Traded bikes with lots of guys - loved the KDX the best.
Of note, it seems clear some previous owner had the shocks/springs re-done to match someone of my 190lb weight - as I didn't have the front end issues on whoops/etc.. that many others have,(and I ran into with others bikes). It was very well setup and I was surprised!
Working on fixing some minor issues - kickstarter stays down - spring came out. Need to jet the carb - low end is ok, high end is very lean. Need a headlight switch, kickstand, and some other minor things - ready for another run in about 2 months.
I live down in Corpus Christi, so not much to do riding wise down here - need to go up to San Antonio or further for fun stuff. Any suggestions are more than welcome!
-Bobby

Sounds like you did your homework, Bob, that's great! It would be nice to know what springs are in there, for sure. The stock shock spring would actually be fine at your weight. If you didn't notice the front being super soft, it's probably been worked on, which is a plus. Jetting is certainly important, and that's the first thing I would do. If it has the stock pipe on it, I would change that out for a DG or FM pipe. That makes a huge difference.

I'm thinking that 1.5mm over is probably the largest piston you can get for the E, so when that bore wears out of spec it'll be time to either re-sleeve, or replace that sleeved cylinder with a plated one. Just something to keep in mind.

Good to have another E rider on the board. :)

Just a passing thought: where do all the kick stands go? Do they fall off in the woods? Do folks take them off and never think to put them back on when they sell the bike?

Kickstands- who really knows! A friend made the comment after our rides that someone with a metal detector on the trails would find all kinds of stuff!
Jetting is next On the list- along with verifying the timing as that was the only really change since I bought it and it had ok top end vs the falling on it's face it does now. Oh, already has an FMF pipe, stock silencer I cleaned out and repacked.
I did have a friend point out the rear shock has a sticker from J something racing suspensions. The "something" is worn off. So it was re-done.
I'll have to get some pictures I took while re-doing it up later this week.
Bobby

Maybe it is JM Racing. Just a guess.

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