KDXRIDER.NET

What is the real dry weight of the KDX?

Bikez.com says KDX 200 is about 220 pounds, almost the same as an XR 200.

I have both of these bikes, and the KDX feels 50 pounds heavier. When I position the bikes on the trailer, I use my muscle to life the rear wheel up and swing the back of the bike to the side. I can do that maneuver easily on my XR200. But I can't on the KDX. I have to bounce on the suspension and use the rebound to life it. Just curious the real weight is.

Well, I can tell you what the real wet weight is. I very carefully weighed my '99 220 with a full tank of gas, ready to start a ride: dead on 250 pounds. Assuming it holds 11 liters of gas per the FSM, that's 2.9 gallons x 6.5 lbs per gallon = 19 lbs of gas.

250 - 19 = 231 lbs ready to ride with no gas. My bike is stock except for a PC 2 pipe, and this was with the stock silencer in place. No skid plate, no pipe guard. It's heavier than I thought it'd be.

Thanks for info. I guess the KDX is so much taller than the XR. The height makes it few very heavy.

My '90 E-series came in at 238 with 1 gallon of fuel in the tank and ready to ride.

My 95 weighed 249 with close to a full stock tank(guesstimating with my larger than stock Clarke tank).
No hand guards, no toolkit. Aluminum skid, frame guards near pegs, IMS pegs. FMF fatty with stock silencer.
Aftermarket rear fender with no tail light. Seal savers instead of sexy purple fork boots.
Regular old air in tires without a moisture trap on compressor , but not much moisture here.
Rear tire was pretty worn out with riding buddies spare front tube installed and forgotten about... until I re-replaced it later.
Front tire had average wear.
No mud on bike due to lack of moisture mentioned previously.

chkdx wrote: 05:13 pm Sep 23 2012 Well, I can tell you what the real wet weight is. I very carefully weighed my '99 220 with a full tank of gas, ready to start a ride: dead on 250 pounds. Assuming it holds 11 liters of gas per the FSM, that's 2.9 gallons x 6.5 lbs per gallon = 19 lbs of gas.

250 - 19 = 231 lbs ready to ride with no gas. My bike is stock except for a PC 2 pipe, and this was with the stock silencer in place. No skid plate, no pipe guard. It's heavier than I thought it'd be.

I'm fortunate enough to have both a KDX 220 and DRZ 400S. The KDX is 60 to 65 pounds lighter than the DRZ. It is much easier to load and lift. As I grow older & weaker with age, I ride the KDX more.

I don't know if I fully posted the whole list, but it's possible to drop 10-1/2 up to about 17-1/2 lbs off of the KDX, but about 5.5 lbs of that is in spending what was $900-1300 in a full titanium hardware kit, and that's after shopping around extensively trying to find best prices on everything, and that's including a KX front axle in titanium, KX500 titanium swingarm bolt which is the same as the KDX, KX titanium linkage bolts, etc. including exhaust weight savings of I recall about 4.5 lbs with aftermarket. Also including ditching the stock clunker kickstand and putting on a proper enduro kickstand with a custom bracket. 93 KX shifter and 95 and up KX brake pedal conversion to save 1 lb total switching to the aluminum components. You could shop just a hair off the rear of the seat subframe and that extra odd hanger piece that's welded on to the rear right seat stay below the muffler connection area. Fork swaps are one of the biggest weight savers as well as the exhaust. The stock forks are the heaviest thing you could fit to this bike, almost any for you would upgrade to is a minimum of one or two pounds lighter up to 4.5 lb lighter. Running a YZ250 two-stroke aluminum steering stem and triple clamp and matching 125 or 250 forks, or a Honda CRF250X fork and triple clamp with its aluminum steering stem, or a 2002-2005 KX 48mm KYB open chamber fork swap can save up to 4.5 lbs going up significantly in fork tube diameter and rigidity.

Running a fast wearing aluminum rear sprocket or running the fancy Dirt Tricks ultralight steel sprockets can save considerable weight, or a rental TwinRing aluminum sprocket with steel outer ring is the third lightest a bit cheaper than the fancy Dirt Tricks KX sprockets $119-137 ish vs $89 Renthal TwinRing vs $60-$80 for the lightest option but fastest replacement interval on aluminum sprockets. The steel sprockets are quite heavy. You can also shop around for the lightest Renthal or DID, RK etc o-ring chain. I won't compromise by going to an unsealed chain.
A lot of this is offset by adding a regulator rectifier, handlebar bag or trunk bag, and guards, pipe guard / skid plate, and radiator guards. But you still come out substantially ahead. YZ titanium foot pegs can be shaved down and fit to the KDX after drilling a hole for the KDX foot peg pin spring. More weight savings.

Going over my head and Hard Enduro terrain skill level capabilities I often find my bike in a precarious position on its side on a steep precarious hillside, which is what caused me to look into weight savings to an extreme degree...

If I get some down time and remember, I'll try and cut and paste that list here.

It seems as if the stock KDX with all fluids except for gasoline comes in at around 234lbs, so perhaps the quoted factory spec drive weight is not including any fluids whatsoever.
This is about the same weight as an early Honda CRF250 or 96-03 last gen XR250 4-stroke, although the weight is carried up higher on the KDX, so making it lighter weight will make it feel the same weight as those bikes although the KDX handling once moving down the trail with the engine internals spinning is definitely much better than the four strokes due to the lack of gyroscopic effect from being a two-stroke without camshaft valves and cam causing additional gyroscopic effect to resist changing of direction of the bike.