KDXRIDER.NET

I will be getting my 04 KDX200 street legal soon and will be riding it 50 miles to a trail head and back. I plan on travelling at speeds no higher than 50 mph and varying the speed during the trip.

I would like to hear from anyone who uses his/her KDX as a street bike and get your opinions, advice, thoughts, mods that would be useful, etc.. The bike is completely stock.

Please don't reply with opinions and comments as to why I am stupid for doing this, why I should get another bike, blah, blah, blah..... just want to hear from folks who street their KDX machines and get some useful advice.

Thanks a lot
Kurt

1987 BMW K75T
1973 Yamaha CT3 Dual Purpose enduro
2004 Kawasaki KDX200 - All Stock no mods

I have never done it but if I did I would practice tire changing. You wont want to go 50 miles on knobbies if they make it that long and will not get too far in trails on a street tire or no knobbies. I have seen people with the right spoons make it look easy as pie. Not me for sure

radonc73 wrote:I have never done it but if I did I would practice tire changing. You wont want to go 50 miles on knobbies if they make it that long and will not get too far in trails on a street tire or no knobbies. I have seen people with the right spoons make it look easy as pie. Not me for sure

Yep - I have a set of spoons and know how to change tires...currently looking into which dual sport tires to buy - can't keep the off road knobbies on there......

thanks for the input and replying to my post

KF

Try to find the sweet spot in gearing - Somewhere that's tolerable on the street and tolerable in the dirt. Unless you are riding really tight stuff, 14/47 gearing should work out nicely.

50 miles is quite the trek

You'll likely need DOT tires sooner or later, as some police will ticket you otherwise. I have used Dunlop D606 (front and rear), they are a fairly aggressive DOT knobby and last reasonably well on the pavement. They stick well on asphalt too. They usually run about 70 bucks each.

Hey. I'm in the same boat. Just legalized my kdx. I got a custom light kit and kenda dot tires. I use kenda k270 tires. they are great on and off road. I got heavy duty tubes and haven't had any problems I've put about 400 miles on and off road use on them, some of it even rocky trails. No problems. I'm happy because they work and they are cheap. I run bead locks front and back. I am getting a 14t cs sprocket and I run 47 in the back. with the 13 I like cruising at 45 without too much vibration. with the 14 hopefully I can do 50-55 better for longer without numb fingers.

Thanks everone - I wasn't certain as to how many others were doing the dual sport thing. .....

Any other experiences or things to look out for etc... would be appreciated. For example, the first thing that pops into my mind is the cornering ability of the dual sport tires.

thanks KF

cornering on dirt or pavement? Generally, the more aggressive the knob patterns (height and spacing) the better on dirt, the less grab on pavement. But, the only guys who lose it on pavement turns with DOT knobbies are those who are pressing it hard IMO. Will that happen with a KDX?

The Kenda shown above is a little less dirt directed than the Dunlop D606 (I base that judgement on the knob spacing which is tighter on the Kenda) which means that the Kenda would work better for streets and drier situations, probably quieter too. The Dunlop has more spacing which mean it likely works better in damp soil situations. It is fairly noisy on the street. What tire works best for what terrain you generally ride is something you might do some research on. Thumpertalk's DRZ dual sport/dirt bike section has a lot of tire discussion you might want to view.

Those kenda's are a great mix. They actually hook up great off road also. They perform better than I expected. They knobs are somewhat soft but they don't seem to wear too fast. I can corner with good certainty as long as there isn't gravel in the turn on pavement. I felt it out for the 1st week or two. I've very happy with my purchase. These tires hook up good in the dirt with not too much wheel spin. they hook up for wheelies. Talk about wheelies on the street...wow.

Oh by the way I got my kit from http://www.procycle.com. Jeff there is a lot of help. I saved a lot by not going with baja designs. I also got the key switch there. I goes in place of the kill switch, so when your at the store the bike isn't getting stolen. Next mod is usd forks once I find a deal on ebay.

My brother has a klx 250 with non dot front tire and a chen shin dot trials tire which is bias ply tire. With 15-18 psi works good on pavement great in any off road situation but mud. My main dual sport is a 94 dr 350 and I can junk almost any good dirt tire in about 300 pavement miles. The trials tire has 300-400 on it and looks new. I have been looking at one for my kdx but I worry it will rip it up with tire spin.

I've put 400 miles on the kenda's and they are practically new still. I'd say 75% of that is pavement miles.

What is the longest sustained ride that you guys have done.....lets say at 50 -55 mph.

I would think that a temp gauge could be useful as well.

I've ridden sustained 50mph for about 15 min. I do a lot of back roads between 35-50 for longer periods of time. maybe a half hour. The tires are definitely warm after rides like that.

Dude Kurt Franz are you really planning on going 50 miles on the KDX?

My hat goes off to you bro

I don't know what everyone's stigma is against dual sporting this bike. Its really great. I'm so very much happy that I didn't go buy a klr or drz or some other heavy thumper that would get me into a tight situation off road. I'm definitely going to keep dual sporting mine and keep upgrading things to make it more versatile.

I have run 30 miles on mine with 14-47 no problem with heat just a long ride

er...uh... maybe wearing it out? Those motors are not designed for continuous high speed high revs....

High speed doesn't have to mean high rpms. When I ride at 45-50 I'm in the same rpm range as trail riding. I'm usually not at one constant speed either. I try to vary the speed with the road. Yes I totally agree that that kind of cruising requires a thumper.

I plan to ride three days this weekend so I hate to do this but I will I have about 15,000 miles on mine other than mods the only engine work has been a wiseco Other than my 30 mile trip to hell and back most of the miles are dirt