2009 KLX 250s dual sport

In 2007 I started thinking about a dual sport. I thought it would be fun to have one for running into town, the occasional ride to work, and maybe exploring the back roads, dirt roads and road allowances we have around here. In the spring of 08, I settled on a 2007 Kawasaki KLX250s and did all those things with it, as well as a lot of single track, hare scramble type riding. By 2012 I had moved on to other things and the bike was just sitting, so I sold it to buy a dedicated woods race bike. Well, two years later, I realized that I made a mistake selling the KLX and missed the ability to just hop on after supper, run over to our club property, run a few hours of woods, and ride back home. No trailer, no loading and unloading, just riding.

So I started looking, and after a few weeks found the right deal up north. It was seven hours from home, but I knew we would be going up that way in the late summer, so I contacted him, asked a few questions, told him my plan, and hoped it didn't sell in the meantime. Fortunately for me, he was in the middle of nowhere, and bikes don't sell too quickly up there.

He was asking $2500 for it. It was the wrong colour (I think Kawasaki should be green), but at that price it was $1000 cheaper than anything local. So off we went on out canoe trip, with trailer in tow and $2000 cash in my pocket. It was only about 30 minutes out of our way so there was little grumbling from the Mrs. It was worth the drive. It was filthy dirty, but ran great and looked be otherwise be in excellent condition. By the looks of it, the bike only saw road duty. That's not a bad thing. I offered him $2k cash, and he jumped on it. He bit so hard, I thought maybe I could have had it for $1800 if I offered it and was a little bummed until he came out with the paperwork and said " I knew you were serious, so I got it saftied for you" That saved me the better part of $100 so I felt a lot better about the deal then.

TL:DR. I missed my old KLX so I bought another one.

So the plan is to do all the little tricks to this one that I did to me other one, and make a bike that's seen predominantly street duty, better suited for some serious single track, and hare scramble abuse.

Not a great pic, but this is the day we picked it up

A lot of cleaning, and about 500 liters through the pressure washer made me feel pretty good about this purchase. The bike is in really good shape.

More to come soon

Looks like a fun bike! I think they should be green as well but I also own a red Kawasaki.

If you don't mind me asking, where are you able to ride it off road? I'm in Sothern Ontario as well, just outside of Hamilton. I often think I'd enjoy a dual sport but don't know where I can enjoy some trails without getting the wrong kind of attention.

Hope you enjoy the bike!

That's a nice bike. I knew about the KLR 250, but not the KLX. Is the KLX 250 a Suzuki like the KLX 400?

I like that headlight, it looks similar to the one on the Kawasaki ER6N.

I just started thinking about getting something like this that I can load on a hitch carrier and take a few hours away to ride the forest roads, since my V-Strom isn't really as nimble as I'd hoped on dirt. What are the road capabilities of these?

I should have put this in the builds and project forum. This will be my fall project, because I guess I don't already have enough on the go.

The KLX250s is the street version of Kawasaki's KLX300r competition enduro bike. It's like a four stroke KDX 200/220. It will do highways speeds without a problem, and although it's revving between 6000-7000 RPM, it doesn't mind. Off road they're quite good. A little heavy approaching 300 lbs, but on the trail it doesn't feel like it.

If you don't mind me asking, where are you able to ride it off road? I'm in Sothern Ontario as well, just outside of Hamilton.

Check out Steel city riders. That's the club I belong to. They have their own property with natural terrain motocross track, and hare scramble loop, just south of Brantford.

I started to accumulate parts as soon as I got it. I know some of you guys don't care much for Ebay, but I probably saved $250 over buying the parts either locally, or from Canadian online retailers. I saved $150 on the pipe alone.

The first thing to do is set up the carb. The Dynojet jet kit is the easiest way to do it. It comes with all the jets needed, a lighter spring for the slide, and better than stock, adjustable needle, all for $50. Apparently the DJ needle also has a more favourable taper.

The DJ slide spring (top) is a lot lighter than stock. The slide is vacuum operated on a CV carb, and less spring resistance should make it open sooner and faster.

It has a backfire screen that isn't too good for flow, so it needs to go. This made a big difference on my 07 bike.

It's a bitch to get out, but worthwhile.

Of course a pipe is mandatory. The stock header is 1.25". I thought it was too small, and put a FMF header on my last KLX, but according to the tests guys on the KLX forum have been doing, it's big enough, at least for a stock-ish bike.

A quick throttle helps, and is something I put on all my bikes. This one is pretty nice for $28.

I need to do something about those tires. If I'm going to be running the woods loop, I'll be on my butt pretty soon with that rubber. That will be next.

Riley_88 wrote: Looks like a fun bike! I think they should be green as well but I also own a red Kawasaki.

Red Kawasaki's exist so that Honda people don't have to feel ashamed when they pass their former Honda brethren.

Nice find. I have a klx300r that I dual sport. It does extremely well on technical trails and is a blast around town for my 1 mile commute. Im sure you are aware, but you can get a 350cc big bore kit from Bill Blue. The 250s is a little sluggish when compared to the 300r.

I know all about Bill Blue, and this time around, a KLX300 would have been my first choice if I could have found one that was street plated. I plan on a 300 barrel and cams in the future, but for now the 250 with all the mods is fine for what I'm doing.

A few more of my parts came in, and I got a chance to do a little more work on it.

The stock pegs are not great, and a wider one makes all the difference if you're going to be spending a few hours at a time on them. Another Ebay score.

Even though the 09 sits lower than the 07 I had, I still wanted to lower it a bit. Using lowering links also gives the benefit of increasing travel, and reducing the wheel rate, both of which the bike can use. I used 1/4" x 1 SS flat bar. Good for about a 1/2" drop

The street rubber has to go. I got lucky with the last bike I bought before this one when the previous owner gave me a set of Kenda Trakmasters that he wasn't going to use. They just happen to be the right size. The rear had very little use, the front is new. Not my first tire choice, but they're not bad, and the price was right.

New chain and sprockets, new rubber, a new set of bars, some bark busters, and I'm ready to hit the single track.

In reply to Zomby Woof:

Luckily I live in a small town which allows OHVs to operate on local roads. I was planning on plating my bike but haven't bothered. How do you like the powercore? Do you have the quiet insert? I am running the stock 300r exhaust but it has been "uncorked" and is a bit too loud for my taste. If I go on a long ride my ears start to ring after and hour. I am a bit jealous of your electric start!

If the uncorked 300 exh. is too loud for you, stay away from the aftermarket exhausts. I don't think there's a benefit over the 300 pipe with the butt plug out.

I've been picking away at this bike as I have time, and got a good half dozen rides in before it turned too cold.

The way I ride, if I don't have rim locks (and it didn't come with them), it's only a few rides before I'm tearing the stem out of the tube. So last time I put standard rim locks in, but had a hell of a time getting the wheels to balance right. So this time I did it a little different. I bought some M5 x 12 SS button head cap screws, drilled and tapped the rims in 3 places offset by 30 degrees each side, sharpened the screw up, then wound them in with a little blue loctite. So far they're working perfectly, and the tires haven't moved on the rims at all, even at 15 psi.

I'm not crazy about the red on this bike. I think Kawasaki's should be green, but at the price I paid, I wasn't going to let that be a problem. There was a white and black one available for a few years, so I was ready to order a front white fender to sort of duplicate the look of my Husky. Then I found a guy online parting a KLX250 out. What are the odds it's a B+W one? Pretty slim, but it was. So I scooped up the complete plastic set for a little more than an OEM front fender. I think the red and white looks good.

Last night I serviced the forks and got rid of that sticky gooey mess they call fork oil. I had lots of 10W on hand so we'll see how that works out. Might be a little heavy.

Tonight's project will be to finish the LED tail install, and fab a bracket to re-mount the signals.

Nice bike! I'm currently trying to decide between a klx 250 or a kdx 200/220. I'm just curious why you went with the klx?

When I bought my first KDX220, it was a plated bike I thought I could use to ride over to the trails and practice with. It wasn't really practical, and not much different than riding a motocross bike on the street. Just after that, Kawasaki was discounting the 07 left over KLX's pretty heavily. I thought it would be nice to try a real street legal dual sport, and bought one for $4400. At the time, it was the best value by far, for the most off road worthy dual sport for my size.

I modded, and rode it for a couple of years doing some dual sport rides, and a lot of woods practice. I got really fast on it, and loved the bike, but stoppped riding it when I had a car project taking up my time. Then my eyes wandered and I did a wholesale change, selling or trading everything I had, and buying a Husqvarna CR150 for both motocross and woods use. Having a bunch of bike money left over, i bought a street legal Husky WR165 (Big bore 125). Big surprise, it wasn't practical, so I used it as my woods race bike for a year, and realized how much I missed my KLX, started looking and found this one.

The 06/07 bikes have more/better suspension and are better for the larger rider. I had to lower mine. The 09+ bikes are shorter, and look a little more modern. My 07 had all the cheap, free and easy mods, and I removed a bunch of junk to bring it down to 275lbs with a full tank of gas. Once modded they make decent power. They handle great, are good on the road, and super reliable. I run an off road endurance series on the Husky, and the KLX is my woods practice bike now. I can hop on and be at the track in 10 minutes, ride a few hours practice, and ride back home. A lot easier than loading and unloading a race bike, gear, etc.

This is the KLX and KDX. I thought I had a pic of all three of them together but couldn't find it

One of my dual sport rides. On a ferry crossing the abitibi north of Cochrane.

I guess it depends on what you're going to do with it. You are more than welcome to come down here and try out the KLX. I'm just south of Brantford.

I'm starting to get the urge to buy a DS. I know it will kill me, so I'm resisting as hard as possible.

They still keep popping up on my CL searches.

This is great, the wife and I used to race Enduros and Harescrambles back in the late 90s I am blowing the cobwebs off them now and plan on doing some of the more dirt orented Duel sport events. A 1997 KDX200 and 1997 KDX 220.

I was looking for a KLX250 last year when I stumbled on a KLR250 at an unbeatable price. I called the guy two minutes after he listed it and picked it up an hour later. My buddy took it out for a ride and ended up buying himself a NX250. The dual sport bug is a highly addictive thing. I've always ridden dirt bikes and I live adjacent to a large conservation area with tons of trails but it's great to have the ability to jump on the road whenever you want to.

I'm always casually looking for a KLX250 as I'd really like electric start.

What tires did you run on the green KLX? I'm after some knobbies that won't get destroyed on the street. I am running Shinko 244 right now but the knobs are too low and closely spaced for trail riding.

In the bottom pic I think I have Kenda K270's front and back. I don't recommend the 270 front unless you're primarily street, but I liked the 270 rear and used a Kenda MX front with it for woods. All Kenda front's are DOT. The 270 is, if I recall, very similar to the 244, but does have more open area. It isn't a great mud tire, though. A Trakmaster would be better, but your street life will suffer. I have a TM's on the red bike now.

ddavidv wrote: I just started thinking about getting something like this that I can load on a hitch carrier and take a few hours away to ride the forest roads, since my V-Strom isn't really as nimble as I'd hoped on dirt. What are the road capabilities of these?

Well keep thinking that, and ponder if a Honda XL500 might be just right for you. It would have all that old school charm you love.

In reply to Zomby Woof:

Most of my riding is in the Utah desert so mud isn't usually an issue.

Have you thought about doing the big bore to it? 350 or ? I just quote insurance on one