If you decide to get some 17's talk to Jim @ Motoxindistries. Great guy and can set you up right.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

He wants to ride off road, why is everyone posting bikes with 17" wheels all blinged out? That would be the most crazy recommendation ever!

 

I would tend to recommend riding the bike as is on ride height. My brother put lowering links on his 06 rode it for a while and went back to the stock set up. He offered them to me when I got the 09 KLX250, but I declined the offer.

The initial tall feel goes away off road. Maybe lower the front forks till they hit the bars, maybe soften the shock, but eventually none of it is really necessary unless you are really really short. I'm only 5'6" and run the stock height on both the KLX650 and 250. Much harder on the top heavy 90 lb heavier 650, but still did it. I seldom put two feet down on anything I ride, so it wasn't a big deal. The only time I have any issues would be if I have to mount up without using the kick stand. Hard to kick a leg that high anymore. Seldom a problem though.

I also tend to recommend trying things out first before going to risers. I had a set of risers on my 250 when I got it. Rode twice, felt like I was holding on to ape hangers. Took them off and sold them. My brother again put 2" risers on his bike... then took them off. Try the bike the way it is, see if it suits you. Wild part about the risers on my bike, as short as I am the guy I bought it from was a few inches shorter than me. Try the bike out, see how it fits, make changes from there.

Side note on bar risers: Good ones are expensive, buy an ATV bar which has 2-3" higher rise than KLX bars if you want higher. May provide more clamping area for bits like GPS clamps. You can go with cheaper steel bars to make sure what you want, go to the big buck alloy bars after you're sure. Try bars out in dealerships, pick them up and hold them, see f your wrists are angled or straight - straight is good. Realize you can cut up to 1" off per side on the bars depending on the width of the center. I cut 3/4" off each end of my bars to suit me. Too wide can be fatiguing. I ran a set of 38" wide bars for a few days on my old TM125 Suzuki, then cut about 2" off each end, making them way better for my build.

 

I think the thought on that was about lowering the bike. I was contemplating at SM model before i saw this bike. I don't think it take much to swap out the wheels if you want to add some variety. With that said it will be mostly dual sport. I appreciate all the sage advice.

 

On the riser bars, if you can't stand up straight while on the pegs, I would try riser bars or .riser mounts, If you ride in areas with severe vertical climbs, get a 13 tooth countershaft sprocket.

 

My thought on all the different mods ..I like to do what ever makes me more comfortable on my bike .What works for me very well not work for the next guy..IE bar risers .lowering links etc I like my bars a little higher so taller bars or risers ,I use Rox 2" anti vibe risers , it works for me, If your a hard core dirt rider the recommendation is no risers or lowering links.. I also like to semi flat foot my bike at stop signs, backing out of ,parking spaces etc , I would never argue about the disadvantages it does to the suspension . But if I'm 95% on road for me the trade off is worth it .. I say do what ever works for you

 

I shaved down the seat foam to get both feet to touch easily before it was tippy toes for the height challenged missy. Raising the forks n lessening rear shock preload helped

 

Exactly it. Whatever works for "you". I had the risers on my bike to start so it was no cost to me to try them. In fact I sold them, so I made money. It was the opposite for my brother. He bought the parts to put on the bike. I don't know if he felt it was worth the try or if he just did it because a number of riders said to do it. Either way neither of us stayed with risers and since I was already used to a taller seat height the ride height wasn't a problem

We are both a bit more aggressive riders on dirt/gravel roads and trails. I am not a "stand up when riding on dirt" rider. I go by what is needed at the moment as learned from past riding. It is rare for me to stand when not in a situation that calls for it. I do occasionally stand up straight when resting my butt after a bunch of miles or a sweaty butt. I just have a hold of the bars. Standing put me too close to the bars, risers or not, to have good control. So my bar set up is for a semi crouched stance, knees and arms bent to work over tough terrain. I am shorter and have short arm reach so a relatively low rise MX bar w/o risers works. A taller rider with longer arms might find different. But if you don't try the stock set up you don't know. I did and I knew. My advantage was I also got to try the risers since they were there.

Lowering links are easy to install/remove and can actually be made relatively inexpensively from some flat steel, proper size drill bit, and a can of paint. You put the bike on a hydraulic jack and block. Take off the links, lower the bike the inch or two you want, then measure the distance to te mount bolts - that's your link length. My brother and others I know have done this on Kaws. Easy to do and low cost.

If I felt I needed higher bars I'd definitely look to ATV bars simply because you can buy them in steel for $30. Apparently someone made up a listing of bar bends, not all dimensions, but you can see they range from 3-6" in rise. Steel and aluminum. Pick what you want. If you don't like the bend you can do a different one. You can also see what the center width is if you plan on putting on any clamp set ups for any goodies. I would do it over the Rox Risers due to the weight of the risers plus the cost, around $90. Bars alone are lighter and lower cost. The risers give some fore aft movement but that is of minimal value for most. Most use them within a few degrees of straight up, so the bars make it the same. But again personal choice.

Ride it for a bit and figure out what you need. Wait and see. As you see in our posts, two riders two different set ups. Figure out yours. If you plan off roading consider a set of aluinum/plastic hand guard bars. You can get some low buck Acerbis style (aka copies) for under $20 on ebay. Saves your hands from brush and other harder objects on trails. I stucka thorn through my gloved finger once... wish I'd had hand guards then.

 

Welcome to the forum! You mentioned off-road so... those of us that worry about sucking water into the carb replace the stock airbox snorkel with one from a KDX200-KDX220, same airbox and the KDX snorkel flows about twice as much air as stocker. Stock jetting is insanely lean, a dynojet kit is an easy way to fatten up the jetting. I have the IMS 3 gallon tank and IMS footpegs. Ricochet skidplate. There is a wealth of information on here from very knowledgeable people. This bike is stone reliable, was designed as a 300 so all is over engineered. I have a '14 and less travel, but I was able to drop the forks 7/8's of an inch and got a Devol lowering link to drop the rear an inch. DOT knobbies, people seem to love the Kenda Trackmaster II, Dunlop D606 and Pirelli MT21...
Freddy

 

Update after all was said and done. After riding on the bike for bit the tallness did not bother me. So no mods on lowering are going to happen. Went for a 70 mile plus ride and the seat may need to be upgraded, probably need to do a longer ride before bulling the trigger on that. I think the exhaust may be where I want to start first and I believe that will open it up a bit. In any event here is a pic of what I just purchased with 650 miles on the odometer.