Hey all, took a ride after the rain yesterday to play in what mud there was. Found out a few more things about our KLX, in water covered sand/mud it likes to try to play submarine if you don't have enough momentum, and the stock tires at road pressure, you may as well be on ice when it comes to wet rocks. Coming down a hill where I have to split between some large rocks I usually have no problem, but the tires scrubbed the rocks and it was literally just like ice, it threw my line off completely. Then on the way back up I practically got stuck on a rock smaller than a baseball, work the clutch to keep from rolling back and just as I got some power down and over the top of the rock the tire would break loose and slide back, I had to duck walk over a little rock.[&:] No ride pics but I do have an after ride pic, for some reason I didn't get very dirty at all even roosting out of the mudholes I only got mud on the swingarm and my boots.



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Fit a rim lock and drop the pressures down, works wonders

 

Speaking of rim locks, is that the thing that looks like a shoe horn that holds the tire from spinning on the rim? (sorry noob that has never changed a mc tire) Do we really need it, and won't it throw the balance off on the tire at highway speeds? If you guys feel that this is a must have item, could someone post a link to the right one, and do we already have one in the stock tire? Thanks.

 

I'd say if you do the carb and exhuast mods then you should also add a rim lock to the rear tire. The front doesn't need one unless you're going to be doing stoppies! [sm=insomnia.gif]

vfrpilot ripped his valve stem off last weekend because he didn't have a rim lock on the rear and it spun the tire on the rim and moved the inner tube enough to rip off the valve stem.

Rim locks come in sizes to fit the width of the rim. Since I don't have a KLX yet I don't know what size the rear tire is. But, here's a link to the first place I found doing a search on rim locks

Rim locks

I wouldn't worry about balancing the tire on a bike this size because the rim lock shouldn't add enough weight to be noticed by causing any vibration. It's not much different than getting a big glob of mud on the rim and then riding on the road.

That's my opinion

 

If you are worried about balance I'd say just run two opposite from eachother. So if I'm seeing this correct you would put the rim lock in under the tube, slide the tire over, push the tube and rim lock up into the tire and as you inflate the tube and get the bead seated you would tighten the rim lock and it grips the bead of the tire down against the face of the rim?

 

The stock rim is already drilled for a rim lock but just doesn't have one. The size that you need for the rear is 1.85. I would think that if you ran two opposing ones for ballance sake it would be difficult to mount the tire. (they are an obsticle when mounting) Mine is in the factory drilled hole and has no vibration at highway speeds. I bought mine at the local motorcycle shop. They should have lots of different sizes.

 

The size you need is printed on the rim. I had to scrape the dirt off to see it, but I'm betting Deej can see his just fine

Regarding balance, if it is excessive, try adding a few spoke weights opposite the rim lock.