Howdy, new guy here and also live in the east bay (Crockett).
Picked up a lightly used '09 a month ago, got the exhaust, jetting, bars, etc, sorted out, but after riding Hollister last Sat, the suspension really needs some help! I like staying local for suspension work, have you ridden dirt with your smart performance set up yet? If so, how's it working out?

 

The more I ride it the more I appreciate it. I will say I have NOT had the chance to really push it in the dirt yet but hopefully I'll have the chance in the next month or so. I have hit some dirt roads and plenty of Santa Cruz mountain roads that are incredibly rough from tree roots and not being maintained. Those roads are wicked fun and it's almost like trail riding but with tons of traction and a lot faster, I LOVE IT! I can't wait to get out in the gnarly stuff and hit some desert whoops and ruts along with the technical rock crawling the Sierras offer. I rode 180 miles on Saturday, I went over Mt Hamilton then hit various roads on the way home. The bike is a lot better in the twisties. Much less front end dive, turns in real crisp and just holds corners steady. What impresses me is just the feed back and improved experience you get. The bike seems to have a lot less false feed back that's perceived as twitchy, inconsistent or at the limit. None the less, I can't wait to hit the dirt, that's the real reason I had the bike tuned. Give Dave a call and just talk with him, he's super analytical and asks many questions. He'll ask where you ride, your intended uses, type of tires you use, your weight, the gear you ride with, everything. It's not cheap but even if you did it your self you're probably not saving a whole lot in the end.

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks for getting back to me.
I normally do my own suspension work, but the KLX will primarily be used by my wife.
So, I decided that rather having her hollering at me and my half-assed attempts to make it right, I've sent the boingers off to Moto Pro.
Should have it back in a week or so, see wassup!
Again, thanks for your feed back.


Dan


See ya on the trail sometime!

 

No problem. I've never done bike suspension before and I'm a mechanic so I'm sure I could have handled it but I still opted to leave it to the pros. I'm sure some people are wondering what kind of mechanic can't tackle his own stuff but thats just it, I know when to leave stuff alone. I do everything from timing belts to rebuild the air/oil cooled Porsche engines from years ago. Just looking at the parts list puts you halfway to what the guy charged me, and he got it good the first time around. I figured I'll be tackling it more than once to get it half as close as to what Dave did on his first try so I passed it on to him, I've got better things to do.

That trail looks fun, guessing by the trees and leaves thats some else other than Hollister??? I've never actually ridden Hollister but I've taken my XJ over to the 4x4 park plenty of times. Let us know how the suspension turns out. Good luck!

 

Anyone ever bust a kick stand? Mine folded today and I caught the bike, so I bent it back and rode it home. I'll probably weld it up tomorrow but are there any better solutions out there? I did see an adjustable billet one on the internet but I don't care for the cost or adjustability.

Maybe you can see the crack...the metal failed after the weld, the tube is pretty thin.

 

Unless for some reason you have been sitting on the bike with the side stand down, I'd think that kind of failure is really rare. Maybe bad positioning when it was welded leaving a weak spot or a flaw in the tube causing a stress riser that cracked through.

I'd just weld it up, it will probably hold for life. Fact is from what I've read the failure is usually at the frame tab and due to sitting on the bike leaning heavily on the stand. Not built to take that.

 

I broke mine, but I was being stupid.
So for years I've lubed my chain by pulling the rear wheel up by pulling on the handlebar and pivoting the bike on the kick stand to spin the wheel.
Loaded up for a trip and forgot to lube up before...it's 10 miles to the top of the pass and I remembered my mistake, so I stopped for a view and a lube.
I proceeded to do my normal thing and the kick stand folded backwards and the bike landed on me. Pinned me actually. Took a good 5-10 minutes to extract myself.
When I finally got the bike up the kick stand was folded completely forward, almost looked like it was supposed to be that way. I ended up ripping it off and riding 1200 miles to South Carolina with no stand. As a joke I labelled it the "No Kick Stand Tour" and posted pics on facebook of the bike parked leaning against stuff at every stop on the way.
I ended up finding a welder in SC and have had no trouble since.
I still tip the bike on the stand to lube the chain, but not when it's loaded with luggage. It does give me pause every time I do it though.
The factory weld looked iffy at best. Tear it off and clean it up, you can weld it better than it was originally.

 

That's probably what did it, I lube my chain like that too! Not to mention I climb on an off the bike using the peg as a step periodically. I was thinking of adding a hair of material to give it a bit more sheer strength. I'll post up after I make ride into work.

 

It was cracked pretty badly, luckily I could clean it up, bend it where I want, then tack it. No real guess work to get it right which was nice.



Back in business

 

Fixes like a boss