You know, I did have to use the slipping clutch to climb out of a beaver swamp full of boulders in Marinette county, WI this last September. I couldn't get enough inertia to climb up and out over huge bumps and loose stuff without it stalling so I ran up the rpms and let the clutch slip. It worked, but it was a little bit of a trick to hit that friction zone just right. That was with the stock bore and that was the only time I've ever had to do that. Other than that, I actually want more clutch. I ride differently through the thick stuff. I put it in low gear and stay on the throttle. It's a 4 stroke and you have a large range of usable power. And seeing as it's a 250s, most of us use it as a dual sport, adventure bike type thing. It's a KLR that's 125#s lighter with nicer suspension. Mostly, we're not doing the same stuff as a guy riding a KX125. I just don't think it's wise to encourage regular people into removing their clutch springs. I can see how, if you want to ride it like a 125cc 2 stroke moto bike, how you'd want to change the clutch some. I can understand that but I can't understand why a person wouldn't just get a bike that's more suitable for their riding style.

 

I had to change the pressure plate on my klx clutch about every 18 months. It would develop hairline cracks between the clutch spring posts. I swapped the stock klx plate for a kx125 plate(if they even are more robust) but the same would happen untill I got the hinson. Possible the absence of a spring may help along the formation of those cracks....maybe not. It could also have been the higher pressure springs but was told it was not...racing and some hard riding along with heat...you never know what goes on in there under the stresses it goes thru. If you don't stress the clutch, I'm sure it will take less springs fine. And I totally get the need for a lighter pull....that 426 and kx500 were killers in that respect....make it a rainy\muddy ride and it's gets ridiculous sometimes. Zip tieing a spare new cable beside the one in use or extending the clutch arm, CR\MSR\PEP levers, polishing pivot points and finally hydraulic fixes...all the tricks in the book and you still can't make up for a design shortfall.

 

Back for a visit to this forum - 6 years later. I went back to competing in observed trials some years ago so my technical focus has been there, not here.

I still have the very same KLX 330 with the same 4-springs mod. That's a long time to own a bike, but haven't ridden a mid-size dual sport I like better though that new Honda 250 looks interesting.

The KLX stays for when friends call to ride in Utah, Colorado, or New Mexico. High skills friends, so we do some heavy duty stuff and fast and aggressive. I don't ride it only more like a trials bike. It's not my trials bike. That's a GasGas Raga 300.

FWIW the 4 springs clutch is still going strong and working problem free. A friend hopped off his Beta 450 once and was trying to make it slip in 6th gear. He said he felt it was slipping just a bit. I just shrugged my shoulders and said I should get in there some time and scratch the plates up and maybe add 4 thin shims under the 4 springs to up preload slightly. That was two years ago. Still haven't messed with it.

 

yEA, WE want the video.
I don't think I'll have that problem, homey don't do that.
Wire hangers?

 

Honda upper their crf450 clutch springs from 4 to 6. When they used 4 the accepted mod was to go with heavier rate springs. Hinson sold a 6 spring clutch assembly just to get rid of the weaker oem 4 spring set up. With 6 they were able to lighten the spring rate.

Only reason I can see doing this would be if you have carpel tunnel and need weaker lever feel. Sketchy at best considering I'm stressing the original design with 40% more hp (big bore).

 

There's a guy over on ADV who lengthens the KLR650 clutch arm by a little bit. This decreases the torque (pull) needed on the lever and provides more area for slip/activation of the clutch. Good for carpal and good for trail work where slipping is needed. Could probably be applied to the KLX the same.

 

Yep, this is an old tried-and-true method. Over years, I probably did this to two of my off road bikes that had fairly stiff clutch pulls for enduro racing. While normal trail riding may not be too bad for a relatively stiff clutch pull, a 4-6 hour enduro under grueling conditions would make it unbearable.

 

Low brow trash attitude is still here, six years later.

 

It's too bad there's no an app to simply screen out posts with caps locks or a significant amount of grammatical error. It'd make motorcycle forums better in general if I didn't have to read them.

Anyhow, great work on this thread. I haven't used my bike a lot since the 351 kit was installed, but I was using a lot of workarounds to keep the bike from stalling in very technical stuff as a 250. I live in New England and it's all roots and rocks. I may try this mod as I like a long area of slippage.

I think a lot of riders interpret strong positive engagement in both clutch and brakes as "good", whatever that means. For what it's worth I like a lot of progressiveness in both.

As an example, steel braided lines can often diminish the amount of lever travel between engagement and lock, but a lot of travel and feel get derided as "mushy".

Me, I'll take mushy.

 

When your talking front or rear brakes...... I'll take firm any time,mushy brakes no thanks.