they have "acerbis" on them on the handgrip area

 

Brush guards or Bark busters will keep the levers from breaking when (not if) you drop the bike or clip trees with your bars in the woods. They wrap around in front of the levers and attach at the end of the bar and near the cross bace.

Just make sure you get proper gear for yourself. Good stout gloves, boots, jacket, pants and a full face helmet at minimum. Make sure that the boots come past your ankle and are secure, cowboy boots come off if you go scraping down the pavement at 60mph and are hard to find afterword. There are a lot of options for protective gear, and everyone has to decide there own level of comfort vs risk. Besides what I listed there are optional neck braces, body armor, knee braces....

 

Ahh now I see. Thanks I will add them to the list.

 

from personal experience, not only do they protect the levers but they stiffen the bars up ALOT preventing them from being bent when dropped square on the ends.. my stock bars folded like pretzels due to this.. ive dropped my bike on straight rock before square on and all i had was some scratches on the end of the guards... money well spent.

 

You mentioned wheelies. Don't mess with them on the street. Get used to the klx off road and master it there. Then start to ride the streets. Don't ever show off on the street. +1 on all the riding gear comments. Do the safety course too. Be safe & welcome to the forum.

 

--Is this bike a good choice for a first timer?
Yes, Easy to handle. Fun to ride.

--What is a fair price I should expect to pay for a new one (red)? (my local dealer lists them at 5k even.)
Tough one, but I am going to give my opinion anyway. I think you should be able to pick one up for $5000-$5200 OTD. I Got mine for Just under $5000 OTD but maybe I just got lucky or I got mad skills (doubt it) or maybe everybody gets them for about that price too... Hope that helps.

--What else do I really need to get besides the bike and a good fitting helmet?
+1 on the MSF Class. No added power until you move from noob to at leat beginner.

--If you could give me one piece of advise... What would it be?
Start slow. Practice in parking lots, Stay in residentail zones, and work your confidence up before getting into traffic. And have a blast.

--Anyone close to Zip 17340 that would want to hit the trails?
Nope... Cali. Find trails, they kick A$$ over the road rides.

Welcome and have fun whatever you choose to ride.

 

awwww man... you got the wrong bike. Red is the faster model, but green is the wheelie-meister
________
Marijuana Vaporizer

 

Have fun.
Regular oil/filter changes and keep ya air filter clean would be my 0.02c's worth.

 

I bought my 09 klx250s last week, i tried out a lot of bikes and came to the decision that this was the rite bike for me. So far so good i am having lots of fun, i definitely recommend this bike .

 

I think the Dealer will set your sag for a fee, but Not totally sure about that,, setting sag means you need to be on the bike to get the adjustment,,, theres alot of good info on here about sag and suspension set up. The KLX handles great but from my understanding suspension upgrades is the way to go, if It can be better than why not lol. Me personal, I havent messed with my suspension, But after reading what everyone else does , and reading up on suspension mods, its defanitaly something I want to do this riding season!!! But search around, lot of good infor floating around here!!!!!