Took my 09 klx250s for its first hard core ride yesterday. i have ridin 'easier' trails on it, but this ride had the works from deep water crossings, never ending rutted hill climbs, slippery goo, rocky sandy loose stuff....you get the picture.

Well, 2 moderate offs later & heres my comments:

This thing is the best hill climbing machine - i have a husky wr360 which would of spat me off those hills, but i just tractored up them (yes albeit a bit slower than my husky).
Dunlop 606's work real well for the rear.
Initially i thought the front 606's were not too bad, but if you want to ride fast forget it (hence the cause of my crashes)
Front fork springs under-sprung for an 80Kg ride (hence my crashes)
How did the bike stack up in those crashes - excellent, just bar ends taking the brunt.
Ground clearance no good for obstacles (eg logs) and occasionally caught up in ruts.
120km of trail later and I felt much fresher than the same track on my WR, even though i crashed.

Generally very happy!! - So what will i do now - heavier fork springs, more aggressive front tyre, try and see if I can get back some more ground clearance (i think the forks and shock have spacers to reduce seat height so I will start there first). I have 13t with stock rear, but ill up the teeth by 2 on the rear as well.

 

Sounds like you had a ton of fun. I love the KLX on & off road. I'm no expert but I doubt there's a better Dual Sport anywhere. The balance between on/off road is the selling point for me. Even with the stock 603's, My '07 screamed through nasty twisties of the Blue Ridge Mountains between NC & VA. The only real problem I ever had was deep mud but that's due to my lack of skills I'm sure. I want a KTM but I know when I get it, I'll have a tough time riding the trails I ride now so effortlessly on the KLX. The KLX is Definitely a great Starter Bike and perfect Older guys like me.

 

The KLX is a little un-sprung for heavier riders. Last time I went through a really rough trail, the rear tire was bottoming out. And the front would dip alot on approaching hills. I just let it be and learn to ride with it.

 

If I only new then, what I now now. I waited for my chain to wear out to replace my sprockets/chain. I put the 13/48 sprockets on and what a big difference in trail ridding. I can blast through the trails now and is so much fun. On the road its like ridding around in 5th gear with the 13/42 or stock, with the 13/48 for comparison.

 

Hey speedyjim,, glad yoru enjoying it,, I was looking for a starter bike cuase well the klx is my first bike.. Im used to qauds but anyway i really love my bike and it does great on the trails. and Ive ridden very techical trails around here,, yeah a few spills but oh well.. its still a blast.. But when I look back on when I was shopping for a DS Im so happy I bought the KLX due to my size. The DRZ is way to big for me to be handling on single track and even wider trails.. Ill stick with my KLX, Yes can always use more power but as far as size and handling I LOVE IT

 

I got tired of bottoming out and replaced the rear spring and fork springs. What a world of difference and worth every penny I spent.