Hi All,
My old man is a bit of a shorty and we were wondering if standard 19/16 rims off a KLX140L would fit on the KLX250 in order to lower him down a couple more inches.

I've already installed a kouba lowering link (1.25inch) and cut out almost an inch from the seat foam...

The other option is he has to downsize to a CRF150F or something like that but we aren't sure if it'll be powerful enough to get up hills and still have fun.
(He's about 65-70kg)

 

What sort of riding does he do? Road, dirt, mixture? You could try 17" rims off a D-Tracker.

 

with a fair bit of work you can get almost anything to fit anything else...... remember you don't need to be able to flat foot with both feet.....

 

One more thought. If he won't be going bonkers crazy riding you could install lowering spacers in the shock and forks, easily dropping 2-3" or more. That's what flat trackers do with the 450 singles bikes they race. You figure the 09 has 10" travel, if he can survive with 7" travel - as much as most adventure bikes - it can be done with travel limiting spacers in the forks and shock lowering the bike 3" over all without altering geometry.

It might require shorter springs or the like, but it is also easily reversible and probably far cheaper than doing the wheels, not to mention keeping the advantages of the larger wheels for riding off road.

A reputable shop that can do rebuilds can do the work. The forks are straight forward using pretty much the exact limiter spacer for the drop. The rear would have to be calculated by the amount of wheel travel to the shock travel. Not hard, just a bit of work. I'm betting still cheaper than a full set of spokes, tires, and rims for any other smaller wheel.

Oh, and by the way, odds are the smaller wheels use less than the 36 spokes used on the KLX.

Personally I'd do the limiter spacers and put in some nice fresh fluid. Might consider doing seals if they're a bit older too, just because it's apart.

 

Cheers for the replies.

We only ride dirt (fire trails, dirt roads, occasional single track)

I'll suggest the suspension mods to him and see if he wants to spend the cash. It's the most effective lowering technique but the most expensive I believe.

I keep telling him he just needs to not stop!

 

Not really, you have to realize spokes are around $90/wheel, rims, even used will add another $100-200, then the new tires/tubes will do another $100-200. So you see, you get $500-600 in wheel size changes real fast... and I didn't include cost of lacing if you can't build them yourself.

Find a good mechanic and you can probably get the front and rear done for about half that. It would be like a rebuild, not a revalving.

 

How short is he? I ride my stock sized KLX and I have a 30" inseam. I have no trouble. I can keep one foot flat on the ground with minimal leaning, or I can have the ball of both feet on the ground standing even.


I rode several tall bikes, and I just lean to one side. Off road its a bit more difficult on off camber situations, but you just have to sight up your stopping point, or just fall over...