Originally Posted by 1994klr250, post: 28102911, member: 67273

A few pages back in this Thread there was a fair amount of debate over the strength of the sub frame of the KLX 250. I own a 2006 that I've slowly been building into a medium distance adventure bike. I already built a set of rear racks to hold wolfman bags, but I knew I wanted a top rack behind the seat to put a milk crate or bag on. So I did a little bit of digging and found that KLX's can have issues with putting weight behind the seat. Here's a few pictures I came across showing what can happen when carry weight behind the seat while riding over rough terrain.

Not my pictures and this is a KLX 300 which the KLX 250 sub frame is based on.



It seems they snap just aft of the point where the lower sub frame connects to the top tube.


A KLX 250 snapped in the same place.




To avoid this issue I saw this on the web if you are no longer using the stock exhaust system, which I am no longer using.

K&T : Seat Rail Reinforcement Plate [180215-08]



It's just a simple bolt in brace using the 3 bolts that used to be for the stock exhaust system. Better than nothing, but I wanted to take it a bit further. So I stripped the rear of the bike of the plastic fender to take a look for my self to see what it really looked like under the plastics.

I was a bit surprised by what I found. There isn't much support under those plastics! It's actually quite scary that's all that there is for metal under there!!!





On the left side of the bike there is a vertical tube that holds the battery box for additional support, but the right side has no support it's just a tube acting like a spring board.



I did some measuring and made a cardboard template using the 3 stock exhaust bolt holes.



Once that was done I traced it over to some 1/8" steel I had from some previous projects and drilled some holes for a test fit.



Lets check to make sure it clears the muffler. Sure does, looks good so far!



Since I want to put a larger top rack on the bike to replace the small stock one I knew that some additional metal would be needed on the top side as well. I cut another piece of 1/8" thick steel and after some measuring, trimming and bending I had a nice one fabbed up.







I drilled a couple of holes in the new top brace that will use the existing holes in the fender that held the stock tool bag on.





With everything tested fitted and in place it was time to start welding. Just a few tack welds at first.



Top brace tacked into position.



Here's what it looks like under the fender.



With those two pieces tacked into places, I felt like the left side need a little bit of bracing as well. A simple piece of 3/4 OD .065 wall tube did the trick.



With all of the pieces tacked into place I decided to put my homemade racks on the bike and check how it would look with out plastics on the bike. The racks I made only have two attachment points to the bike on each side. They attach using 12.9 M8 x 1.25 cap head bolts at the stock passenger peg mounts and stock rear rack lower bolt hole. I added a rear bolt in cross brace that really stiffens the racks, but I might added a 3rd attachement point once I get the rear top rack made.











I got about half of the welding done on the top brace still have to finish the part across the top connecting it to the original part.





I'll post more as I finish welding up the braces to the sub frame. With the addition of the braces welded in to the sub frame and the rear side racks bolted in, I really don't think there should be and issue carrying a fair amount of weight. I don't carry much when I do go on a long ride, but I would rather do this than have it snap in the middle of a 2,000 mile ride.

My current minimalist setup on my KLR 250 for a week or longer ride.





Here's how a plan on using my luggage on the bike and yes I do plan on using a milk crate eventually!