KLX300 - "Unmuzzled" Power Charts Needed.
I understand your concerns but your concerns are not mine. My dyno time is to set the A/F with the power commander and has nothing to do with peak HP numbers.
Not to come off sounding like an *** but I am 54 years old and started riding when I was 5 on dirt the street @18. I have owned 12 different street bikes and have always done all my own work from carb tuning to valve jobs, tire changes ect. I used to be in the gearing lower camp but have learned that it’s not always the best way to go. Are we to believe that every single bike ever built is geared too tall? Are we to believe that everyone wants to go 0-100 as fast as possible and wheelie in 3rd gear?
You do you and I will do me and keep your concerns to yourself thank you.
Not to come off sounding like an *** but I am 54 years old and started riding when I was 5 on dirt the street @18. I have owned 12 different street bikes and have always done all my own work from carb tuning to valve jobs, tire changes ect. I used to be in the gearing lower camp but have learned that it’s not always the best way to go. Are we to believe that every single bike ever built is geared too tall? Are we to believe that everyone wants to go 0-100 as fast as possible and wheelie in 3rd gear?
You do you and I will do me and keep your concerns to yourself thank you.
And those are some real conclusions you're jumping to here. These bikes are slower 0-60 than a new Camry, so just saying it's an option to not knee-cap it via gearing is a far cry from me suggesting that everybody wants to be doing power wheelies in third gear.
Doesn't that basically negate your power gains though for a small reduction in vibration at cruising speeds? Have you considered rubber foot pads for the pegs that you could quickly install or remove as needed, plus pillow top grips that would reduce the amount of vibration to your hands? That would insulate you a bit while still allowing for the same performance level
Clamping bars directly onto the tops of the fork tubes eliminated the vibration issue.

"Racing" bars are short, thick, and stiff as hell.
I meant retain your stock sprockets as opposed to gearing taller. Didn't you have a previous post in this thread saying you would be the first one here to gear taller?
And those are some real conclusions you're jumping to here. These bikes are slower 0-60 than a new Camry, so just saying it's an option to not knee-cap it via gearing is a far cry from me suggesting that everybody wants to be doing power wheelies in third gear.
And those are some real conclusions you're jumping to here. These bikes are slower 0-60 than a new Camry, so just saying it's an option to not knee-cap it via gearing is a far cry from me suggesting that everybody wants to be doing power wheelies in third gear.
I'd gear up in a heatbeat if my bike wasn't climbing steep roads loaded down with tools. 4th, 5th and 6th gears are really close together like a sportbike which is conducive to higher overall gearing. When I tried gearing up my 5 speed DRZ400, even with a way more powerful engine, it was freaking awful, because it just stretched out already wide 3rd 4th and 5th gears even farther away from each other.
Last edited by tooter; Jun 26, 2022 at 06:25 AM.

We can compare charts. I'll bet your chart won't have that 7,000 rpm "dip" like mine had with yours having the secondary throttle plate deleted.
You'll definitely clock better overall numbers, as mine had no tuner, no secondary throttle plate delete, the stock snorkel,and all the stock emissions on it.
Last edited by tooter; Jun 26, 2022 at 06:36 AM.
Even modded with intake/exhaust/fuel/secondary throttle plate delete, the KLX is not going to gain ~40% horsepower over stock. And I understand the DRZ ratios are wider to begin with, but gearing a KLX 13.7% taller over stock with a 15/37 combo is substantial. It's a reasonable estimate that the KLX300 will gain about 13% HP on the dyno with mods. 13% power gain would be going from 23 wheel HP to 26. Again, an estimate, but that seems like quite a reasonable expectation going by stock KLX300 dyno figures from publications and seeing how the 250s react to similar mods. Going from 249cc to 292cc isn't going to push these things into 30+ HP.
So say you gain ~13% HP but lose ~13% gear ratio, it depends on what the power curve looks like, but I wonder if the substantial drop in RPM at any given riding speed will effectively make the bike accelerate slower in real riding conditions than it did completely stock.
I'm not saying olerider cares about this, nor am I directing this at him, nor am I trolling. It's just an interesting discussion to have in a discussion thread about performance.
Exactly, that's what I'm getting at is not having enough power to be able to pull tall gearing. You're right about our top gears being close together, but with the downside that we're still not making near DRZ levels of horsepower, so we still really need to lean on mechanical advantage, or else the powertrain will fall flat. The DRZ400 makes 10 wheel horsepower more than the KLX300 does, while only weighing 18 pounds more, stock for stock. That's about 43% more power.
Even modded with intake/exhaust/fuel/secondary throttle plate delete, the KLX is not going to gain ~40% horsepower over stock. And I understand the DRZ ratios are wider to begin with, but gearing a KLX 13.7% taller over stock with a 15/37 combo is substantial. It's a reasonable estimate that the KLX300 will gain about 13% HP on the dyno with mods. 13% power gain would be going from 23 wheel HP to 26. Again, an estimate, but that seems like quite a reasonable expectation going by stock KLX300 dyno figures from publications and seeing how the 250s react to similar mods. Going from 249cc to 292cc isn't going to push these things into 30+ HP.
So say you gain ~13% HP but lose ~13% gear ratio, it depends on what the power curve looks like, but I wonder if the substantial drop in RPM at any given riding speed will effectively make the bike accelerate slower in real riding conditions than it did completely stock.
I'm not saying olerider cares about this, nor am I directing this at him, nor am I trolling. It's just an interesting discussion to have in a discussion thread about performance.
Even modded with intake/exhaust/fuel/secondary throttle plate delete, the KLX is not going to gain ~40% horsepower over stock. And I understand the DRZ ratios are wider to begin with, but gearing a KLX 13.7% taller over stock with a 15/37 combo is substantial. It's a reasonable estimate that the KLX300 will gain about 13% HP on the dyno with mods. 13% power gain would be going from 23 wheel HP to 26. Again, an estimate, but that seems like quite a reasonable expectation going by stock KLX300 dyno figures from publications and seeing how the 250s react to similar mods. Going from 249cc to 292cc isn't going to push these things into 30+ HP.
So say you gain ~13% HP but lose ~13% gear ratio, it depends on what the power curve looks like, but I wonder if the substantial drop in RPM at any given riding speed will effectively make the bike accelerate slower in real riding conditions than it did completely stock.
I'm not saying olerider cares about this, nor am I directing this at him, nor am I trolling. It's just an interesting discussion to have in a discussion thread about performance.
I know my KLX not carrying any cargo on the freeway could handle higher gearing. Right now 60 mph is 6,000 rpms. I'd guess 60mph @ 5,600 rpms would work just about perfect. I'm a little "jockey" at 5'5" 135 pounds so that would help..
Exactly, that's what I'm getting at is not having enough power to be able to pull tall gearing. You're right about our top gears being close together, but with the downside that we're still not making near DRZ levels of horsepower, so we still really need to lean on mechanical advantage, or else the powertrain will fall flat. The DRZ400 makes 10 wheel horsepower more than the KLX300 does, while only weighing 18 pounds more, stock for stock. That's about 43% more power.
Even modded with intake/exhaust/fuel/secondary throttle plate delete, the KLX is not going to gain ~40% horsepower over stock. And I understand the DRZ ratios are wider to begin with, but gearing a KLX 13.7% taller over stock with a 15/37 combo is substantial. It's a reasonable estimate that the KLX300 will gain about 13% HP on the dyno with mods. 13% power gain would be going from 23 wheel HP to 26. Again, an estimate, but that seems like quite a reasonable expectation going by stock KLX300 dyno figures from publications and seeing how the 250s react to similar mods. Going from 249cc to 292cc isn't going to push these things into 30+ HP.
So say you gain ~13% HP but lose ~13% gear ratio, it depends on what the power curve looks like, but I wonder if the substantial drop in RPM at any given riding speed will effectively make the bike accelerate slower in real riding conditions than it did completely stock.
I'm not saying olerider cares about this, nor am I directing this at him, nor am I trolling. It's just an interesting discussion to have in a discussion thread about performance.
Even modded with intake/exhaust/fuel/secondary throttle plate delete, the KLX is not going to gain ~40% horsepower over stock. And I understand the DRZ ratios are wider to begin with, but gearing a KLX 13.7% taller over stock with a 15/37 combo is substantial. It's a reasonable estimate that the KLX300 will gain about 13% HP on the dyno with mods. 13% power gain would be going from 23 wheel HP to 26. Again, an estimate, but that seems like quite a reasonable expectation going by stock KLX300 dyno figures from publications and seeing how the 250s react to similar mods. Going from 249cc to 292cc isn't going to push these things into 30+ HP.
So say you gain ~13% HP but lose ~13% gear ratio, it depends on what the power curve looks like, but I wonder if the substantial drop in RPM at any given riding speed will effectively make the bike accelerate slower in real riding conditions than it did completely stock.
I'm not saying olerider cares about this, nor am I directing this at him, nor am I trolling. It's just an interesting discussion to have in a discussion thread about performance.
Secondary Throttle Plate Delete
Primary Throttle ECU Control Delete
FMF MegaBomb Header
25% Longer Exhaust Midpipe
3 Tuning Disks
PAIR Valve Delete
Emissions System Delete
Iridium Spark Plug
The awful part wasn't that the DRZ engine didn't have enough power to pull higher gears, it was that the already wide gap between 3rd 4th and 5th was made even wider by higher overall gearing. The KLX's close 4th 5th 6th ratios would be much better suited for higher gears.
I know my KLX not carrying any cargo on the freeway could handle higher gearing. Right now 60 mph is 6,000 rpms. I'd guess 60mph @ 5,600 rpms would work just about perfect. I'm a little "jockey" at 5'5" 135 pounds so that helps..
Last edited by tooter; Jun 26, 2022 at 07:40 PM.
Doesn't that boil down to the same thing, that the engine didn't have enough power to pull the higher gearing? If 4th and/or 5th gear became useless from the widened gearing then it's because the power wasn't there to support the change. Obviously the taller you go the more power you need to support it, so I feel like we're really saying the same thing.
Doesn't that boil down to the same thing, that the engine didn't have enough power to pull the higher gearing? If 4th and/or 5th gear became useless from the widened gearing then it's because the power wasn't there to support the change. Obviously the taller you go the more power you need to support it, so I feel like we're really saying the same thing.

If you look at gear charts you'll notice that each successively higher gear is effected more by raising the overall gear ratio than the next lower gear below it. So gears successively spread apart more from each other as you raise overall gearing. KLX gears (4th 5th and 6th) are so close, that they can tolerate higher overall gearing way better than the DRZ ever could. In fact, I lowered the overall ratio on my 400SM just to squish the ratios closer together even though it didn't need it. Trying to fill the range of 6 gears with 5 doesn't cut it.
On the DRZ, there was a large gap between 1st and 2nd, then 2nd and 3rd were comfortably close, but between 3rd and 4th the spacing was wider instead of closer, and 4th to 5th was also wide. I rode my DRZ400SM daily for 9 years and 35,000+ miles, so I know what I'm talking about in regards to this. Other things maybe not so much.

I understand this is a little difficult to explain to you as it's the result of my own personal experience.from riding small motorcycles for transportation for 57 years. but I don't mind trying.
Last edited by tooter; Jun 26, 2022 at 10:08 PM.


