My bike is an 09 klx250s, my uncle has a 06. I haven't messed with any of the suspension adjustments but i think i need to. I rode his the other day and it handles the rough terrain 10 times better than mine i think. I weigh about 170 ish if that makes a difference. What do ya guys think?

 

Is your uncle's '06 completely stock as far as the suspension goes?...different springs...revalved...etc. His '06 does have an additional inch of travel, but frankly I think both versions...'06-'07 and the '09-later models...need some internal revalving...especially the fork...and usually some aftermarket springs. You're closer than most on the weight for the fork springs, but I still think they're too soft for most anyone. The rear spring should be fine for you. I and some others here have revalved our forks and in some cases also our rear shock. I think it transforms the bike dramatically for real off road riding.

The fork only has external compression adjustment which does little because the valving is so bad...compression spiking. The rear shock has rebound and compression, but you really need to know what you like or don't like about what the rear shock is doing right now to make a meaningful tuning difference. Have you studied some sites or posts that really get down to the nitty-gritty of suspension tuning. If not, do so. You really need to know what you're trying to accomplish before you start turing those *****/screws.

 

I'm around 178-ish.

Turn the front in (CW) until it stops, then back it out 4 clicks. You'll be AMAZED at the difference!

I'll have to look up what I did to the rear... I know it was a slight adjustment, compared to the front.

Meanwhile... do some searches on how to set the bike up for your weight. It took me a couple days of Googling to settle in on what I wanted, and it made a WORLD of difference once I got it set up correctly.

 

rgoers, that's interesting on the 4 turns out on the fork's compression adjustment...and I'm not mentioning that as a slam to your tuning, just discussion. The '06-'07 fork and the later KYB's are almost identical from what I thought, except for the 1" travel difference. Does the '09 fork have about 16 clicks on the compressionn adjuster? If I'm wrong there, someone please advise.

Both forks have horrible compression spiking...the fork basically hydraulic locks a bit as the fork takes successive hits...and the weak fork springs don't really help either. The main culprit is the extremely poor flow in the OEM compression pistons in the fork. It would seem to me that only opening the compression adjuster from fully closed to 4 clicks would only aggravate the problem. Isn't the OEM adjustment somewhere in the 12-14 clicks out from fully closed? Again, if I'm off on the '09 and later OEM compression adjustment recommendations, please advise.

rgoers, I certainly agree with the suggestion of studying up on suspension setup resources that can be found all over the internet. Many people just start turning adjusters and cranking down on springs without a clear picture of what they're trying to achieve.