The "Travel Light, Travel Far" KLX
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I'm pretty familiar with the 351 thread. I had a 2009 klx250s and a 2010 klx250sf a few years ago. At that time I was toying with the idea of going full bore too. Both bikes were sold to fund other adventures/bikes before I had the chance.
The wr250r is a great bike, loves high rpm and highways, would suggest it to anyone with deep pockets. It took me everywhere, never let me down. Fast as sh*t, fully modded aside from suspension. Rear spring needs revalving bad.
Bought it for 4600 and sold it for 6000. I hated the exhaust on that bike... ruined long trips for me. Couldn't justify spending even more money to convert it back to stock... sometimes you gotta just pass it on and start over.
Getting back to the klx250s, I was really surprised at how peppy my '07 was at full stock. It hates being cold, and doesn't like to have the throttle twisted too fast. Other than that, it's pretty sweet. It's not my wr250r, but it scoots along nice and it cost me 3/8th of what I sold the wr250r for.
With the stock exhaust, some jetting and suspension mods, I'll be miles ahead of capability off road compared to the wr250r. On the highway, my ride will be more enjoyable and easier to sustain with a quiet exhaust note. The klx250s can easily cruise at 100km/h... No one does 130km/h for any length of time on a 250cc/350cc/400... Long distance riding is about setting a pace that is comfortable but still efficient. If you like to race economy cars and stock 250's and the odd drz400, get the 351 kit. Other than that, you are spending alot of extra money that could go to stuff like suspension, riding gear, panniers, gas.. you name it.
I'm not going to sit here and say I don't want a 351 kit, but that is for a different time when this bike isn't my primary ride, and I've already done everything else, driven to alaska and back, and own a kawasaki versys 300x
Like I said before, it's really about how you ride and how long you ride. If you just go for 2 hour rides on saturdays, maybe having a 351 will be the most enjoyable experience. If you ride all the time, do long trips, ride offroad... you might not need that extra 100cc and the dusty trail you have to walk down to get there. Don't be stuck on a sunny day with your engine in pieces
The wr250r is a great bike, loves high rpm and highways, would suggest it to anyone with deep pockets. It took me everywhere, never let me down. Fast as sh*t, fully modded aside from suspension. Rear spring needs revalving bad.
Bought it for 4600 and sold it for 6000. I hated the exhaust on that bike... ruined long trips for me. Couldn't justify spending even more money to convert it back to stock... sometimes you gotta just pass it on and start over.
Getting back to the klx250s, I was really surprised at how peppy my '07 was at full stock. It hates being cold, and doesn't like to have the throttle twisted too fast. Other than that, it's pretty sweet. It's not my wr250r, but it scoots along nice and it cost me 3/8th of what I sold the wr250r for.
With the stock exhaust, some jetting and suspension mods, I'll be miles ahead of capability off road compared to the wr250r. On the highway, my ride will be more enjoyable and easier to sustain with a quiet exhaust note. The klx250s can easily cruise at 100km/h... No one does 130km/h for any length of time on a 250cc/350cc/400... Long distance riding is about setting a pace that is comfortable but still efficient. If you like to race economy cars and stock 250's and the odd drz400, get the 351 kit. Other than that, you are spending alot of extra money that could go to stuff like suspension, riding gear, panniers, gas.. you name it.
I'm not going to sit here and say I don't want a 351 kit, but that is for a different time when this bike isn't my primary ride, and I've already done everything else, driven to alaska and back, and own a kawasaki versys 300x
Like I said before, it's really about how you ride and how long you ride. If you just go for 2 hour rides on saturdays, maybe having a 351 will be the most enjoyable experience. If you ride all the time, do long trips, ride offroad... you might not need that extra 100cc and the dusty trail you have to walk down to get there. Don't be stuck on a sunny day with your engine in pieces
I'm interested in your thoughts on the suspension. You said you will prefer the capability of your KLX over your WR, I was under the impression that the WR suspension is better than the KLX, stock for stock?
I am still collecting info on what to do with the suspension. I weigh about 160, but the suspension hasn't seemed too bad so far. The whole bike seems pretty soft, moreso in the front, yet sometimes harsh at times. I have almost bottomed it out a few times over small jumps.
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Joined: Feb 2017
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I do see now that the engine is out of the bike. You don't waste any time!
Stock for stock, the wr250r suspension feels about the same as the klx. I havent taken the klx down the exact same trails as the wr250r yet, and I wasn't as aggressive offroad with my previous klx250s, and it was a gen2. I spent alot of time reading up on suspension, trying to wrap my head around rebound and compression and preload and sag and all that.
The wr250r would lose read end traction on bumps or repeated compression. The rebound was too fast. Guys have been launched off the bike due to improper adjustment and hitting the wrong bump too fast. My experience was less dramatic.
I found myself having a hard time on gnarly wet hill climbs (exposed roots and rocks with water flowing down) and riding fast on logging roads. I could go just as fast as my buddies on their wr250f and ktm 250 exc-f but would have to back off because it was unsafe.
Aside from the ktm and husqi' bikes in the same engine displacement range, there is really nothing available from factory with true dirty worthy suspension. They all need tweaking and the wr250r doesn't escape that detail. If you start riding hard off road with your 351, you will notice the suspension needing love pretty quick.
Like I said, I haven't started pushing my '07 as hard as I did the wr250r. When I do, I'll start to work out the details. Hopefully it's as simple as changing oil and dialing in the preload and sag... but if I gotta get the rear shock rebuilt to make me happy it won't be as tough to make that call financially as it was on the wr250r.
Stock for stock, the wr250r suspension feels about the same as the klx. I havent taken the klx down the exact same trails as the wr250r yet, and I wasn't as aggressive offroad with my previous klx250s, and it was a gen2. I spent alot of time reading up on suspension, trying to wrap my head around rebound and compression and preload and sag and all that.
The wr250r would lose read end traction on bumps or repeated compression. The rebound was too fast. Guys have been launched off the bike due to improper adjustment and hitting the wrong bump too fast. My experience was less dramatic.
I found myself having a hard time on gnarly wet hill climbs (exposed roots and rocks with water flowing down) and riding fast on logging roads. I could go just as fast as my buddies on their wr250f and ktm 250 exc-f but would have to back off because it was unsafe.
Aside from the ktm and husqi' bikes in the same engine displacement range, there is really nothing available from factory with true dirty worthy suspension. They all need tweaking and the wr250r doesn't escape that detail. If you start riding hard off road with your 351, you will notice the suspension needing love pretty quick.
Like I said, I haven't started pushing my '07 as hard as I did the wr250r. When I do, I'll start to work out the details. Hopefully it's as simple as changing oil and dialing in the preload and sag... but if I gotta get the rear shock rebuilt to make me happy it won't be as tough to make that call financially as it was on the wr250r.
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Started on the motor yesterday. It went fairly smoothly, but I did run into one issue that might help people in the future. When separating the head from the cylinder, and the cylinder from the case, there are small metal cylinders which drop in the channel that the head bolts go down through. They are there as pegs to hold the cylinder and head in place.
Here is the disclaimer, check and make sure that these "pegs" fit in the slots on the new cylinder you get from Bill Blue. I guess manufacturing tolerances change slightly or something, because one of the two on the bottom cylinder didn't fit into the cylinder side. Unfortunately we didn't find that out until we dropped the cylinder down onto the piston and were unable to get the cylinder seated onto the case. So we had to take it off and pull the cylinder. Ended up milling it out very slightly so that the peg would slot in properly. After cleaning everything up and getting the piston and cylinder back on, we encountered the same issue with the two pegs between the cylinder and the head. Luckily, it only took a little bit of working to get those to slot in as well.
I'm probably doing a bad job of describing the issue accurately, but unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of that process.
Here are a few pictures of it coming together:
As it sits, the head is back on and torqued back down, going to check the valve clearance and set the timing and close it up.
Here is the disclaimer, check and make sure that these "pegs" fit in the slots on the new cylinder you get from Bill Blue. I guess manufacturing tolerances change slightly or something, because one of the two on the bottom cylinder didn't fit into the cylinder side. Unfortunately we didn't find that out until we dropped the cylinder down onto the piston and were unable to get the cylinder seated onto the case. So we had to take it off and pull the cylinder. Ended up milling it out very slightly so that the peg would slot in properly. After cleaning everything up and getting the piston and cylinder back on, we encountered the same issue with the two pegs between the cylinder and the head. Luckily, it only took a little bit of working to get those to slot in as well.
I'm probably doing a bad job of describing the issue accurately, but unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of that process.
Here are a few pictures of it coming together:
As it sits, the head is back on and torqued back down, going to check the valve clearance and set the timing and close it up.
Last edited by Rasberry; Feb 18, 2017 at 07:03 PM.
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Joined: Feb 2017
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Another thing to be mention is the wr250r with it's fuel injection was not very user friendly when doing tight trails. It was a sudden "on/off" like the throttle was push button. Also, the wr250r makes power alot higher in the rpm band. Peak hp is up between 6000 and 8000rpm. The klx250s has way better low end power delivery, especially with the smooth throttle operation of a carb. This is a huge consideration when riding offroad.
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I do see now that the engine is out of the bike. You don't waste any time!
Stock for stock, the wr250r suspension feels about the same as the klx. I havent taken the klx down the exact same trails as the wr250r yet, and I wasn't as aggressive offroad with my previous klx250s, and it was a gen2. I spent alot of time reading up on suspension, trying to wrap my head around rebound and compression and preload and sag and all that.
------------
Like I said, I haven't started pushing my '07 as hard as I did the wr250r. When I do, I'll start to work out the details. Hopefully it's as simple as changing oil and dialing in the preload and sag... but if I gotta get the rear shock rebuilt to make me happy it won't be as tough to make that call financially as it was on the wr250r.
Stock for stock, the wr250r suspension feels about the same as the klx. I havent taken the klx down the exact same trails as the wr250r yet, and I wasn't as aggressive offroad with my previous klx250s, and it was a gen2. I spent alot of time reading up on suspension, trying to wrap my head around rebound and compression and preload and sag and all that.
------------
Like I said, I haven't started pushing my '07 as hard as I did the wr250r. When I do, I'll start to work out the details. Hopefully it's as simple as changing oil and dialing in the preload and sag... but if I gotta get the rear shock rebuilt to make me happy it won't be as tough to make that call financially as it was on the wr250r.
Last edited by Rasberry; Feb 18, 2017 at 07:04 PM.
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Joined: Feb 2017
Posts: 100
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You seem confident in your approach, I'm sure that any suspension shortfalls the klx shows will be easily solved with some time and effort. I wish I had the shop space you do!
It's always nice to see such a detailed teardown/ rebuild. When I eventually spring for a klx300 jug, I'll be referring to this thread for some reference. Happy modding!
It's always nice to see such a detailed teardown/ rebuild. When I eventually spring for a klx300 jug, I'll be referring to this thread for some reference. Happy modding!
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Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 4,507
From: SW Idaho
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Started on the motor yesterday. It went fairly smoothly, but I did run into one issue that might help people in the future. When separating the head from the cylinder, and the cylinder from the case, there are small metal cylinders which drop in the channel that the head bolts go down through. They are there as pegs to hold the cylinder and head in place.
Here is the disclaimer, check and make sure that these "pegs" fit in the slots on the new cylinder you get from Bill Blue. I guess manufacturing tolerances change slightly or something, because one of the two on the bottom cylinder didn't fit into the cylinder side. Unfortunately we didn't find that out until we dropped the cylinder down onto the piston and were unable to get the cylinder seated onto the case. So we had to take it off and pull the cylinder. Ended up milling it out very slightly so that the peg would slot in properly. After cleaning everything up and getting the piston and cylinder back on, we encountered the same issue with the two pegs between the cylinder and the head. Luckily, it only took a little bit of working to get those to slot in as well.
Here is the disclaimer, check and make sure that these "pegs" fit in the slots on the new cylinder you get from Bill Blue. I guess manufacturing tolerances change slightly or something, because one of the two on the bottom cylinder didn't fit into the cylinder side. Unfortunately we didn't find that out until we dropped the cylinder down onto the piston and were unable to get the cylinder seated onto the case. So we had to take it off and pull the cylinder. Ended up milling it out very slightly so that the peg would slot in properly. After cleaning everything up and getting the piston and cylinder back on, we encountered the same issue with the two pegs between the cylinder and the head. Luckily, it only took a little bit of working to get those to slot in as well.
I've never heard of that issue with one of Bill's big bores. Interesting.
Welcome aboard and nice work!!
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Yes, 92043 is what I was referring to. Thanks for the assist, I didn't think of using the microfiche to point it out.
It was an odd circumstance for sure. After getting the cylinder over the piston we couldn't get it to drop down on the pins to seat against the case. After a lot of looking, pulling the cylinder back off, and a lot more looking, we tried the pin in the cylinder side just to ensure that it would fit. Which is when we discovered that it didn't. Another odd thing was that only one of the two pins had issues, the other one had no issues seating into the new cylinder. It was just one of them that required actual work to make it large enough to accept the pin. Same sort of issue later on with both of pins between the cylinder and the head. However all that had to be done for them to drop in was a light hand twirling of a drill bit and some lube.
I know it sounds weird, and it was, we spent a long time trying to avoid making any permanent changes such as we did, but that was what needed. I don't think it was a problem on Bill Blue's end. I doubt he even has anything to do with those parts of the cylinder, because why would he? All I can think of is to just chalk it up to slight manufacturing tolerance differences on those particular pins from my cylinder to Bill's.
It was an odd circumstance for sure. After getting the cylinder over the piston we couldn't get it to drop down on the pins to seat against the case. After a lot of looking, pulling the cylinder back off, and a lot more looking, we tried the pin in the cylinder side just to ensure that it would fit. Which is when we discovered that it didn't. Another odd thing was that only one of the two pins had issues, the other one had no issues seating into the new cylinder. It was just one of them that required actual work to make it large enough to accept the pin. Same sort of issue later on with both of pins between the cylinder and the head. However all that had to be done for them to drop in was a light hand twirling of a drill bit and some lube.
I know it sounds weird, and it was, we spent a long time trying to avoid making any permanent changes such as we did, but that was what needed. I don't think it was a problem on Bill Blue's end. I doubt he even has anything to do with those parts of the cylinder, because why would he? All I can think of is to just chalk it up to slight manufacturing tolerance differences on those particular pins from my cylinder to Bill's.
Last edited by Rasberry; Feb 19, 2017 at 10:59 PM.
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Went to finish putting the motor together today. Decided to check the valve clearances before we closed it up and I am glad that I did. The exhaust side looks great. I think I was reading like .18 or .19 or something. One of the cam lobes on the intake side looks fine, .14 or so, but the other intake lobe seems to be quite tight. Can't even get the likes of a .08 to slide in there. It seems a bit odd to me, and in hindsight I wish I would have taken some quick readings during motor teardown, I would be curious to know what it was like stock, if any different. All the same, I ordered a shim kit and the motor progress is stalled for a few days.
I did a few odds and ends and moved on to work on the front end of the bike as I wait for parts.
Spooned the tires off the wheels, and removed brake rotors and the sprocket. I'm thinking I am going to have a go at painting them black:
Threw on some IMS pegs:
Started work on fitting up the handlebar setup. It consists of Rox 2 inch risers, Renthal Fatbar, and Highway Dirt Bikes top clamp:
The bars are the Reed/Windham bend. The are really similar to the stock bars, maybe just a bit taller, and ever so slightly more sweep. They are very close though, I would almost call it a direct swap:
Starting to fit up some of the goodies. RSC shorty clutch and Oxford heated grips. I'm thinking I may get lucky and have enough clutch cable. Maybe. I'm almost positive I am going to need a longer throttle cable though, especially after mocking things up some today:
Pulled off the stock headlight and fairing, to get ready for Trailtech Vapor install and new fairing mock-up. Looks like we will need to come up with some brackets or something to fit it up. As she sits:
I did a few odds and ends and moved on to work on the front end of the bike as I wait for parts.
Spooned the tires off the wheels, and removed brake rotors and the sprocket. I'm thinking I am going to have a go at painting them black:
Threw on some IMS pegs:
Started work on fitting up the handlebar setup. It consists of Rox 2 inch risers, Renthal Fatbar, and Highway Dirt Bikes top clamp:
The bars are the Reed/Windham bend. The are really similar to the stock bars, maybe just a bit taller, and ever so slightly more sweep. They are very close though, I would almost call it a direct swap:
Starting to fit up some of the goodies. RSC shorty clutch and Oxford heated grips. I'm thinking I may get lucky and have enough clutch cable. Maybe. I'm almost positive I am going to need a longer throttle cable though, especially after mocking things up some today:
Pulled off the stock headlight and fairing, to get ready for Trailtech Vapor install and new fairing mock-up. Looks like we will need to come up with some brackets or something to fit it up. As she sits:
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I am having a lot of trouble finding a new throttle tube. I have the old one, and it would definitely work, but I figured I would throw on a fresh one since I was in there. I got one of the metal Zeta ones, but it isn't going to work, the portion where the throttle cables attach is much too large to fit in the stock clamp housing.
Anyone have any leads on a throttle tube?
Anyone have any leads on a throttle tube?