KLX250r questions

[greenmachine]

hi,looking to buy a dual purpose bike and the klx250s looks like a good option.
a few questions i have are-how many hours/kms do they do before you'd reccomend a rebuild?
and how long can they run continuously on the road befere getting to hot and needing a rest?thanks

[Paladin]

hi,looking to buy a dual purpose bike and the klx250r looks like a good option.
a few questions i have are-how many hours/kms do they do before you'd reccomend a rebuild?
and how long can they run continuously on the road befere getting to hot and needing a rest?thanks

Don't know about number of Km's before a rebuild but reckon its beyond 50k as even just going on the servicing intervals in the owners manual for my '09 KLX250S, that runs up to 48k. These little machines are built to take a lot of abuse, they are not service hungry like the expensive european bikes!

I use my little green monster for full on Adv riding (it was the only KLX250 out on the Southern Coast Adventure Ride this past weekend, have a look at the 2 threads for pics), and also occasionally do long runs on the road. It never uses a drop of oil and never overheats! On the way home from the SCAR I ran it behind a DR650 all the way home at 100-110kph from Makairo Road up near Woodville to Wellington and it didn't even flinch. Personally I would say it would run all day at 100-110kph and not mind - you would be stopping to rest yer bum tho LOL! Have run it out at 120+kph for an hour straight once, had lunch turned around and did same for an hour back, with no hiccups either - the liquid cooled engine just doesn't mind! Would I try to run 8hrs straight at 125-130kph? Probably not but I certainly wouldn't be concerned to ride all day at 100-110kph, bike feels totally fine at that speed.

[warewolf]

I would expect it would last as good as, or better than, my old Honda CBX250 with air & oil cooled XR250-type engine. In Aussie, that thing would sit on 120km/h for 500km trips down the highway/motorway regularly. Sold it at 80,000km and it was running sweet as, the engine had never been opened.

They are a trail bike, not an MX/XC race bike (euro or japper), so are pretty solid, understressed with long service intervals.

[Taz]

The thing would run all day and all night with out needing a rest.
Regular oil changes are the key to getting long life out of a motor.

[greenmachine]

hi, thanks for the feedback guys,its what i was hoping to hear!

[thommo77]

Totally agree with these comments. Regular oil changes (every 3-5,000kms) & air filter cleaning are paramount. Good luck with the purchase!

[bishxt]

Definitely recommend the KLX250S - had mine for 6 months. It's been completely reliable, not used a drop of oil in between services and although soft power wise has got up lots of tricky climbs on trail rides - you just have to rev the little bugger. If you intend using it offroad for trail rather than adventure rides, then it's a bit over geared and I'd recommend going 1 tooth smaller on the front (JT's make an affordable sprocket)... also helps with wheelies It still rattles along at over 100k on seal or gravel and despite it's miniscule tank, 7 litres I think, can go a reasonable distance 140k'ish. The Kawasaki Forum has a thread about oversize tanks if you wanted to sort one for longer distance stuff...
Cheers Bish

[Paladin]

Definitely recommend the KLX250S - had mine for 6 months. It's been completely reliable, not used a drop of oil in between services and although soft power wise has got up lots of tricky climbs on trail rides - you just have to rev the little bugger. If you intend using it offroad for trail rather than adventure rides, then it's a bit over geared and I'd recommend going 1 tooth smaller on the front (JT's make an affordable sprocket)... also helps with wheelies It still rattles along at over 100k on seal or gravel and despite it's miniscule tank, 7 litres I think, can go a reasonable distance 140k'ish. The Kawasaki Forum has a thread about oversize tanks if you wanted to sort one for longer distance stuff...
Cheers Bish

+1 Bish - great bike aint it!!!

Just like to add that the tank is 7.7L on the '09.

On the Southern Coast Adv Ride I did 665km over the 2 days on varying terrain so alot of 1st/2nd gear stuff as well as gravel and tarmac and I averaged out at 24km/litre approx fuel use so roughly 185km if you used every drop in the tank! On my last fill of the trip after we had done Makairo Track, a bunch of gravel and then a long solid tarmac run to Masterton I had done 175kms and put in 7.5 litres to fill up! (A bit close that one!)

[bishxt]

Just like to add that the tank is 7.7L on the '09.

On the Southern Coast Adv Ride I did 665km over the 2 days on varying terrain so alot of 1st/2nd gear stuff as well as gravel and tarmac and I averaged out at 24km/litre approx fuel use so roughly 185km if you used every drop in the tank! On my last fill of the trip after we had done Makairo Track, a bunch of gravel and then a long solid tarmac run to Masterton I had done 175kms and put in 7.5 litres to fill up! (A bit close that one!)

Dave - Thanks re the fuel range info, I'll try and wring a few more k's out of mine in future... I've obviously been playing it safe.

Another mod on mine is a serious bashplate A Ricochet wrap around one as I spend lots of time hooning around the Waimak and Eyre River - it's certainly taken some good knocks from the gravel and protects the water pump well... IMO the stock one is a bit sketchy.

Sounds like yours has had some impressively hard use

Cheers Bish

[Paladin]

Dave - Thanks re the fuel range info, I'll try and wring a few more k's out of mine in future... I've obviously been playing it safe.

Another mod on mine is a serious bashplate A Ricochet wrap around one as I spend lots of time hooning around the Waimak and Eyre River - it's certainly taken some good knocks from the gravel and protects the water pump well... IMO the stock one is a bit sketchy.

Sounds like yours has had some impressively hard use

Cheers Bish

Yep have been looking at bash plates too(http://www.bboffroad.com.au/) although I haven't had any issues yet -you no doubt saw the rocks we traversed on the Orongorongo Station on the SCAR write up! The KLX has pretty darn good ground clearance I think. It was just fine over that stuff although I did lay it down once when mounting (bloody amateur! )

I don't know about "impressively hard use" , I've got 4500kms on it since new in October and I just take it where the experienced guys go out on our rides, don't really think about it, I just figure its a small adventure bike so it should handle it! I'd never ridden offroad before October so don't really have any frame of reference, just try and have some fun and come home in one piece!

No major mods on mine - have put on Zeta Enduro Comp bars and Barkbusters and a Ventura Pack Rack, and deleted the pillion strap so it doesn't keep making my tailbone sore, but thats it. Won't mod mine heavily while under warranty, although the Bill Blue 351 big bore kit is tempting LOL, and am planning on heading the 650 route sooner or later anyway. If i could afford to I would certainly keep the KLX and make it a more full on trail bike but at the mo money wise will probably have to sell it to buy the 650.

[L Plates Flyer]

Just incase your interested, I've got an older KLX ('02) and have owned it for just over two years now and have clocked up around 12,000 km on it and it has never missed a beat.Do a lot of open road stuff on it and gravel roads and it handles both very well.I'm a bit anal about oil and filters so do mine every 1,500km or anytime before a longtrip.When the filter is $10 and the oil is $15 I can't see why you wouldn't.
All in all they are great little bikes, tough and reliable, wouldn't have anything else.

[bishxt]

Yep have been looking at bash plates too(http://www.bboffroad.com.au/) although I haven't had any issues yet -you no doubt saw the rocks we traversed on the Orongorongo Station on the SCAR write up! The KLX has pretty darn good ground clearance I think. It was just fine over that stuff although I did lay it down once when mounting (bloody amateur! )

I don't know about "impressively hard use" , I've got 4500kms on it since new in October and I just take it where the experienced guys go out on our rides, don't really think about it, I just figure its a small adventure bike so it should handle it! I'd never ridden offroad before October so don't really have any frame of reference, just try and have some fun and come home in one piece!

No major mods on mine - have put on Zeta Enduro Comp bars and Barkbusters and a Ventura Pack Rack, and deleted the pillion strap so it doesn't keep making my tailbone sore, but thats it. Won't mod mine heavily while under warranty, although the Bill Blue 351 big bore kit is tempting LOL, and am planning on heading the 650 route sooner or later anyway. If i could afford to I would certainly keep the KLX and make it a more full on trail bike but at the mo money wise will probably have to sell it to buy the 650.

Dave - the BBoffroad plate is very similar to mine in design, I can vouch for how many stones it's kept off the cases when riding the gravel river beds.

If you can run a 650 and the 250 then I'd go that route. I've had my current XT600 for 7 years and before the KLX250 have used it for trailriding and adventure riding the adv stuff is fine and nothing really breaks, but trailriding I've gone through wheels, rear shocks, lots of suspension bushes etc, etc... the lighter bikes float over a lot of stuff that the big thumpers hit The money I spent on parts keeping the big one with round wheels and working suspension would probably have financed a decent chunk of the KLX... haven't managed to break anything on the KLX yet despite a number of unplanned offs, so fingers crossed

Cheers Bish

[Paladin]

Dave - the BBoffroad plate is very similar to mine in design, I can vouch for how many stones it's kept off the cases when riding the gravel river beds.

If you can run a 650 and the 250 then I'd go that route. I've had my current XT600 for 7 years and before the KLX250 have used it for trailriding and adventure riding the adv stuff is fine and nothing really breaks, but trailriding I've gone through wheels, rear shocks, lots of suspension bushes etc, etc... the lighter bikes float over a lot of stuff that the big thumpers hit The money I spent on parts keeping the big one with round wheels and working suspension would probably have financed a decent chunk of the KLX... haven't managed to break anything on the KLX yet despite a number of unplanned offs, so fingers crossed

Cheers Bish

Yep I understand what you mean and hence my comments about keeping the KLX after i get a 650 if I can! Might need to start buying Lotto tickets! For me i know I want to continue to be able to go further afield and the KLX just doesn't really do it for those longer rides - seat and fuel tank annoyances particularly but also those little annoyances like lack of power on big hills etc and vibrations from having to run it hard to keep up with the bigger bikes sometimes! My thought of trying to keep the KLX as a more trail orientated bike was just that I feel doing some trail rides would be good experience for me technique wise. I'm not really interested in going round in circles on organised trail rides particularly but am sure there will be rides when i think having the KLX would be good - kinda like the guys on the SCAR who have bigger bikes but rode it on their DT230's! If the new job surfaces then I will definitely try to keep the KLX and add the 650 to the stable!

[3L4NS1R]

Just finished a rather long/intense road trip around New Zealand on my 09, performed very well, what with 8-10 hour riding days, open roads pretty much the entire way, a bit of dirtbiking thrown in as well.

Only issues I've had with mine was that the sidestand broke at the weild, and the rocker cover seals started leaking oil. All of those problems were taken care of by the warranty, haven't heard of them being common problems.

The seat and fuel tank you sort of learn to get around... usually with a sheepskin and a fuel can strapped to the back.

[3L4NS1R]

Oh, and it just so happens to be the most kick arse looking dual purpose on the market atm. That I can vouch for by the magnet effect it has with females looking for 'a ride on the back'.