Yep. My wife has put almost 4K miles on hers since March, and she loves it. Now, of course, she wants something bigger..................
She's leaning to the streetbike end of things. The 250 is a fantastic weekend toy, but she spent a lot of time doing her 30-mile RT commute on it, and an electric start is high on the list. We're going to look for a Ninja 250 ofter the first of the year. A KLX with the 351 kit sounds like s hoot to me.
I've got a KLR250 for sale and I'm thinking of selling my KLR650 and getting a KLX and having the 351 kit put in. For the misses: Don't overlook that TU250 for the street end. Also, I'd think that you could find any number of gently used 250 Nighthawks and 250 Rebels for next to nothing. Two of the most popular bikes ever for the MSF classes with good reason. I think the Nighthawks are looking.
Since we have a dedicated thread, here's my '03: Cycleracks Rack; Utah Sport Cycle Bash Plate; Hobart Tool Tube Headlight Stone Guard (In Current Production); Tool Bag Relocation Bracket (Think The Mfr's Discontinued These, and Maybe All KLR Products) Ken Sean folding mirrors; 14-tooth CS sprocket; "oversize" (3.25 front and 5.10 wide rear) Kenda K270's (spaced exhaust outward with washer); "clip-on" handguards (get some PROPER ones!); Joe Rocket magnetic tank bag; and, ain't shown, but . . . the '08 + Kawasaki Handlebar Bag works GREAT! ------------- Oh, yes; almost forgot--Sink-No-Bob; prototype "Dirt Bike Lite" model! ------------- And, don't think I mentioned the Utah Sport Cycle bash plate:
My wife loves to ride, but wouldn't be caught dead on either a Nighthawk of Rebel. Personally, I'd love to get a nice CM or CB400 for her, but she's not interested in those, either. Fashion is king, sometimes.
Just bought a 05 KLR 250 with 3600 miles on it...found it on Craigslist. the guy never took it off road and it never saw rain, not a scratch on it! I plan on tearing it apart this winter and resetting all the valves and just checking for overall engine condition...what a great find and what a great bike! -Tyler _______________________________________________________ KLR 250
Dang, Tyler; a KLR250 that new with such low mileage shouldn't need "tearing apart," if it's running o.k.! Your bike, but . . . in my experience, KLR250's require very little maintenance; at 3600 miles yours is hardly broken in, IMHO. If the bike has set up with fuel in the carb, a float bowl drain and maybe some chemical carb cleaning might be necessary, but . . . generally, I'd advise--"If it ain't broke . . . " (You know the rest!)
No kidding! What's the commotion about? Change the fluids, check the valves, and ride the thing. I've got 12K on mine and it has seen little TLC. It's an '89 and runs like a clock. Great bike, and... underrated.
Just found this on CL. I'd like to get a little dual sport to take to work over the winter and hit a few trails once in a while. What do you think? Guy's asking $700. I'm pretty good with carbs, but I'd rather be riding than chasing a gremlin around all winter. "1997 klr250 it has the white and blue plastics on it it needs the carb cleaned out from what i know or shall i say been told.i bought it from a guy on cl about 2 months ago he did a new top end with cams and everything and a 330 bore kit it runs amazing loads of power and everything works brandnew brakes and back sprocket everything to make this bike stop and go is perfect and clean title with only 5k on the bike the plastics need some love but everything else is good i only rode it for about 2 hours and it was light nothing major at all.since the bike sat the bike bogs out now and my buddy told me the carb needs to be cleaned up but idk much about it..i need the bike gone soon "
The mods alone would cost over $ 700; cleaning the carb's no great consequence (they're sensitive to gasoline gumming after sitting up a long time); caveat the rest of the engine's condition.
Picked up a 250 that was in a wreck. The rider ran into a car and looks like it went over on the left side. When I picked it up, I could barely kick it over. It was for all purposes, non-running (non-kickable). After getting it home and letting it soak in oil and magic mystery oil, I could kick it over somewhat. I can rotate it seemingly ok at the magneto bolt. When I kick it over, it makes a scraping noise, but not when turning it at the magneto bolt. The oil smelled like gas and the petcock lever is a bit bent, so I'm assuming gas leaked through the carb and into the cylinder and into the oil, over time causing some kind of seize. I had the right side cover off the other day and everything looks alright. I didn't take the clutch out, so I'm not sure if there is something going on behind it. I had the head off, and the cylinder looks great. I ended up not taking the cylinder out, so I'm not sure if the rings are stuck to the piston. I tried kicking it over a few times tonight, and got it to fire a bit, kind of run and stall out. When it was "running", the mechanical noise was there. It sounds like a rotational noise, metal on meal. Any advice?
Can you roll the bike in gear with the clutch lever pulled in? It sounds like a transmission/clutch issue. If you can't roll it while in gear and squeezing the clutch, your clutch plates may be stuck together. If they are, all you have to do is take the basket off, clean off the plates and reassemble.
It looks like the idler gear for the kick start is loose. It tilts to one side. Everything else in the engine looks great, as far as I can see. I can rotate the transmission pretty fast by hand and I hear no noise. I can rotate the crank as well and don't hear anything unusual. I saw an issue about this for the klx 300. Anyone have to change this? Can you get a new sleeve for it, or do you have to get a whole new gear?
Looking at this diagram: http://www.bikebandit.com/houseofmotorcycles/1989-kawasaki-motorcycle-kl250-kl250d6-us-kickstarter-mechanism/o/m3621sch59977 there is no sleeve. It should be a one piece gear. Are you sure it's the gear and not the shaft that it rides on?
There is no sleeve that can be bought that I could find, but there is a sleeve on the gear. I found a used gear on ebay, we will see if it is any better. I am hoping it is not the shaft. I think the shaft is part of the transmission which would get expensive to replace.
The bike is running today! I was able to take it down the street a bit. The carb was very dirty, and still needs to be cleaned a bit more. The idle air screw was pretty dirty, bad enough were it was bottomed out! Had to reset it to 1 3/4 turns back from the get go. The valves need some adjustment, but all in all it seems to work! The gear I ended up getting was still a bit loose, so I put an extra shim in there, and it kicks over much better. I'll have to look into getting a new gear, though. I'm worried that extra shim may cause the shaft to break.