KX250F Trail Riders Thread

[Poo Flinger]

I just recently bought a 2006 kx250f and have a few questions. #1 how often should I change the oil ( I don't ride track), and #2 I live at about 5000ft and I bought the bike at about 200ft elevation and was wondering if someone had some detailed instructions for adjusting the carb for that altitude

Change oil every 3 hours and oil filter every 6. Hour meter is a good invesment to track your hours.

Unfortunately I can't help you with the carb situation but hopefully someone else will be able to.

[Shawn250]

IMO if you running good motorcycle specific oil like Motul 5100 then you can safely change oil and filter every 10 hours as per the manual .

 

If you running cheap oil then do it every 3 hours .

 

On my 2012 I replaced the piston for maintenance purposes at 75 hours and the piston was still good , now on 165 hours and I will probably replace it at 175 hours .

 

My 450 has over 600 hours with 3 piston changes doing oil every 10-15 hrs with good oil  

[40acres]

Change oil every 3 hours and oil filter every 6. Hour meter is a good invesment to track your hours.

Unfortunately I can't help you with the carb situation but hopefully someone else will be able to.

I've never understood why the motorcycle community gets this backwards. If you're going to wait that long you change the filter and leave the oil, not the other way around. The filter is what gets full of debris and deposits, oil not so much. But 10 hours is a little long anyways.

[rafid]

I ride an 2004 for trail riding and still love it

 

[mbogosia]

I am starting to think about tires for the winter and spring. Currently I am running a Bridgestone m604 and 603 combo. From what I've been told they aren't the best in muddy conditions.

What are you guys running?

[Poo Flinger]

I have the dunlop mx32 on my bike. http://images.pierce-ecom.com/File/Image.ashx?oid=43711&type=p

[40acres]

I have the dunlop mx32 on my bike. http://images.pierce-ecom.com/File/Image.ashx?oid=43711&type=p

+1 for the MX32... One of the best tires I've ever ran. I even get pretty good traction on the REALLY hard packed stuff. One of my local tracks has a small "supercross" style track that only gets prepped on Wednesday. They also let quads on this track, so come Saturday that thing is like riding on concrete and I still get traction.

[LSHD]

Spent the day getting the '11 ready to ride Carolina Adventure World (CAW) in Winnsboro, SC. Changed oil and filter. Put a X30/Tubliss on the rear last Friday. Was going to do the front too, but didn't want to take a chance on it not sealing since I'm leaving in the morning. So I'll be riding a 403 front with a tube and X30 rear Tubliss. I've heard of a bunch of folks only running Tubliss on the rear. Going to run 11 PSI front and 5 or less rear. Can't wait!

 

Anyone riding on Thursday, let's meet up. Will be there with my Nephew around 10 AM. He rides a 2003 KTM 200 EXC.

[LSHD]

We ran Carolina Adventure World (CAW) yesterday. It was HOT and humid! But we are an AGATT family, so we just deal with it. Hit a few nice blue trails (second easiest, since my nephew is still learning). Most trails were in really good shape, having been dozed to get rid of the ridiculous ruts of last year. Really nice.

 

On a whim, took trail 19. Heck, on the map it didn't look that bad. And that nice gray line color on the map must mean it's easy, right?  ?

 

Turns out it's one of the "most difficult" trails. The nephew wasn't quite up to it, having no brake pads left ("Gee Uncle, I wondered why my brakes squeaked"), and a near bald rear tire. So I ended up riding both our bikes up/down the most challenging parts. That's a lot of walking and bike "hossing", and I just plain got overheated and beat down. The GPS on the phone wasn't working for a while, so couldn't find a quick way to the service roads. Finally the nephew got dinged his knee on a tough hill and felt like he may have to walk (or be carried) out, so I went out on recon to find an easier trail. Found trail 18 in the opposite direction the GPS seemed to say and we made it back for a post ride pizza. He's still young and studly, so the girls made the pizza even though it was closing time.

 

Overall a great trip. It's good to get in over your head and find a way past it sometimes, but not too often.?

 

EMERGENCY COOLING WAS REQUIRED (SERIOUSLY, 95 degrees and 80% humidity in full gear was tough on this 50+ Uncle after riding two bikes over the worst parts of trail 19)

Edited September 5, 2015 by LSHD

[mbogosia]

Nice! Sounds like you got plenty of riding in.

[LSHD]

More than my share of challenging terrain. Hadn't ridden any hills in years, since we live in the Lowcountry. The coolest moment was after we got home and he told his mom "Uncle LSHD is pretty badass on a motorcycle."

[shrubitup]

How's the heat output on these? Not whether or not it boils over but heat radiating out and into your body on say a 70 degree day on slow trails. Hot? Noticeable? 

 

I have a 450 now and it's hot. It has a fan that helps cool but it cooks me. I had a 07 YZ250F and didn't really notice the heat. I'm thinking it's just the 450s that are hot? 

[LSHD]

I've never noticed heat from the bike, even in 100 degree weather and slow trails.

Edited September 8, 2015 by LSHD

[40acres]

I've noticed my '11 gets a little warm. I have no idea if it's normal or not but I've burned myself a few times on the clutch cover when I load up to leave the track. I'm in Houston so it's hot as balls already. I'm about to stick some Factory FX temperature stickers on my case, head and radiator just to get an idea of what temps I'm getting.

[LSHD]

I've noticed my '11 gets a little warm. I have no idea if it's normal or not but I've burned myself a few times on the clutch cover when I load up to leave the track. I'm in Houston so it's hot as balls already. I'm about to stick some Factory FX temperature stickers on my case, head and radiator just to get an idea of what temps I'm getting.

 

I think he meant did you notice the heat when riding the bike. We've got the same weather as you. Often get 100+ degrees for a week or longer with humidity running 80 -100%. I've never felt heat from the bike while riding, even after an hour straight on Wambaw, which is winding trails of deep sand, average speed 15 - 20 mph with high RPM.

[40acres]

I think he meant did you notice the heat when riding the bike. We've got the same weather as you. Often get 100+ degrees for a week or longer with humidity running 80 -100%. I've never felt heat from the bike while riding, even after an hour straight on Wambaw, which is winding trails of deep sand, average speed 15 - 20 mph with high RPM.

In that case then, no. It's too damn hot to tell, lol.

[DaKXkid23]

I love my 2012 track bike..? I mean woods bike. Been riding woods for a long time with it and it's flawless.

[LSHD]

Yep. They make awesome woods bikes with a few clicks of adjustment. I even run my sag similar to "track settings". I know (or have at least heard) it might be better with a bit more sag, but I learned to ride it this way and so it works well for me (have tried 100 - 110 and settled on about 103).

[OCsquid]

Have any of you noticed your bikes boiling over on the trails. I live in Oregon. Often ride slower , hilly trails. Sometimes really muddy so bike works harder. I retrofitted a coolant overflow tank from a wr under my rear fender but it never seems to fill up at all. I can't tell if I ever over heat my bike. I think it runs plenty cool. There was one ridiculous ride where I stalled and crashed a million times and it was hard to start the bike and I thought maybe it was a heat issue. But all in all it hasn't seemed like I need to do anything to try to make the bike run cooler. Anyone else care to chime in on these observations? ?

[Shawn250]

If the bike heats up enough to blow coolent out the radiator it will blow into the coolent bottle, and when the motor starts cooling again ( riding open sections or switching of the motor ) it will suck the coolent back into the system. 

 

My 2012 KX 250 only ever blown coolent out once, doesnt overheat as easily as my KX 450 does.