2022 Kawasaki KX250 Project Bike Riding Impression

Dirt Rider

The 2021–2022 Kawasaki KX250 doesn’t need much to go from good to great. This rather modest build addresses the stock machine’s woes.  Full story here: https://www.dirtrider.com/story/tests/kawasaki-kx250-project-bike-riding-impression-2022/  Video By: Mason Owens  Read more from Dirt Rider: https://www.dirtrider.com/

Transcript

00:00 What's up everyone? Andrew Laro with Dirt Rider here and we have a 2022 Kawasaki KX250

00:12 project bike built by none other than Jay Clark. Jay, tell us about this bike, man.

00:17 So we've liked the KX250. It's kind of stuck in a few spots. The stock suspension's a bit

00:23 stiff. Even for guys like my size, the stock suspension's a bit stiff. We worked with Schmidt

00:28 last year on our '21, which is basically the same exact bike, and he got it a lot better.

00:32 So we even changed some more settings for this year. So we have some different settings

00:36 in here that are a little softer, more plush on the suspension. That's what we wanted to

00:40 address right away. And then, so while we were messing with that, we kept the engine

00:43 mods real simple just with a high compression piston, no mods at porting or any of that

00:48 stuff. And then we have a Vortex ECU from Jamie at Twisted. So we have that on here.

00:53 ICW modified the radiators to make them stronger in the event of a crash so you don't have

00:57 to run any braces. And kind of kept those with an FMF pipe, of course, as the main mods.

01:02 And then as far as the clutch, got a Henson plates in there, and they're stiffer springs.

01:07 We've got the plates and springs, a lot stronger than stock, more durable. And with the FMF,

01:13 it's just a stainless system with an aluminum muffler, which is more cost effective. And

01:18 this one's actually refurbished from last year. Deep down in there, you can see a few

01:20 little scratches in there. And so got it cleaned up for this year. Stuff's a little harder

01:24 to find. So we've been cleaning up some other stuff to make it look good.

01:28 Absolutely. And then chain sprockets and controls, right?

01:32 Oh, yeah. So we got the CFT ODI bars, the Champman. And I used to only run crossbar

01:38 style bars, and I've been running these a little bit more. And I'm noticing they do

01:42 flex more than the older style bars, big bars from other companies. And so been liking that.

01:49 And I kind of like the crossbar up here. So I've been playing with this a little bit more

01:52 and I'm liking that. And for grips, new for Motion Pro are lock-on grips. And these are

01:57 made by ODI. So no big secret there. Their logo's right there. But it's got the Motion

02:01 Pro kind of material and feel to them. And so I'm really liking those grips and working

02:06 with ODI and Motion Pro is kind of cool as well. So we've got that set up there. And

02:11 then Pro X chain and sprocket. We've got their X-ring chain and rear and front sprocket on

02:18 here. And we've got that mounted up on the stock wheels. The bike was pretty new, so

02:23 the stock wheels still look good. So we've got the MX-12 on the rear. So you'll have

02:27 fun here at Cuyah in this kind of more sandy conditions. And then MX-33 up front on this

02:32 thing to really grab well in all kinds of terrain out here. And we have our Raptor foot

02:37 pegs, which are good titanium foot pegs, really nice and sharp and give you a good footprint

02:42 on the bike. And got some good work connection little bits, the rotating bar mounts that

02:45 helps in case of a crash. These bits will spin a little bit more instead of maybe bending

02:51 a lever, breaking a lever off. Absolutely. And then a worst connection hole shot device

02:55 just in case you encounter any dirt starts, right? Yeah, in case I decide I want to go

02:59 race, right? But so the Pro Launch device on these from Kawasaki that Worst Connection

03:05 makes for these bikes. Most of the top teams are running this Pro Launch device because

03:11 it's a lot simpler, lighter, you know, simple system. And that's one of the things that

03:16 a lot of the teams like about that team Honda runs on the Star guys. A lot of those teams

03:20 are running that launch device. So it works really well. I don't race enough to matter.

03:23 So I just run it once in a while. And it definitely look cool for sure. Absolutely. Definitely

03:30 adds as you said to look at the bike and uni filter to correct. Of course, got our two

03:34 stage uni filter. We still have the backfire screen in here. Haven't come up with a good

03:39 Santa way to modify this one is not a two stroke cage. That's something we'll probably

03:43 mess with in the future. Sounds great, man. Well, I am a huge fan of Kawasaki's KX 450.

03:49 And this bike, as you mentioned earlier, definitely has a lot of potential in stock form. So I'm

03:53 looking forward to seeing how these mods add up. Yeah, the stock muffler, the bike runs

03:57 pretty good. The stock muffler is pretty raspy. It's not that it's just loud, but it kind

04:01 of hurts your ears. And so the FMF on there kind of gives it a better tone and doesn't

04:06 you know, hurts your head as you're riding. So that that's a nice sound right away. You'll

04:09 notice. Absolutely, man. Well, I can leave the earplugs of the truck and I'm looking

04:13 forward to riding this thing. We'll go spend some laps on it and get back to you guys a

04:16 little later.

04:17 [Music]

04:37 [Music]

04:51 [Music]

05:11 [Music]

05:33 All right, so we just finished up a ride on Jay Clark's Kawasaki KX 250. And all in all,

05:39 the changes he made to it were improvements. The engine, I would say is still like the

05:45 standard Kawasaki KX 250 powerplant where you really have to rev, rev the heck out of

05:50 it to get the most out of it. It's a really high revving engine and it just pulls forever.

05:55 So that character was retained, but I found myself mostly in second and third gear. I

06:00 was really able to stretch out second gear. But at the same time, in some of the wider,

06:05 a little more flowing corners, I was able to pull third just with a little bit of clutch

06:09 work, but nothing too crazy as far as clutch abuse. So that was impressive. As far as the

06:14 suspension, the fork was definitely better than stock. Schmidt going through it, it just

06:22 had a softer plusher overall feel, whereas stock it's a little stiff and harsh feeling.

06:28 So that was definitely an improvement. Didn't make a whole lot of changes to that. Just

06:33 kind of set it and forget it. So suspension was great. Chassis wise, the KX 250 is just

06:38 so awesome right out of the box. It's really stable, but it still corners pretty darn well

06:43 too. And ergonomics on this bike are awesome. Jay kind of retained the, mostly the stock

06:48 ergos, which like I said, is great because the stock ergos are so agreeable. So anyway,

06:56 overall, this was definitely a fun project to test. And in our shootout, this bike didn't

07:02 fare the best, but I think this proves that with some minor modifications, like a suspension

07:06 revalve and just perhaps like an ECU and some tuning to it, this bike can be made a lot

07:12 better and be very competitive for a broader range of riders. So all in all, had a lot

07:17 of fun on it, was very impressed with it. And we're looking forward to the next one.

07:21 Thank you all for tuning in. If you're watching this video on the Dirt Rider YouTube channel,

07:26 be sure to like, comment and subscribe. And if you haven't done so already, check out

07:30 the full story on DirtRider.com.

07:32 [00:05:59] [END OF AUDIO]

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