KLR250 thread

[1994klr250]

Here's a link to the pegs that I made for my KLR250. Much better than the stock pegs.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=591333

[ECDLTF]

Congratulations are your new-to-you KLR 250I have a 2000 as well that I bought a few months ago with under 1600 miles. I've installed a Ricochet skid plate after the first spill I took that tore the radiator hose. I changed the coolant and oil. I have to install the following: Pro Taper ATV SE High handlebars, 13 tooth sprocket, Parts Unlimited X-ring chain (Japan), Pro Grip 737 grips, Acerbis Rally Pro hand guards, Kenda 130/90 21 and Pirelli Scorpion tires, IRC heavy duty tubes, and new rim strips. I did some research on the web and it seems that KLR250 owners have had good luck with these aftermarket parts and accessories. I haven't have the time, and I'm a new to motorcycles, so I might pay a shade-tree mechanic to do the work. Have fun with your new bike!

Originally Posted by Merle O'Broham

Hi all, just picked up a mini klr- a 2000 bone stock with 2660 miles, tires still with nips. Dollop of SeaFoam through the system and it's good to go. Great little scoot-around bike!

now to get to it- suspension, bars, heated grips, rack, windshield, lighting, on and on.....!

[ECDLTF]

You did a great job on your foot pegs! I'd like to get some wider pegs, but I don't have the welding skill. I might get some of those peg wideners that can be welded on the stock pegs. I know someone who has a TIG or MIG welder.

Originally Posted by 1994klr250

Here's a link to the pegs that I made for my KLR250. Much better than the stock pegs.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=591333

[Jeremiah]

Originally Posted by Merle O'Broham

Hi all, just picked up a mini klr- a 2000 bone stock with 2660 miles, tires still with nips. Dollop of SeaFoam through the system and it's good to go. Great little scoot-around bike!

now to get to it- suspension, bars, heated grips, rack, windshield, lighting, on and on.....!

Nice Grab! The "mini's" are good reliable runners. Picked one up 2 years ago from an inmate 7500 miles later still running strong. Just returned from a 5 day trip down the side roads of PA.

Just check the valves!!! Only issues I have ever heard is when they are ignored.

[Merle O'Broham]

Originally Posted by Jeremiah

Nice Grab! The "mini's" are good reliable runners. Picked one up 2 years ago from an inmate 7500 miles later still running strong. Just returned from a 5 day trip down the side roads of PA.

Just check the valves!!! Only issues I have ever heard is when they are ignored.

Thanks fellas. I took it on a good shakedown ride last night- city streets, suburban roads, interstate. Pretty peppy commuter as long as the rpm's are kept up, GPS indicated 75.4 on I80 hauling my old 210 lb. ass. Not bad as far as high speed stability. On the highway the little klr is about equal to my KTM, better than my old DRZ-E (aggressive knobs on both). I notice that the wheels have no balance weights on them- yet. The seat will get new reshaped and stiffer foam. It slides me too much forward into the tank. Valve check soon.

ECDLTF- all those things you're doing are great first time DIY projects- there's nothing too tricky about any of those mods (cept maybe changing tires for the first time). WYSIWYG. Thanks and good luck!

[Outwardbound]

My 250 was making nasty clacking noises from the top end. Checked and rechecked the valves...all in spec. Pulled the KACR, no change (other than the effort to kickstart). In desperation replaced the cam chain tensioner and exhaust cam.No change....Sheesh....

Yesterday changed the exhaust cam follower; the thing that actuates the ex. valves. The face was galled and scarred, making too much clearance with the lobe of the cam. Hence the racket. Now it sounds like new !

KLR's have notoriously weak cam-lobe hardening, and are prone to cam-face galling. I've heard the same noise in other 250's and have heard people say that a noisy top-end is typical from this bike. The lesson I learned is to always replace the follower with the cam as a matched set. It's an easy fix !

[3DChief]

Help! Although I know this has been beat to death and I have read about 20 different pages on how to adjust the valves on my 1999 KLR 250, I am still having problems. I have followed the detailed directions and when it gets to the actual "adjusting" part, there are no details. It just says adjust the valves to between .008" and .009".When I have the timing mark lined up and the cam lobes are opposite of the valves, there is some play in the arm that holds the adjusters on both the intake and exhaust side. How do I adjust them when as soon as I put the feeler gauge in, the adjuster moves up slightly? There is a few thousandths play between the arm that connects the adjusters and the cam surface.

I have had the thing apart 4 times in the past week and it runs with no top end noise, but I am concerned that I don't have them adjusted correctly and don't want to ruin my engine. I want to take it out this weekend, but I'm not riding it anywhere until I figure this out!

[XDragRacer]

Originally Posted by 3DChief

I am concerned that I don't have them adjusted correctly and don't want to ruin my engine. I want to take it out this weekend, but I'm not riding it anywhere until I figure this out!

Fear not; if you adjusted your valve clearances (as in, loosen lock-nut; adjust clearance with screw and feeler gauge; re-tighten lock-nut and re-check clearance) at piston TDC (there's a "lazy T" mark on the rotor, I think) between the compression and power strokes (NOT between the exhaust and intake strokes), DON'T WORRY ABOUT ANY SIDE-TO-SIDE PLAY IN THE ROCKERS.

KLR250's remain rather low-maintenance machines.

As to farkling the KLR250; just installed Progressive fork springs; improved off-road performance . . . and my Eagle Mike 1.5" handlebar risers improve standing ergonomics, for me . . .

[3DChief]

Sweet! I appreciate the assistance! I agree, mine has taken more abuse than most. Of 6300 miles, over 4000 miles are off-road single track and glacial silt. It has been completely submerged in a river 1/4 mile from a glacier (Brrrr!) in Alaska, ridden in 100 F+ heat in both Hawaii and Virginia, over the Going to the Sun Hwy and all the dirt roads we could find at Glacier NP, logging roads in WA and OR, and now gets thrashed regularly on NorCal twisty roads. The wife and I are getting ready to do a two week DS trip to Utah in September , so I am trying to make sure this thing is ready to go!

[Half-a-Jeep]

Hello all, about 2 weeks ago I got my first motorcycle ever: a 1999 KLR250 (the blue-green year) with only 1,300 miles. I've been riding it around town and the surrounding countryside, and I have a great newbie question for all you other KLR Jr. owners: How can you tell if the noise, rattle, buzzing, shaking, etc is normal or should be looked into? The roads around here are far from perfect, so I can't tell if that slight chugging feeling is frost-heave or a fuel problem, or if that loss of power is a slight upgrade or something worse. Am I supposed to hear the chain rubbing on those plastic pieces around the swing arm and kickstand? (I adjusted it to within spec, and it still rubs.) Is it shaking more violently at 6+ rpm because of harmonics or is something bad about to happen? Basically, without the aid of idiot lights or experience, how am I supposed to know if something is about to go wrong?

[Pigford]

Originally Posted by Half-a-Jeep

Hello all, about 2 weeks ago I got my first motorcycle ever: a 1999 KLR250 (the blue-green year) with only 1,300 miles. I've been riding it around town and the surrounding countryside, and I have a great newbie question for all you other KLR Jr. owners: How can you tell if the noise, rattle, buzzing, shaking, etc is normal or should be looked into? The roads around here are far from perfect, so I can't tell if that slight chugging feeling is frost-heave or a fuel problem, or if that loss of power is a slight upgrade or something worse. Am I supposed to hear the chain rubbing on those plastic pieces around the swing arm and kickstand? (I adjusted it to within spec, and it still rubs.) Is it shaking more violently at 6+ rpm because of harmonics or is something bad about to happen? Basically, without the aid of idiot lights or experience, how am I supposed to know if something is about to go wrong?

Get a "seasoned" biker to check it out for you - or your local (recommended) bike shop

[Outwardbound]

My klr (lower case for 250) has begun leaking gas out of the carb bowl drain hose. WTF??? If I shut off the petcock and drain the float bowl, it doesn't leak. (Hence, not the petcock leaking). If the carb float was leaking I suspect gas would flow out of the carb into the airbox; the carb bowl drain is simply there to drain the float bowl, right ? I open the allen screw bowl-drain valve and fuel flows out till the bowl is empty, then quits: another indication the carb float valve is sealing properly.

I've never heard of the shut-off screw leaking. It's dirt simple (right ?)

Anyone crossed this bridge before and can bring me up-to-speed ?

[Half-a-Jeep]

Short answer: yep, that's what it does when it overflows.

Some carbs have a small aluminum overflow tube inside the bowl. The overflow tube sticks straight up from near the drain screw and tucks between the jets when it's assembled. If the bowl overfills, fuel bypasses the drain screw and goes straight out the drain. Mine cracked at the base when I removed the bowl (it is really thin aluminum and isn't braced or supported anywhere) so it was leaking out the drain as if I had not tightened the screw.

This site has a picture of what I'm talking about (he didn't have an overflow, so he made one from copper):
http://web.ncf.ca/ag136/floatDrainTubes.htm

My guess: something is wrong with the floats or the float valve, causing it to overflow, or you cracked it the last time you disassembled the carb, like I did.

[tankster64]

just had same problem in a little CRF 100. Float valve was stuck. Causing bowl to fill and gas to run into top of overflow tube and out the drain line.
Never been inside the carb on my klr. But the bowl on the CRF looks just like the one in the picture from link above

[XDragRacer]

Originally Posted by Outwardbound

If the carb float was leaking I suspect gas would flow out of the carb into the airbox; the carb bowl drain is simply there to drain the float bowl, right ?

Uh, "wrong," I think.

The non-vacuum-operated, gravity-feed petcock KLR250 scheme (unlike the vacuum-operated petcock scenario on a KLR650) with its CVK34 carburetor, uses a dump tube for both float bowl draining AND fuel overflow, IMHO.

Improper float valve and/or float valve seat seal results in fuel puking out the dump tube.

Chances are, trash in float bowl compromises float valve seal. Long shot: punctured float.

Suggestion: Drop float bowl, clean float valve and float valve seat. Valve should be pointy, but pliable. Make sure float holds air; float height can be checked without carb disassembly with a length of transparent hose (connect to dump tube spigot, bend into "U" shape, open drain screw and observe meniscus; should be about the level of the carb body/float bowl interface).