KLR250 thread

My experience: Stiffer clutch springs require extra effort disengaging the clutch.

Too much for you to grab? An inmate sells a clutch engagement lever (the one down there with the clutch cases) with additional leverage compared to stock; fits KLR650s, don't know about 250 fitment. Some forum member may provide you with contact information regarding the vendor; can't recall, myself.

yes there is a slight difference.. a lil more stiff but worth the pressure as my clutch would slip in the higher rpm range... yea I was also one of Greg last customers.. the head work he did for my KLR help to make it what it is today... I have the higher lift/duration earlier model cams in mine as well.. you will need the cam caps from the earlier model as well.. I remember Greg said something about how the 330 kits made too much heat and that 's one of the reasons he stop doing them.. He said that when you go up in diameter with your bore the rpm range in which you make your more decreases because of the cylinder head being for a 250...

Down to a 38T.....

I wanna go there. Please report how it runs.

Let us know whether the higher (lower numeric) drive ratio tends to lug the engine, or requires feathering the clutch often.

On the 38T rear, it's not bad.
Don't expect to get over 15kmh over the 44T.
The goal was to keep with traffic on a lower rpm, goal achieved!

My worst fear was the 1st gear being too tall, not a problem yet.. (2 days of use).
It's like having an 7th gear, if you keep on trying to gear up in 6th (like I used to) it's an great option...

Keep in mind that I'm using the bike as a daily, not offroading!
For a daily it's great, other than that forget it.

My speedo cable is broken, when it arrives (Corona is making shipping slooooow where I live) I'll post an accurate b4 and after relation of rpm and km, but the GPS on the phone says that 92@9500 VS 105@9500

PS: I think I could even get away with an 36T on straight highway...

PS2: sprocket is an "JT Rear Sprocket 38T 520P JTR487.38 Steel Kawasaki KLR 650 C 2001" of ebay, which I had to drill new holes on (it was an 8lug sprocket)...
I forgot about that detail...

Thanks for letting us know how that 38 tooth rear worked. I was wondering where you found a 38 tooth to fit the klr. Just wondering why you went with a rear sprocket change? I know that usually going down three teeth on the rear is equal going up one tooth on the front. I see JT sprockets makes a 16 tooth JTF516, did you consider doing a front sprocket swap?

The sprocket is not ment for the 250, I had to drill the holes since it's an 8 bold and the 250 is 6 (I didn't even noticed that, I was focusing on the diameter of the center hole).
I didn't want to swap the front for 4 reasons:
-The more I look at the front the more I remember that I have to split the engine just to change the shaft seal... Not wanting to do that now...
- It looks like there's no more room for an bigger one (I could be wrong)
- it's easier on the rear to change, in the sense that even if you change the front you have to move the rear to tension the chain...
- I bumped into that sprocket on ebay and it was cheap...

BTW, I went -6 on the rear, by your calculations that would mean an +2 (17) on the front... Would that even be possible?

I run a lot of pavement so a couple of years ago I got the 16 tooth front sprocket. I like it for my riding style. I put about 10,000 miles on it that way and decided to put a 41 tooth rear sprocket. So it was 16-41.
If the wind was favourable, it was quite nice, but I spent a lot of time in 5th gear.
I wore out that rear, and I'm back at 16-44 where I think I'm going to stay.

This is very useful to me. I'm setting up my 250 for touring, focusing on dirt roads (BDR & etc). But I'll have a lot of tarmac connections. So I'll go with 75:25 dirt tires, a trials front fender, and higher gearing. Basically, I want the suspension, light weight, and clearance to handle rough roads. I'm very curious to see how it works out.
And don't worry, I have another d/s for knobby riding.

After doing my KLR's first oil change, I now get a wonderful dripping oil drain plug! I did use some seafoam engine cleaner in the crankcase to loosen any deposits, but I don't think it should be leaking as much as it is right now because of that. I have not got a torque wrench so just did it medium tight as I'm nervous to thread the hole.

I did use a new metal washer, from the look of the plug itself it does not appear to be a standard one:



I called up local kawasaki dealer to get hold of what I thought was correct default drain plug - which does not use a crush washer but a big rubber o ring in that recess instead:
part number 920661156


But he then tells me for my 1987 KLR250 (1985 engine) the part should be 920661174, which uses a standard crush washer of some sort:


what drain plug have you guys got on yours? and which one do you think I should go for? - I have a feeling the one that uses a rubber o-ring will be more reliable at preventing drips, but it seems slightly wider so I hope it will fit.

Both my 2004 and 1990 use the standard crush washer and do not leak. I've done the oil about 15 times on the 2004 and I keep saying I'm going to get a new plug and washer, but I haven't so far.
I have read of a number of stripped threads so I am very careful to leave it 'under tightened'. I generally check it by hand a couple of times over the next 100km to make sure I haven't been overly cautious. It always seems to have tightened up by the next oil change.

Hi all. If no one has figured out what tank this is, it's an Acerbis fuel tank for the KLR 600.
Very rare according to my research.

Thats a good looking bike whats the front look like?

Sadly I have ridden mine once this year. Hard to bring my self to sell it though.

Unfortunately, this is not my bike, so don't have any idea.

Not sure if posting for sale here is right or not or just flea market, but wanted get out that I am parting out a 96. Mostly intact, never ran great kepted a few parts for my 89 but time to clear up the garage. Might break it down for ebay.

so.. I riding the "Killah" the other day and notice my speedometer reaction was slower than I was use to seeing.. I'm wonder if the speedometer is going out.. anybody else ever experience this? thinking about getting one from ebay.. rebuild the existing one to keep the mileage true.. the manual has a break down of the cluster but doesn't go in to any detail for a tear down of the speedometer..

No "sales pitch" (no commission!), but . . . have you considered bolting on the Trail Tech Vapor gadget?

I think somewhere back there similar problems related to bad grounding. Could also be thicker grease and a failing gear in the fork side.