2022 Kawasaki KX250 Project Bike Riding Impression

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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

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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]