<FU KING CHINESE>
This is the actual sign of a Chinese restaurant located on Hwy 41.
Luckily, the KLX250S is made in Japan--not China.
David came to visit from Texas and we ended up at Hap's Motorcycle Museum. It isn't on a map, so don't look for it. It's located inside a motorcycle dealership—Hap's BMW / Triumph / Honda dealership in Sarasota, Florida.
My camera hiccupped, so I lost all photos from January through the photos of the bike on day one. I'll be taking more photos soon. Until then, picture a bike that looks like this, but is green:
That is the Muskie Bucket, by the way, the centerpiece of a park honoring the lost art of strip mining coal.
Back to top of page
Here are the KLX photos, finally.
That's the detrius from the first chain cleaning. I use an old fashioned oil can with WD-40 to get the chain all nice and wet. Then I turn the wheel by hand and clean off gunk. More WD-40. More wiping. Usually I lube with 90-weight, but I'm using up this can of chain wax. There are almost as many threads on forums about chain lube methods as there are about oil. Any lube is better than no lube, and cleaning is a good thing. what the heck. My first mod is visible in this photo. I'll come back to it later. Muy importante.
That's a Suzuki DR350 hiding over behind the Goat. She's destined to go away soon; however, the DR350 is one heck of a nice dual sport bike.
Right side view. Hey! that stand I got the idea for off of ADV. Turned one way it's perfect for the KLX and the DR. (Made for the DR and just worked out fine for the KLX, too). Turned the other way it's going to be perfect for the KLR... once I angle grind off a little more of the steel. THEN I'll paint it.
The little rack is perfect for winding up this cable. The Kryptonite lock can attach it securely to the side of the frame. This little bike would be simple to lift and throw in the back of someone's pickup truck. Therefore, here in the big city it's nice to have preventive measures close at hand.
From 1,480 a few days ago, and just 56.8 on this tank of gas. She got 62 sMiles to the gallon in my first tank. That was the ride home at speeds up to indicated 75 MPH and around town with lots of choke-on warmups. I'm pleased so far. (This is one cold-natured girl. Give her a half-hour at rest and it's choke time.)
Ah, you couldn't see the old WD-40 can in the first pic. Here it is. It belonged to Dad, no longer with us. <Hats off to the WWII vets, living and dead.>
I'll have more photos later, including the process of the first mod, to upload later.
Aha! Here are the earlier photos. This is another view of the right side of this geeee-orgeous bike. In this one you can clearly see a strap going across the seat. I suppose it was originally designed to be a grab strap for a passenger--but only if it were some you were highly intimate with and, then, only if the rider has a smidgen less ham muscle than me. In my case it just managed to be uncomfortable when I sat back comfortably on the seat.
More green beauty. Hey, I haven't mentioned why she's the Green Goat, have I? Well, originally the bike of choice was a Serow, which is the nickname for the Yamaha XT225 and the Yamaha XT250. A serow is a mountain goat. Another bike that was in the running until I saw one sitting directly beside a KLX250S, was the Kawasaki Super Sherpa. A sherpa is a mountain goat. I've owned several Kawasakis over the years; however, I have never had one in the Team Green color before. If a Super Sherpa and a Serow deserve to be named after nimble animals, then the KLX250S more than deserves it. Green. Goat. It's as natural as the smile on a baby's face. Green Goat.
Well the seat isn't too bad, but that strap's gotta go... pronto!!!
Hmmmmmmm. I could have been careful and saved the strap by removing the seat. But April 15 was approaching. I was busy and tired. Besides, I'm a knife-toting redneck. Can't you see this coming??
That's a Spyderco Barong. It's one of the two best Spyderco knives I've ever held in my hands.
VG-10 stainless steel.
Olive drab G-10 handle material.
Designed by Ed Schemp and based on a Philippine knife by a similar name.
Nice leaf-shaped blade.
Choil big enough to "choke up" on with one finger.
Sharp blade→none of those ugly serrations.
Did I mention sharp? VG-10 stainless will hold an edge very well.
One quick slice is all it takes.
A bit of a quick slice on the other side. Done. Now you have the first modification I made to the Green Goat.
I promise that later I'll remove the tag ends of the strap. There are more mods to come. In fact, anyone interested in these bikes should already be familiar with the Kawa forums and the ADV site, but I'll skip to some links.
ADVRider KLX250S LT Test ThreadAs of the date of this update, the KLX thread has grown to 231 pages. Tomorrow, it'll be more. Great bikes develop a large following, and the KLX is a great bike.
Kawasaki's all-time best seller is, was, and probably will be, in the near future, the Ninja 250. The 250 cc class bikes aren't really ignored so much as they are scoffed at by less-experienced and cruiser-type riders who don't appreciate the versatility, durability, and fun-factor of the small bikes. The rest of us love 'em. If you're a dual sport person at heart, then you almost have to have a 250 in the stable. As my friend David Stafford is fond of saying, "It's more fun to ride a slow bike fast than to ride a fast bike slow."
ADV_KLX250 ModsThis takes you straight to a post with links to various modifications and other information. There are hours and hours worth of reading in these links, most of which are in the KLX250S long-term test thread. Amazingly, these links were put together by some poster named 5pointer who only posted 3 times. What a heck of a nice post to have been one of three.
