First off road test for the big bored Kawasaki KLX 150 BF

[KTMphil]

It was all together, it had been tested on the road for 150 km and hadn't shown any signs of wanting to blow up, so now time to test the KLX 150 BF with the 219cc piston off road.


P1040006 by Triangle Golden 007, on Flickr


Needed somewhere reasonably hard to get the bike high revving and hot to see if the extra load without increasing the oil capacity (the bike is air (oil) cooled) would cause it to overheat. From Somoeng there's a few trails that run south towards Mae Wang with some single track sections, these would be perfect to test the bike out and not too remote if it blew up.


The River bed trail has got some nice, steep single track bits as you come out of the stream crossings, this would get the engine nice and hot and see if its up to the job for long trips.


Mae Wang area

 

[Capss]

Re: First off road test for the big bored Kawaski KLX 150 BF

hope we find out what happened to the indicator, and you are ok, looks like is just come out the housing?

Wayne

 

[KTMphil]

Re: First off road test for the big bored Kawaski KLX 150 BF

The Kawasaki KLX 150 BF has a 7 liter fuel tank. With the piston, Honda carb., camshaft & ECU modifications, the fuel range was still a mystery. When delivered we didnt know if it had been filled up, this was the second tank of gas. Being a carb. bike, there is a reserve/ valve cock arrangement so some degree of safety.

Until this was calibrated, I took a liter of fuel with me. If you remove the Kawa "tool box" from the left side, it makes an excellent fixing point for a 1 liter MSR fuel bottle and is outboard of the real wheel. (More on the rear left turn signal later).

klx fuel bottle by Triangle Golden 007, on Flickr

 

[KTMphil]

Re: First off road test for the big bored Kawaski KLX 150 BF

The River Bed trail is a fun 250cc bike run. Lots of in-and-out of streams only possible in dry season. The banks on the exit can be quite steep, putting on the gas to get out is quite a kick.

As you enter, there's double track for about 1km with cabbage gardens.


P1040002 by Triangle Golden 007, on Flickr



The bike hadnt been dropped, I think this is where the rear turn signal came off (this was returning)


P1040007 by Triangle Golden 007, on Flickr




About 6km south, there is a massive tree blocking the single trail


P1040006 by Triangle Golden 007, on Flickr



As you can see the diameter was more than the front wheel


P1040004 by Triangle Golden 007, on Flickr



Alone, I gave it a shot with a man made ramp, ended up scratching the bike. Maybe more ahead and have to come back over this monster so turned back.


P1040005 by Triangle Golden 007, on Flickr

 

[KTMphil]

Re: First off road test for the big bored Kawaski KLX 150 BF

There's another great trail, further west, that runs south towards Mae Wang, with lots of beautiful single track (intersects with the River Bed trail). so not the end of the world.


chkns tby by Triangle Golden 007, on Flickr



The trail south is a exhilarating single track ride on this trail, you pass some unusual bridges


P1040008 by Triangle Golden 007, on Flickr



Lots of this kind of stuff, single track but you dont feel too unsafe


P1040009_edited by Triangle Golden 007, on Flickr



Some beautiful forest stuff as you approach Mae Wang region


P1040010_edited by Triangle Golden 007, on Flickr



P1040011_edited by Triangle Golden 007, on Flickr



P1040012_edited by Triangle Golden 007, on Flickr

 

[KTMphil]

Re: First off road test for the big bored Kawaski KLX 150 BF

So what can you say about this bike and setup (Kawasaki KLX 150 BF with 220cc conversion)

Retail price of this bike is 87,000 Bht
Conversion 220cc + carb, cams, ecu & exhaust is 33,000 Bht

Total cost = 120,000 Bht


Legal ( we'll get to that later), air cooled (no complicated cooling system, just proved it wont overheat), weighs only 115KG.


1454249429968.jpg by Triangle Golden 007, on Flickr



Other options

A Kawaski KLX 250 is 155,000 Bht & is around 135 KG ( & a cooling system to deal with)

A Honda CRF 250 L is 140,000 Bht & is 138KG ( & a cooling system to deal with)


Legally imported Husqvarna & KTM off road motorcycles are 500,000 to 580,000 Bht, so it doesnt take a genius to see the price comparison. They are dream machines but legally come at a huge cost with high maintenance. There's several riders in Chiang Mai who's KTM's are broken more than they are ever working.

There's a few here who have illegal exotic off road motorcycles that have been smuggled into Thailand. You can't go to Laos/ cross borders with a bike like this. Its impossible to get the bike legal here now, ban on grey imports. If you piss someone off and Thai Customs show up at your house you have a major financial problem with the illegal bike/ bikes - 2 x KTM's they will want 1,000,000 Bht from you or deported.



So trying to explore the legal options to make a fun off road bike, this was an experiment. It looks like it works especially for shorter people giving a lot more confidence to commit to single track switchbacks, giving it power out of tricky turns. It does need bar riders. I felt like i was doing hand stands on the bars standing up being a smaller frame than the 250's. The power increase especially torque, no stalling in the wrong gear and would pull out was amazing. With the 150 BF version having 18" & 21" wheels the ride is pretty good. BNS Burning shop say they have rear Ohlin shock for 9,000 Bht, must be a copy at that price, I will go investigate now it looks like this setup works. There is substantial vibration over 80km/ hr on the bars on the road, it feels like engine related and not wheels/ tires, one big negative.

Overall, for a legal bike in Thailand for nasty trails, this looks like an interesting option.

 

[Captain_Slash]

When I looked at the Ohlins website a rear shock for my 150 was only about 10,500 Baht Phil.

Glad to hear you are impressed with it

 

[CraigBKK]

http://www.ohlinsasia.com/product/pro_detail.php?cid=9&cid_pr=9&pid=77&cname=KAWASAKI&show=0

 

[KTMphil]

I think im going to put one on now its staying.

 

[bsacbob]

You switched out the stock muffler Phil ?

 

[KTMphil]

You switched out the stock muffler Phil ?

Its an after market full system. It's way too loud, they are going to try muffle it.

 

[lakota]

have you looked into what's available tire wise and Gearing ?

 

[Captain_Slash]

Lots of gearing possibilities, mine was 15/43 standard, then I went 14/44 and now its 14/47

 

[KTMphil]

Lots of gearing possibilities, mine was 15/43 standard, then I went 14/44 and now its 14/47

With that gearing will it sit at 90 km/hr on the road without screaming?

 

[Captain_Slash]

It will be screaming at 90 Phil, you wouldn't need to go that low geared with your extra capacity.

Are you running the standard gearing on yours?

 

[KTMphil]

It will be screaming at 90 Phil, you wouldn't need to go that low geared with your extra capacity.

Are you running the standard gearing on yours?

Not going to mess with gearing for a while. It got out of some nasty steep river bank exits wheelie-ing the front wheel, so need to get a feel of how big a rear cog it needs without destroying cruising speed.