Should I buy a left over KX450? The answer is yes!

jeffro503
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jeffro503 4/15/2017 10:50am
4/15/2017 10:50am
mingham97 wrote:
Was following your build in the other thread. It was a great build and would love to see more like that so props to you. But...
Was following your build in the other thread. It was a great build and would love to see more like that so props to you. But I feel like that is adequate grease, you also gotta consider how much left is is the steering stem. Think about it from the MFG point of view...is it worth saving $5 worth of grease to risk have the customer back in 10 hours upset because all of their bearings need replacing??
Well for one , the little grease you see there was basically just slapped on there and was only on certain parts of the bearing. We rubbed it around when we spun the bearing. And two....I don't even think it's grease! It's like Vaseline. Almost like a damn lip balm. It's not the cost of the grease ( in the quantities they buy ) it's probably a $1.00 worth of grease to do an entire bike. It's the fact that they don't want the bikes squeaking on the show room floor. The manufacture's now days are just to lazy to do it correctly.

I mean hell......you just paid paid $6,000 - $12,000 for a new bike.....why not take an afternoon to learn how that new bike works and is put together ? Make sure she's all greased correctly....because it'll save you a huge head ache pressing all those bad bearing out in 4 months.
jeffro503
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jeffro503 4/15/2017 10:51am
4/15/2017 10:51am
OH....Btw way JBecker....congrats on that new Kawi 450!! You'll love that thing! I was bummed I sold my dang near new one , but it went to a good home / buddy...BVM111 on here.
Rockinar
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Rockinar 4/15/2017 7:26pm
4/15/2017 7:26pm
jeffro503 wrote:
OH....Btw way JBecker....congrats on that new Kawi 450!! You'll love that thing! I was bummed I sold my dang near new one , but it went...
OH....Btw way JBecker....congrats on that new Kawi 450!! You'll love that thing! I was bummed I sold my dang near new one , but it went to a good home / buddy...BVM111 on here.
How do you like the 125?
JBecker 72
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JBecker 72 4/15/2017 9:45pm
4/15/2017 9:45pm
jeffro503 wrote:
OH....Btw way JBecker....congrats on that new Kawi 450!! You'll love that thing! I was bummed I sold my dang near new one , but it went...
OH....Btw way JBecker....congrats on that new Kawi 450!! You'll love that thing! I was bummed I sold my dang near new one , but it went to a good home / buddy...BVM111 on here.
I'll find out tomorrow. Finished the break in around the yard today. Changed the oil and filter, took off all the warning stickers, moved the bars forward and the pegs down, and shined up the plastic a bit. The suspension feels pretty decent off the little bumps I've hit so far, but tomorrow I'm sure I'll be playing with the forks a bit.

She sure is good looking.

The Shop

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jeffro503
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jeffro503 4/15/2017 11:07pm
4/15/2017 11:07pm
jeffro503 wrote:
OH....Btw way JBecker....congrats on that new Kawi 450!! You'll love that thing! I was bummed I sold my dang near new one , but it went...
OH....Btw way JBecker....congrats on that new Kawi 450!! You'll love that thing! I was bummed I sold my dang near new one , but it went to a good home / buddy...BVM111 on here.
Rockinar wrote:
How do you like the 125?
Haven't ridden that bike yet. Waiting for a proper Mx track to open up before I go break it in. I'm riding all day tomorrow on my RM but it's on a crappy sand track. It's coming soon though.
305FC250
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305FC250 4/16/2017 4:19am
4/16/2017 4:19am
coastlinecascot wrote:
Do you have to send it in to remap. Or can you get a tuner or software to do it yourself with the
mxb2 wrote:
You can do both, remap. Or a vortex, or. Use the kawy tool.
I think the Kawasaki tuning tool only supports up to 2014 or 2015 if I'm not mistaken. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Bazzaz tuning also seems to be a good option. It piggy backs onto the stock ECU and although it doesn't have quite the extent of tunability it is much much much cheaper than a Vortex or GET and still provides good results. Doesn't seem like a lot of people know about them but the few times they've been mentioned on here and other forums it's always positive stuff.
mxb2
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mxb2 4/16/2017 6:31am
4/16/2017 6:31am
coastlinecascot wrote:
Do you have to send it in to remap. Or can you get a tuner or software to do it yourself with the
mxb2 wrote:
You can do both, remap. Or a vortex, or. Use the kawy tool.
305FC250 wrote:
I think the Kawasaki tuning tool only supports up to 2014 or 2015 if I'm not mistaken. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Bazzaz tuning also...
I think the Kawasaki tuning tool only supports up to 2014 or 2015 if I'm not mistaken. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Bazzaz tuning also seems to be a good option. It piggy backs onto the stock ECU and although it doesn't have quite the extent of tunability it is much much much cheaper than a Vortex or GET and still provides good results. Doesn't seem like a lot of people know about them but the few times they've been mentioned on here and other forums it's always positive stuff.
They have a tuner for the current kawys, about $700,. Pretty close to get,vortex price. Or just get it remapped for $75-90. A few options. The parts are easy resale, the remap pretty much. Use it and be done with it.
DC323
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DC323 4/16/2017 8:59am
4/16/2017 8:59am
I rode a new KX450F yesterday. I haven't ridden any of the other new age 450's... so nothing to compare it to other than my previous 13' RMZ450 and 2008 KX450F.

The new KX was sweet. I was amazed at how thin and nimble it felt. It cornered and had sharp handling. The power was super smooth and powerful. Seems like an awesome bike. Congrats!
JoJmoto
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JoJmoto 4/16/2017 11:42am
4/16/2017 11:42am
Rockinar wrote:
I just bought a brand new leftover 15' 250F today. Its my first 4 stroke. Never even ridden an F bike before. Gonna test it tomorrow...
I just bought a brand new leftover 15' 250F today. Its my first 4 stroke. Never even ridden an F bike before. Gonna test it tomorrow and see what I think. If it does not "WOW" me, I'm going to turn around and sell it and go back to my 16 year old 125 2 stroke. I'm curious to know why out of 25 bikes at the track, I'm probably 1 of 3 two strokes and the only 125. It may be old and slow. But something about the old, vibrating and smokey 125 I just love. Not sold on this green elephant fart machine yet. So tomorrow we will see. My only complaint about the 125 is its hard to ride cause theres no bottom end. Its 10,000 RPM or bust and at my age (40's) that is just tiring. But I'm just addicted to the smoke and ring-ting-ting-ding-ding......



Which 15 did you buy?

You should get along well with the F bikes. Its different power but coming off a 125 you should like it pretty well.
JBecker 72
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JBecker 72 4/17/2017 5:38am
4/17/2017 5:38am Edited Date/Time 4/17/2017 5:40am
I rode the bike yesterday at a local practice track and put almost 2 hours on it. Here is my impressions on riding it totally stock.

The forks are way better than I had expected. I was quite surprised by how well they worked. So was the 44 year old former pro I let ride it, who is still crazy fast. He had a 15 and sold it because he hated the bike, and especially the forks. When he saw me pull up with this he was itching to ride it though. Both of us felt the suspension was damn good out of the box with just a baseline setting. I ran the forks with 160 psi in the inner, 14.5 in the outer, and 175 in the balance chamber.

This bike handles very well and really wants to lay over in a corner without much effort.

The stock tires suck. I'm gonna throw on a set of Dunlop MX3S.

The clutch is meh. Will be adding stiffer springs for sure.

The brakes are good, but a bit spongy. I have Galfer lines on order and that should fix that.

The ergos are fantastic. I moved the pegs down and the bars forward in the clamps, but spun the mounts around so it's not all the way forward. I felt natural on the bike right away. After two laps I felt like I had been riding this for a full season.

I forgot how good 7/8" handlebars feel. I think I'm gonna keep running them.

The grips are made out of concrete. Terrible. ODI will fix that.

It's geared too tall, like I suspected from riding in the yard. 51T rear will be here soon.

I only heard the bike cough or pop once or twice all day. Even with the pro on it There was no issue. I ran it on the black coupler with 93 pump gas. Gonna try the green one out next time.

The bike is fairly quiet for a Kawasaki, but still not as quiet as my friends YZ250F or my other friends RMZ450 with a Yoshi exhaust. At least it didn't sound like a 2010 KXF. Still though, I'd like to put a different silencer on it to get it a bit quieter. I hate loud and obnoxious four strokes.

All in all, it was a good day and I'm happy with my purchase.
JBecker 72
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JBecker 72 4/30/2017 3:14pm
4/30/2017 3:14pm
Got pretty much everything on there I wanted. Still undecided on the suspension route I will go. Gonna ride it some more before deciding to convert to spring or not.

paddyB745
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paddyB745 4/30/2017 5:19pm
4/30/2017 5:19pm
I rode my 16 for about 30-40 hours before I decided on the Race Tech spring conversion. The air was OK, but my biggest issue was inconsistency, it would work great one day and not so great the next. After doing the spring I was very impressed with how it felt, a lot more planted in corners and clicker adjustments were a lot easier to feel vs. when I had air. I've heard great things about the TAC-R system with the SKF glide kit which will run you about the same as a spring system. At the end of the day it came down to the easy set up with the spring and consistency that won me over. My 2 cents.
mjr119 4/30/2017 5:24pm
4/30/2017 5:24pm
JBecker 72 wrote:
Got pretty much everything on there I wanted. Still undecided on the suspension route I will go. Gonna ride it some more before deciding to convert...
Got pretty much everything on there I wanted. Still undecided on the suspension route I will go. Gonna ride it some more before deciding to convert to spring or not.

A kit is the only way to go! Find a used spring kit. You won't regret it.
JBecker 72
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JBecker 72 4/30/2017 5:31pm
4/30/2017 5:31pm
JBecker 72 wrote:
Got pretty much everything on there I wanted. Still undecided on the suspension route I will go. Gonna ride it some more before deciding to convert...
Got pretty much everything on there I wanted. Still undecided on the suspension route I will go. Gonna ride it some more before deciding to convert to spring or not.

mjr119 wrote:
A kit is the only way to go! Find a used spring kit. You won't regret it.
I'd rather buy another motorcycle than spend the money on even a used A kit. I'm sure it's good, but I doubt it would be worth the money for me.
YellowZonker 4/30/2017 6:09pm
4/30/2017 6:09pm
JBecker 72 wrote:
Got pretty much everything on there I wanted. Still undecided on the suspension route I will go. Gonna ride it some more before deciding to convert...
Got pretty much everything on there I wanted. Still undecided on the suspension route I will go. Gonna ride it some more before deciding to convert to spring or not.

Id put at least 15 hours on before you make your decision. It takes a while to break in and you'll want to test it before sinking all the money in. So far the air feels pretty good to me. I think most people get too caught up in what the pros do.
mjr119 4/30/2017 6:20pm
4/30/2017 6:20pm
JBecker 72 wrote:
I'd rather buy another motorcycle than spend the money on even a used A kit. I'm sure it's good, but I doubt it would be worth...
I'd rather buy another motorcycle than spend the money on even a used A kit. I'm sure it's good, but I doubt it would be worth the money for me.
It is worth it. I'd never go back to production suspension. You can always get your money back out of it too, unless you overpay or do not take care of it.

Pit Row

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