99 KX250 VS 05 RM250?

Kinetic1
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Kinetic1
Edited Date/Time 1/27/2012 11:41am
I have the 05 RM and I rode my friends 99 KX250 (with fresh rebuild) on Tuesday. His tire was a little shot and I kept bottoming the suspension everywhere but I could not beleive how much more motor my RM has. Did those six years of development really make that much difference. I had always heard the KX was a fire breather but it seems slow to me. What gives? Does anyone have HP and Torque numbers for both bikes?
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txmxer
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txmxer 6/18/2009 10:18am
6/18/2009 10:18am
RMs are bad ass in the last years of production.
huck
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huck 6/18/2009 10:18am
6/18/2009 10:18am
I had a 98 KX250...it was awesome. I remember hearing that the 99 was a much tamer motorcycle.

It's hard to compare a bike that's 4 years old, to one that's 10 years old though...

Kinetic1
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Kinetic1 6/18/2009 10:20am
6/18/2009 10:20am
Yeah I know I just didn't think they would be that different. It was night and day.
kaw rider9
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kaw rider9 6/18/2009 10:28am
6/18/2009 10:28am
Kinetic1 wrote:
Yeah I know I just didn't think they would be that different. It was night and day.
I've had my 98 since new.. I love it, fast as hell, great all around bike!!

Then I bought my 06... WOW..... What a difference! Like you said, night and day!

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rockcrawlerdude 6/18/2009 10:39am
6/18/2009 10:39am
i love the 98 kx250's for the motor ( ive had 2) they are a beast! so kaw rider 9 your saying the 06 motor is stronger???? if so i may be looking at kx's again instead of the RM or YZ....
petegrath
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petegrath 6/18/2009 10:43am
6/18/2009 10:43am
My buddy had a '96 KX 250, I have an '04. Even with a fresh top end the '96 had nothing on the '04. Totally different and tamer power band. Interesting thing is, he sold the '96, bought and '06, and now my '04 seems a little tame compared to his bike. the '06 has a "light-switch" type power band where mine has more roll-on power. They change things up quite a bit from year to year, didn't realize myself how much until I got to compare some years against each other.

Another interesting thing I found was comparing an "old-school" KX to the newer ones. Got to ride a bit on a restored '89 KX 250, and it was a beast. Had more grunt than the '96! Suspension sucked, but was fast as hell.
kaw rider9
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kaw rider9 6/18/2009 11:02am
6/18/2009 11:02am
rockcrawlerdude wrote:
i love the 98 kx250's for the motor ( ive had 2) they are a beast! so kaw rider 9 your saying the 06 motor is...
i love the 98 kx250's for the motor ( ive had 2) they are a beast! so kaw rider 9 your saying the 06 motor is stronger???? if so i may be looking at kx's again instead of the RM or YZ....
Waaaaayy stronger!! Night and day..

Are you going to the Texas Vital ride? If you do, I'll let you ride it.. It's a blast!
mxrose3
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mxrose3 6/18/2009 12:16pm
6/18/2009 12:16pm
My brother had a 99' KX250. It seemed to have a heavy flywheel and made pretty good bottom end power for a 250, but revved a little slower than most 250's and signed off early.
Adam43
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Adam43 6/18/2009 12:30pm
6/18/2009 12:30pm
That '99 motor is junk. It was pretty tame, but even worse is that like most KX250s, after a little wear/break in, it would never run as well again. No matter how many rebuilds. The 1998 and 2000 models were both better but suffered from many of the same issues.

You wouldn't believe how many rod/crank failures happened with those things.
petegrath
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petegrath 6/18/2009 1:26pm
6/18/2009 1:26pm
Adam43 wrote:
That '99 motor is junk. It was pretty tame, but even worse is that like most KX250s, after a little wear/break in, it would never run...
That '99 motor is junk. It was pretty tame, but even worse is that like most KX250s, after a little wear/break in, it would never run as well again. No matter how many rebuilds. The 1998 and 2000 models were both better but suffered from many of the same issues.

You wouldn't believe how many rod/crank failures happened with those things.
Funny you mention that... Had lower rod bearing go out on the '96. Was lucky it didn't let loose, shut it down before any damage was done. Couple hundred later with an all-balls crank kit, was back in business.

I will say, it let loose this year and was the original crank. Can't really complain about a high performance motor lasting 13 years before major failure. Should've changed the crank out earlier though. We got lucky.
scottbob99
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scottbob99 6/18/2009 1:34pm
6/18/2009 1:34pm
I had an 04 KX250, very smooth power. I also had an 05 RM250, still smooth but felt way more powerful.
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petegrath
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petegrath 6/18/2009 4:25pm
6/18/2009 4:25pm
scottbob99 wrote:
I had an 04 KX250, very smooth power. I also had an 05 RM250, still smooth but felt way more powerful.
That's how the '06 KX feels compared to my bike, but I'm actually faster on my bike than on his. Faster than my friend on his '06 too. Seems that "power to the ground" argument might have some weight to it. I expected to be faster on his bike and wasn't.

Could be alot of things though.
Racer92
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Racer92 6/18/2009 5:29pm
6/18/2009 5:29pm
Youre gonna be hard pressed to get any 250cc smoker to live up to the '05 RM250.
Wolfman
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Wolfman 6/18/2009 5:44pm
6/18/2009 5:44pm
Racer92 wrote:
Youre gonna be hard pressed to get any 250cc smoker to live up to the '05 RM250.
An '06 RM250 will. Smile
Racer92
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Racer92 6/18/2009 6:41pm
6/18/2009 6:41pm
Racer92 wrote:
Youre gonna be hard pressed to get any 250cc smoker to live up to the '05 RM250.
Wolfman wrote:
An '06 RM250 will. Smile
From what I remember, they are the same bike. BNG?
jgmxdad251
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jgmxdad251 6/18/2009 7:30pm
6/18/2009 7:30pm
Kinetic1 wrote:
I have the 05 RM and I rode my friends 99 KX250 (with fresh rebuild) on Tuesday. His tire was a little shot and I kept...
I have the 05 RM and I rode my friends 99 KX250 (with fresh rebuild) on Tuesday. His tire was a little shot and I kept bottoming the suspension everywhere but I could not beleive how much more motor my RM has. Did those six years of development really make that much difference. I had always heard the KX was a fire breather but it seems slow to me. What gives? Does anyone have HP and Torque numbers for both bikes?
I had 98 kx250 it was slow compared to my 05 kx250.They didn't change the motors till 05. The only problem is shity mileage. I've also ridden an 05 suzuki, they have good power just a touch under the 05 kx.
Wolfman
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Wolfman 6/18/2009 7:37pm
6/18/2009 7:37pm
Racer92 wrote:
Youre gonna be hard pressed to get any 250cc smoker to live up to the '05 RM250.
Wolfman wrote:
An '06 RM250 will. Smile
Racer92 wrote:
From what I remember, they are the same bike. BNG?
I dont know. My dad had an '06 and a '07 and I know there were differences between the motors in those 2. He sold the '07 but I managed to snag the '06 before he could get rid of it.

I was just messin' with ya 92.
Racer92
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Racer92 6/18/2009 7:47pm
6/18/2009 7:47pm
No worries bro, I know those are all good bikes. The models from '04 forward were all pretty good.

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