Durability of 86 200's

[N.H. Hick]

I found a nice kdx200, the only problem is its old as hell. I got on this bike, and it rode fine. It had no visible leaks, and seemed to be in great shape. The problem is, im not tottally sure what to look for in a KDX... I know all the 2 stroke things (i helped replace the piston and rings with the kid) Any problem spots i should look out for?

 

[Dazza]

http://www.geocities.com/Baja/1685/1985.html
I am sure 85-86 are basically the same.

 

[mboilard]

Hi,

I'm riding the 1983 kdx 200 since 1992 and I had a lot of fun with it. I have no experience of he '86 but if it can help, the thing that I would suggest is to check the shifter since the shaft may have lost a bit of its grip during all these years. It often occurs on old bikes and I had the trouble with mine. It looks quite simple but if you have to change this shaft its quite a job! My shifter is almost permanently fixed on the shaft.

You may also look at the forks to check if any leaks occur. My friend already had a 1982 kdx 175 and the forks were very bad although mine always worked great.

If you decide to buy it, I would suggest to run the bike wih Bardhall 2 stroke motor oil in your gaz mix with the dilution recommended in you user manual. I did comparisons and even if it costed me twice the price of cheaper oils, i chosed to run my bike with this Bardhall stuff. My bike is simply totally different with this oil. I haven't tried oils that are more expensive. I used my bike quite a lot and I only changed the rings twice in ten years. So it seems to work fine.

I wanted to check the kdx timeline for differences between my bike and the one you are talking about but I think there is a problem with it at this time and I'm not able to open the page but on the http://www.buykawasaki.com site, it looked like my bike is almost the same as the '86 when checking the parts diagrams and if this bike is as good as mine has been, it can surely works very well for at least three more years!

Hope that helps
Bye :D

 

[N.H. Hick]

thanks duddes

 

[andrew]

I used to own an '86 - great bike!
Thigs to look for:
head-stem bearings
swingarm and linkage bearings
rear brake drum - they tend to wear out with all the mud and stuff over the years - check it's within serviceable limits or else you may find yourself running out of adjustment vbery quickly...
swap the mainjet (stock 320) for a 310

other than those expensive bits just listed, everything else on these bikes are a breeze.

hope you like it..!

 

[N.H. Hick]

Comforting..... What are warning signs of these things going (obviously the brakes are pretty easy to tell)

 

[andrew]

put the bike on a stand.
check the swingarm and linkage bearings by grasping the rear of the swingarm and attempting to wriggle it left and right, front to rear, and up and down. any movement in the bearings will become apparent, and if so will need to be stripped down and replaced (expensive).

The headstem bearing can be checked in the same manner, also the steering should move easily and smoothly from lock to lock. Any binding or stiffness would indicate a dry (and totally stuffed) bearing. It's usually the lower bearing that goes, which coincidently is the hardest to replace!

Cheers,