2020 Kawasaki KX250 Top 5 Mods

Kawasaki did a great job for 2020 on improving the KX250’s overall engine character as well as getting a much better suspension spec. Kawasaki made changes to the engine, went to a bigger throttle body, switched to KYB suspension, updated the brakes, changed the low front engine mounts, and shortened the headpipe by 30mm for 2020. We think they did a great job improving on the 2019 machine, but we have come across 5 fairly simple modifications to help the 2020 become even better. Here they are in no particular order: 

1. FMF Stainless Steel/Aluminum 4.1 Muffler System: The FMF Stainless 4.1 system will shed over two pounds off of your KX250, give you more mid range and top end pull, as well as keep the mid-to rpm response that the current stock exhaust comes with. The FMF system will not give you more bottom end pulling power, but going to the ECU map that we provide here will get you some increased low end rpm response with this FMF system. The FMF stainless/aluminum system is more cost effective and will not get as loose in the slip fit joints as a titanium 4.1 system. We tested a couple early versions of this muffler and are impressed with the final production FMF version.  

2. ECU Re-Mapping: We used Kawasaki’s Calibration Tool to tweak the fuel and ignition timing in order to try and get some more bottom end out of the 2020 KX250. The 2020 did lose a small amount of low end compared to the 2019, but we are in the market to get some added torque back for 2020. The map you see above will get you some of that torque back when exiting corners while maintaining the excellent mid-top end power that the 2020 comes with. Use the stock green coupler with this ECU setting…

3. Gearing: 13/50 gearing is just fine for the Intermediate to Pro level rider with either the green or white coupler. If you’re a heavier rider that is lazier in corners you can try a 13/51 gearing to help you get back into the meat of the power sooner. We suggest using the green coupler with our preferred ECU setting with the 13/51 gearing however. This will ensure that mid-top end pulling power doesn’t fall off too soon.

4. 110 Rear Tire: A few manufacturers still like to run a 100/90-19 rear tires because it’s lighter. However, the 110/90-19 rear tire offers more traction and has better comfort on square edge, hard pack areas of the track. The 110 doesn't weigh the 2020 KX250 down in deeper soil that much and in fact, I see no negative on the track to going up a size on the rear. The Kawasaki has plenty of mid-top end to carry the small amount of extra weight the 110 carries. You will get more lean angle bite coming out of corners as well as increased stability with the 110. The 110 will fit on your 1.85 rear rim so don’t worry about your standard current rim size with the 110 rear tire sizing. I am currently running a 110/90-19 Dunlop MX33 on the rear of the KX250 with good results in soft to intermediate terrain. 

5. Lower Handlebar Bend: The stock 7/8 971 Renthal bar bend feels too tall for the Kawasaki cockpit so I go with a 983 Renthal bend or purchase Ride Engineering’s bar mounts if you want a oversize 1-1/8 handlebar. The 983 7/8 bend has a slightly lower height and rise over the 971, which fits the KX250’s rider triangle better. If you’re going to a oversize bar/bar mount and are looking for a lower profile, go with a Pro Taper EVO/Fuzion SX Race bend. 

Bonus Tip: This is not a cost effective mod, but going to a full Hinson clutch kit will help the life of your KX250 clutch. Although the stock clutch feels good at the lever, the clutch does slip after some fairly normal abuse. Accelerating hard out of corners, when there is maximum grip, the stock clutch does slip under load. To prevent this you can get heavier springs, but that will not expand the life of your plates. Going to a full Hinson kit will prevent slipping as well as lengthen the life of your clutch.

If you have any questions please feel free to email me at kris@keeferinctesting.com

2020 Kawasaki KX250 Baseline/Start Up Settings

We had a chance to shake down the new Kawasaki KX250 some more and went to a few tracks with three different riders to find a baseline setting for all you new KX owners to try. These settings were agreed upon by all testers that weighed from 150-190 pounds and varying from Novice-Pro. 

Suspension: The new KYB suspension is a step in the right direction for Kawasaki in 2020, but we felt it was slightly unbalanced coming from the showroom floor. The fork held up well on de-cel, but the shock rode low in the stroke at times under acceleration. All riders agreed that they could use a better balance/ride attitude around the track. Try this setting in order to get the KX250 to hold up in the rear more under acceleration while trying to keep comfort on de-cel. 

Fork:

Compression: 12 clicks out

Rebound: 9 out

Height: 5mm 

Shock:

L/S Compression: 5 clicks out

H/S Compression: 1-1/4 turns out

Rebound: 15 out

Sag: 103-104mm

Engine/Coupler: We tried all the couplers and while most agreed the stock green coupler gave the most overall useable power around the track, the riders who had cornering technique issues or slower entrance speeds, liked the white (lean) coupler better for low end recovery and rpm response. The white coupler will fall of earlier on top end and not have quite as much over-rev as the green coupler so just know you will lose some of the KX250’s superb top end pulling power. The black coupler will be good for extreme hard pack or loose conditions. The rear of the Kawasaki will hook up better as well as make the chassis feel more planted on throttle. The black coupler will also be friendlier to riders that are new to 250F’s and will not have as much rpm response to scare them off.  

ECU: We used Kawasaki’s Calibration Tool to tweak the fuel and ignition timing in order to try and get some of the 2019 KX250’s bottom end/torque back. The 2020 did lose a small amount of low end, but we were in the market to get some of that back for 2020. The map you see below will get you some of that torque back when exiting corners while maintaining the excellent mid-top end power that the 2020 comes with. Use the stock green coupler with this ECU setting…

Rider Triangle: The test riders we used ranged from 5’8 to 6’0 tall and all used the stock bar mount/footpeg position. If you’re 6’1 and above going to the forward hole with the mount back is a good way to get some added/room comfort when sitting. If you like the 7/8 sized Renthal handlebar, but find it too tall for your liking, go with a 983 Renthal 7/8 bar as that bend will be slightly lower and flatter.

Gearing: 13/50 gearing is just fine for the Intermediate to Pro level rider with either the green or white coupler. If you’re a heavier rider that is lazier in corners you can try a 13/51 gearing to help you get back into the meat of the power sooner. We suggest using the green coupler with our preferred ECU setting with the 13/51 gearing however. This will ensure that mid-top end pulling power doesn’t fall off too soon.

Any questions about this bike you can reach out to us at kris@keeferinctesting.com.

2020 KX250 Versus 2019 YZ250F Comparison

By: Michael Allen

As the 250(F) class continues to be more competitive, it puts increased pressure on the manufacturers to make a solid platform for racers to start with. For their newest rendition of the KX250, Kawasaki was kind enough to invite us up to the legendary Castillo ranch for the first ride of the new bike. Being that the 250 is such a small four-stroke engine, it’s imperative that manufacturers squeeze every bit of power out of the tiny screamers and for 2020 Kawasaki went back to the drawing board. On top of changing many engine components, Kawasaki also focused on the chassis, suspension, and brakes to make the KX250 a contender for best in class. For this story we thought since you ask us “how does it compare to the YZ250F” all the time we thought it would be fun to compare the 2020 KX250 to one of the best bikes in this class: the 2019 YZ250F. I have been riding the 2019 Yamaha YZ250F for some time and have become well aquatinted with it, so Keefer asked me to conjure up this article and now here we are! Here is how I feel the two machines match up against each other. 

When it comes to torque the Yamaha platform has been hard to beat for the past few years, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be beat in other areas of power delivery. Right when I got on the new 2020 KX250 I immediately felt like the mid to top end power was better than the blue machine. The KX engine revs free-er and has les engine braking on de-cel, which makes it very playful to ride. The Yamaha is more chuggy and you can feel every time that crankshaft comes around, which gives me that planted rear end acceleration feeling. The power on the Kawasaki doesn’t fall off as quick as bLU cRU, but to me it still doesn't rev as far as the CRF250R. Where the green machine does fall short is of course bottom end grunt power. The Yamaha simply is amazing in this area and can let any rider be lazier while still maintaining speed. The Kawasaki must be ridden more aggressively from the mid range on up. Third gear is much easier to work with through corners on the Yamaha compared to the Kawasaki, which means shifting down to second happens more often on the green machine.

Another tidbit that stood out to me is the exhaust note of the Kawasaki. The Yamaha exhaust gets blown out and raspy over time, but the Kawasaki exhaust note seems to be loud immediately. I also found it odd that if the Kawasaki was not at TDC the kick starter was hard to kick over and almost felt like a 450ish until you put a lot of force into the kick start. In other words don’t half ass your kicks and it will start. 

For the past few years Kawasaki has been using the Showa Separate Function Fork for “weight savings”, but they have finally realized that like the air fork, some things are better the old fashioned way. For 2020 they went back to a dual coil spring KYB fork as well as a KYB shock, both with Kashima coating. After playing with some clickers we came up with a comfortable setting and I came away quite impressed with the comfort as well as the performance of the front and rear suspension. It’s no secret that the Yamaha has very good suspension settings, but I think there is one category where I think the Kawasaki slightly edges out the Yamaha. When it comes to performance I feel that the Kawasaki (for my speed) has slightly better hold up (once dialed in with clickers) and handles g-outs with a slightly less wallowy feeling. That being said, in order to have better performance, you must sacrifice comfort and the Yamaha has more of that. I am sure the slightly stiffer feeling chassis on the Kawasaki has something to do with the lack of comfort as well. Something we noticed was that the front and rear balance of the bike is very sensitive to changes with the shock. With minimal changes to sag, one or two low speed clicks, and/or high speed changes on the shock, the turning characteristics were noticeably affected. Just like your wife or girlfriend the KX can be somewhat emo/sensitive to suspension changes affecting the maneuverability of the bike, but when it’s set correctly the bike handles tighter corners marginally better than the Yamaha. 

For 2020 Kawasaki put a larger 250mm rear disk on the KX 250 to help improve braking power. I’m not sure what the exact problem is with the rear brake system, but Kawasaki missed the mark because the rear brake is not as good as the Yamaha’s. After my initial ride on the bike I felt that the rear brake pedal was too low and I wasn’t able to get my toe pressed down far enough to get the braking power I desired. After moving the pedal up, I took the bike out for another session and was surprised that I still didn’t have the desired braking power. Upon further inspection we noticed that the pedal has a very long stroke to get the brake to work and when it finally does it gets very grabby feeling. This was a downside because it makes it hard to drag the brake slightly or just give the rear wheel a little stopping power without locking up the rear wheel. While the Yamaha doesn’t have amazing brakes, the rear brake on the blue bike is more linear and easier to modulate. With that said the front brake on the Kawasaki is quite good and gives the rider a powerful progressive feel with a lot of control, without having to pull the lever too hard. 

The rider triangle on the KX250 feels a little off due to the slightly soft seat. The soft seat makes the 7/8” bars (I have no problem with the bars) seem high and chopper feeling. Rolling the bars back seemed to somewhat remedy the feeling, but not completely mask the issue. Something that hasn’t changed on the Kawasaki is the cheap feeling grips that for some reason seem marginally narrow and are bonded to the throttle tube. 

The bottom line is that for 2020 Kawasaki made a move in the right direction in making the KX250 a better more competitive machine. The engine has been improved from mid to top and has a free revving feeling that makes the bike more fun to ride while giving the rider a broader power range when on the track. The suspension has made a big step in the right direction with the new KYB fork giving the rider better front end bump absorption. 

The final piece to this article is the price… The KX250’s price point comes in at $7,799 (compared to $8,199 of the Yamaha) so it’s less expensive. If you have been looking to be part of the re-formed Team Green, 2020 seems to be the year that Kawasaki made jumps in the right direction.

Any questions about these machines please email me at michael@keeferinctesting.com

2020 Kawasaki KX250 First Impression

I recently got a chance to ride the new 2020 Kawasaki KX250 at the legendary Castillo Ranch and wanted to give you ten key points on Team Green’s new quarter liter four stroke from the first day of testing. If you want to learn more about all the changes Kawasaki made to the 2020 click here: https://www.keeferinctesting.com/latest-news-1/2019/6/18/kawasaki-introduces-updated-2020-kx250. I will be doing more back to back 2019/2020 testing next week so follow @keeferinctesting on Instagram to read more interesting tidbits. Again this is only the first day of riding this bike, but I know how impatient all of you are so here’s my initial impression:

Engine: Kawasaki’s engineers focused on creating more mid to top end power on the 2020 KX250 and that is exactly what they did. I wasn't allowed to ride our 2019 test bike to compare back to back on this day (it’s a KHI thing), but I have brushed up on the 2019 KX250 enough this past week to let you guys know that it does have way more engine RPM recovery than the 2019. Bottom end feels about the same as the 2019 with that snappy out of the hole excitement, but the mid range pulling power is improved along with a healthier top end stretch that allows the rider to use fourth gear more than the 2019. Over-rev is also improved for 2020 especially in third and fourth gears where you need have the KX pull you down long straights. I also noticed that the changes that Kawasaki’s engineers made in 2020, the small bore four stroke has less engine braking than last year’s model, which makes the KX250 feel more playful. Transmission spacing is a little different feeling in 2020 (nothing has changed with gear ratios, but with the different engine specs this can happen) as the second to third gear gap is wide and the third to fourth gear gap is much closer, so sometimes bypassing third gear and going straight to fourth gear works best on longer straights. I will be messing with some gearing in the future so stay tuned to see if we can get second to third gears closer together in order to get third gear more useable around the track. 

Couplers: The 2020 Kawasaki KX250 comes standard with a green coupler that provides the engine delivery we described to you above, but if you’re looking for more power everywhere with slightly less rear wheel connection than install the white coupler. The white coupler makes the KX250 feel lighter and gets better throttle response with increased mid to top end pull. Over-rev wasn't sacrificed with the white coupler (over green), but you will get less connectivity from the rear wheel on hard pack conditions. If you’re on a loamy or sandy surface the white coupler is a noticeable change for the better in power delivery. I tried the black coupler thinking it was going to hurt overall power output, but it only affected the low end delivery (over green/stock), and gave the KX250 so much more rear wheel traction in our afternoon test sessions. Try the black coupler if you're looking for some traction on hard pack, it works very well. The black coupler will make the KX250 feel slightly heavier yet more planted around the track.   

Fork: Thank you Kawasaki for getting rid of that horrible Showa SFF fork! The KYB dual spring fork is a welcome change and gives the rider increased comfort in 2019. The overall action of the KYB fork is soft for my 170 pound frame, but a couple clicks stiffer on the compression helped hold up on de-cel. Going stiffer on the fork helped the bike from pitching which led to a calmer feel driving hard into corners. The KX250 fork feels similar to the YZ250F KYB SSS fork because it moves in the stroke a lot yet has pretty damn good bottoming resistance. The Castillo Ranch track wasn't that rough so we will get down to more suspension testing in the coming weeks. 

Shock: We played with a couple sag measurements and came to a good setting of 103mm that helped the balance of the KX250 under acceleration. If you feel like the rear of the KX250 is too low under acceleration and you're getting too much side to side movement, raise the sag to 103mm and this will help rear wheel traction. Once I found a good sag setting (from 105mm to 103mm) the rear of the bike squatted nicely under acceleration chop and provided more front end bite through corners. The end stroke of the KYB shock is a little soft, so going stiffer (quarter turn on the high speed compression) helped the rear of the bike stay up on g-outs and slap down landings.  

Chassis: Kawasaki didn't focus too much on chassis updates, but the changes that Kawasaki made to the lower front engine mount bolts did help in one area. On tip in (through corners) the 2020 KX250 feels easier to start your lean, which means it feels slightly lighter, but mid corner the Kawasaki has a tendency to want to stand up. Some of that has to do with cockpit feel for me, but more on that later… Straight line stability is still superb on the Kawasaki so going fast down hills is not an issue as the Kawasaki KX250 invites you to ride it hard without feeling to sketch. Bump absorption of this frame is one of the best in class and now with the suspension changes Kawasaki made for 2020 it has helped this feel on the track even more. 

Brakes: The 270mm front brake is powerful and has a linear feel under heaving braking, which I really like. I can’t say the same thing for the 250mm rear brake as it’s grabby and hard to modulate coming into corners. If I was you I would go back to the 2019 KX250 240mm rear disc and hanger to help gain some more control coming into corners.

Cosmetics: What do you guys think of the all green color scheme of the new KX250? I personally like it and think it’s bright, pops, and looks like the factory bikes. I am sold!

Rider Triangle: The seat to peg to handlebar ratio is ok for my 6’0 frame, but Kawasaki needs to get a new handlebar bend. The 971 Renthal bend is too tall/wide feeling and needs to be updated. I don’t mind the 7/8 size, but when I sit down on the seat, coming into corners, it feels like my arms are way too high. This puts my body positioning in the wrong place coming into corners and makes the bike want to stand upright mid corner. Kawasaki could remedy this situation by running a 983 7/8 Renthal handlebar, which is much more neutral feeling for the rider on this bike.  

Tires: Dunlop MX3S tires are still on the 2020 KX250, which means we still have front end traction and a softer carcass feel instead of having a stiffer MX33 carcass that could hurt this bike’s bump absorption feel. Don’t get too cozy though with these 3S tires because we will lose the MX3S full time come 2021. Boo! 

Seat: The middle of the seat on the KX250 is soft and too squishy, which makes me sink into the bike too much when accelerating or coming into a corner. This just compounds the high handlebar feel to me so getting a firm seat foam would be crucial to help me get my body positioning correct through corners. 

My overall first impression is that Kawasaki made a better KX250 by getting some added mid to top end pulling power that it needed, along with more engine RPM recovery, and increased comfort with the fork/shock. Will it be enough to bring it up near the front in the shootout rankings? Find out soon because shootouts are coming around once again. Check back to keeferinctesting.com and pulpmx.com for more updates and settings as we ride this green machine more.