Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

is used with the kit , for minim al sli ppage. Holes were drilled in the ai rbox for m ore flow, an d a Twi n A ir filt er re placed the stocker. LR Racing's Dar rel Prieur su pplied the exhaus t head er and silencer. LR Racing was in volved extensively on the project, also performing the sus pension updates. Dav is actu ally ran a works Suzuki conventional fork at Mammoth, but Prieur wo rked his magic o n Do ug h ty 's s t o ck in ve r t ed u n it, installing special ca r tri dge in te rnals . Wh ile these mods aren' t available to the public, Prieur claims tha t the stock in ternals hold plenty of po tential, and that he can achieve a nea rly ide ntica l feel wi thout replacing the guts. "Believe it or no t, the insi des of the KLX fork are almost a direct copy of the famous '87 Ho nda CR co n ve n tiona l fork," sa ys Darrel. "Th e upside-down design gi ve s it a more rig id feel, but they're really abou t the same." Prieur built Ty a works s h o ck for Mamm oth, compl ete with a harda nod ized b ody, a 16m m sh aft and an upper Heim join t: Unfortuna tely, Davi s ke p t the un it when th e bik e was sold, bu t LR Racing also handled the mods.on the IMS bik e. "Stock, the KLX tends to have a really l on g front e n d," says Prieu r. "The fork's femal e slide r is lon g. and the bike is kind of hard to stee r." He re ctified th e problem b y gi v ing th e s h ock three-quarters of an inch more tra vel, which brought the rear end up. Do ugh ty'S bike got a 16mm shaf t (2rnm larger than stock) and while the normal u p d ate retains the stock shaft, travel is s till increased by the sa me amo un t. In ad d ition, the damping wa s changed to let the rear end sit h igher, and the compres sion adjuster w as modified exten sively. LR Racing's suspension upda tes a re a ll-inclusive, which means oil and parts wo n't cost extra. LR Racing al so strip ped the fr am e d ow n a nd g u ss e ted it s w eak points, the n ga ve it an OEM gr een pow der coating. The pain ted aluminum swinga rm was s t r ip ped and poli shed , and th e pai n t was stripped from the radiators for better heat dissipation. All radiator mounting locations were gu sseted and a h eavy-duty cap replaced th e s toc ker. Dough ty cu stom-built th e alu m in u m skid plate. . Doughty took some of the edge off th e b lows encoun tered o ff - roa d by insta ll in g Answer's a lu m in u m ProTa per bar, a change which necessitated Ans we r's aluminum upper triple clamp as well. Renthal grips cushion the rid er 's hands, and a Scotts Unic st eering d amper minimizes the "giggle factor." A Braking oversized brake kit is mounted up front, and a s tan d a rd Braking ro tor handles the sto p p ing cho res ou t back. IMS makes the chrome-moly shift lever (with a fold ing tip) and the wider pegs, and LR Racing su pp lied the aluminum cha in-guide brace. A number of sources provided the bike's bodywork, the most in teresting of which are th e prototy pe IMS carbonfibe r p arts. The fro nt brake reservoir g u a rd, fro nt dis c guard, hea d er pipe heat shield, upper fork guards and front fender are all made fro m black carbo n fiber. IMS hopes to have these products available to the p ub lic in sp ring of '9 5. The 3.6-gallon natural plastic fuel tank is a lso from [MS, and it incl u ded a drybreak cap. Wh ite Bros. contrib u ted the Italian UFO headlight and han d gu ards, a n d the s tock w hite si de pl a tes were p a in ted Ka w as a ki green . LR Ra cing came up wit h a sea t cover and one-inchtalle r sea t foa m, and Moose Blue Tube foam inserts are used in Dunlop tires. What you've got now is a bike wor- (Top) The IMS Kawasaki KLX650 is the epitome of a se rious dua l sport bike. This motorcycle would be competitive in the Baja 1000. (Above) Curtis Sparks' motor modifications make for a firebreathing thumper that is st illeasy to ride. (Above right) The front fender and disc-brake guard are experimental IMS carbon-fiber units. Both should be available by spring. Braking supplied the large front brake kit. (Right) Answer Pro-Taper bars, a Scotts Unic steering damper and an IMS tank with a dry-break system are several clues that this is not an average street-legal mach ine. ~ 0\ 0\ th y of being ra ced in Baja, but Dou gh ty' S gig is dual sport, so the next orde r of b u s in e ss wa s obtaining a licens e plate. That's where Baja Designs ca me int o th e pi cture . The company' s d ual sport conversion kit inclu des the parts required to give the KLX650 streetle g al e lectrics. Sta tes vary in th e ir req uiremen ts for street lega lity, and Baja Desi gns will se ll you a kit specific to what yo u requir e. For exa m ple, so me kits inclu d e s peedometers and others don't, depending on the state. The California -legal kit includes a DOTapproved 5/ 60-watt q uar tz / ha logen Acerbis HP headlight (tho ugh Doughty used a UFO part) and a DOT-legal taillight (with a brake light, rea r reflector and license-plate holder). Also in the kit are DOT ru bber-mounted tu rn signals (incl u ding s ta i n less-s tee l moun ti ng brackets), a 114 d B elec tric horn and a com p lete custom wiring harness (with OEM-style connectors). A sealed gel-cell battery powers the charging system, and th e s ig na ls, ho rn and high/low beam are controlled by an OEM swi tch pod. A Field Effect transistor headlight switch and battery saver a utomatically turns off the headlight when the engine isn 't ru n nin g. (In many sta tes, th e taill igh t must be capable of staying illuminated w ith a d ead engine, but th e headli ght can stay off.) A laser-cu t stainless-steel bracket holds the waterproof power and ignition switch, along w ith a small high - rl rr) C'l l-< (l) ..0 E (l) :> o Z 19

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