[Luckystar64]

Hey All!! Back in 2020, during Covid, I picked up a like new '21 KLX140R for a good price. It hadn't had more than a half tank of gas run through it by the guy's daughter. I haven't had the time to monkey with it... until now that is. I'm staying mostly stock mod with this build, as it's basically taking the place of my 110. I like riding mid sized bikes better than 110's. You get so much more for the money with the bigger bikes, and they're fun and easy to ride. My game plan for this project are as follows:

-Engine: Showroom stock. UNI air filter. Stock carb jetted at 42/100. Snorkel removed from the air box. Access block to carb air screw will be removed, allowing for adjustments via the D socket tool from Motion Pro. The baffle will be removed from the stock pipe.

-Frame: Will get beefed up at the known weak areas, then sent to powdercoat in the stock color. Likely a Ricochet skid plate will be added.

-Suspension: Bruce's Suspension will do damping rod mods to the front forks (stock springs). The back will get a KLX140G rear shock.

-Plastic and graphics: Stock plastics with 2015 OEM graphics. Bikegraphix number plate backgrounds. UFO "restyled" front fender cut to fit.

-Controls: Stock other than Pro Taper RM85 bars with an inch cut off both sides. They're almost a perfect match to the stock bars.

-Wheels: Black Tusk rims with Bridgestone Intermediate terrain tires. 52 tooth rear sprocket.

That's about it for now. I'll post up as I make progress. Stay tuned. --L*64

 

[Luckystar64]

 

[Luckystar64]

Man! I ordered the Tusk rims from Rocky Mountain ATV one day, and I'll be damned if they weren't here the next damn day!! I'm leaving the stock wheels together. These hubs are from a used set of wheels I sourced. I pulled the bearings out, and had the hubs vapor blasted. They prolly look better than new. I got the front laced, but it still needs trued. These Tusk rims appear to be of decent quality, and you can use the stock spokes and nipples. Coming out looking fairly good so far, no? Both rims were $151 shipped to my door. I ain't mad at that! --L*64

 

[Luckystar64]

Got the plate graphics in, and started applying them. I actually have another KLX140, hence two sets of plate backgrounds. The other one is my GF's bike. It's showroom stock other than jetting. The Bikegraphix pieces don't look too bad, and they were only $35 per set.

I put my tank shrouds together, and got the OEM 2015 decals applied. Not a cheap affair. I'll box up the new '21 shrouds and shelve them. My bike is a regular 140R, but I ordered the L decals by accident. No biggie I guess. Even though I want it looking nice- it's gonna get ridden.

I dropped the swinger off at the fab shop today to have the chain guard stays shaved off, and a bead blasting so it'll look fresh. It was a used arm I bought off of EBay. I'll post pix when it gets done. --L*64

 

[Luckystar64]

Just like that- the suspension was done! My 140G/F shock from SX Parts arrived today. Looks nice! I ordered the G shock rather than an L shock for two reasons. One, the clevis is 4mm longer than the L shock. Should give it a half inch boost out back. Two, and more importantly.... the spring rate and valving range should be slightly stiffer than what the L shock comes with seeing as how the G/F bike has a longer swingarm leverage ratio. I'm planning to moto this bike on my local pit bike track rather than trail it, so I think the stock G/F shock should be good as is on my short swingered R model. Fully adjustable as well. Cost about $415 to my door. Not too bad for a quality shock that I'm hoping works well out of the box. My cat digs it anyway.

Forks are back from Bruce's in North Carolina. I kept the stock .32 kg spring rate, but I had Bruce change the valving for moto via his damping rod mods. I do most tuning with hydraulics rather than spring rate. I like it plush over small chop. --L*64

 

[Luckystar64]

Got the rear wheel laced up. Still has to go on the truing stand. This job was a royal pain in the @$$ because I never had to lace a wheel with three different spoke lengths before. It takes 14/7/7. I assumed the 14 of the same spokes went on the right, then the others went on the left with the longer spokes on the outside... WRONG! Phew!! I had to pull the whole damn thing apart and start over. I looked at the parts breakdown and learned that the longest 14 spokes were all the inners. The shortest were the outer right, and the medium length spokes were the outer left. Live and learn I guess. Looks pretty decent so far though. --L*64

 

[Luckystar64]

I don't love the newer KX85 front fenders that everyone seems to be running on their 140's. It may be because guys are shimming the back two mounts so the rear of the 85 fender clears the frame? It looks hokey. I'm using the UFO "restyled" KX85/100 front fender. I cut the back off- then shape it beautifully with a dremel on low speed. It'll take an honest hour plus to get it perfect, but it'll come out nice when you get it right. At some point I may grab up a newer KX fender and do the same with it and see how I like it. For now I like this one. Here are some pics. After the trim and grind job- it fits perfectly. Looks a lot better than the stock fender. (I have two pictured. One is for my bike, and the other goes on my GF's bike) --L*64

 

[Luckystar64]

I got the swinger back from the fab shop today. Looks pretty good. This was a crappy looking EBay swingarm I got for $60. It was all crusty and dingy looking. I worked it with a sanding pad and got it to shine up really nice. It had a gouge in the center cast area too. Had the gouge filled in with weld, ground perfectly flat, then bead blasted. Now you can't tell it was ever there. I had the chain guard mounts shaved off while it was there since I'll never run the janky plastic guard that comes on it. Yes- I'm a detail freak for sure! --L*64

 

[Luckystar64]

Got the carb rejetted. Did the carb on my GF's bike as well. Oddly, her carb didn't come with the cover over the air screw? I don't think the original owners of her bike would take it off? Did they stop blocking off the air screw at some point?

Anyway, I'm planning to keep the stock exhaust's on our bikes- (at least for the time being anyway) so I wanted to ditch the baffle. I did that mod to my 150F, and it runs beautifully. I guess if I want to keep the tip, I'll have to actually saw the baffle off? Then re-install the exhaust tip? I'm running 42/100 jetting with the air screw 2.5 turns out. Baffle removed, UNI air filter. We'll see how this goes. --L*64

 

[Luckystar64]

I got a couple parts in today. Got my UNI air filter- flows a bit better than stock, and it's super durable. Also, the All Balls linkage kit. The big deal with that is that it ditches the bushings in the linkage, and replaces them with true bearings. I'm hoping that it will alleviate some of the up/down play in the linkage. --L*64

 

[Luckystar64]

Went to work on the baffle in the muffler tonight, and ran it with the rejetted carb. As you can see in the pic, the baffle is actually part of the end cap on the stock exhuast. It's ultra quiet, but ultra weak too. I could have bought a Yosh pipe, but I don't think it's $400 better performance wise than my stock pipe with the baffle removed.
So I pulled the baffles from both my bikes. I sawed them off at the first step. Cleaned the cuts up with a grinder and a file, then bolted them right back in. With the 42/100 jetting, air screw 2.5 turns out, UNI filter, and baffle removed from the stock pipe- the bike started and ran flawlessly. It's on par with my 150F with the same mods. I put the end cap heat shield back in place on my GF's bike, but I was thinking about leaving it off on mine? Either way, she now runs like a 144 cc trail bike should! Huge improvement. --L*64

 

[Luckystar64]

So I finished up my other project- the "CRF150F RE-build" that you guys can check out in the CRF forum here. I'll get working on this 140 again soon. We had my GF's bike at the track last night, and I jumped on it to see how the new jetting worked. With the 42/100 jetting (UNI filter, baffle removed from the end cap on the stock pipe, and the air screw set at 2 and 1/2 turns out)- it ran perfectly. That's good info, because it runs 100% better than stock with the total expenditure (on jets) and a UNI filter) of $35. It's about dead even power wise with my '05 150F. Before the mods, the 150F would've stomped it. Stay tuned here, I'll be back working on this project shortly. --L*64

 

[Luckystar64]

So I've been back at it on my GF's bike. For many mods- her ride is the testing grounds for what I do to mine. I wanted to take the rear end and linkage apart and grease it on her bike. It's a 2012, and I know damn well that the DPO (dipshit previous owner) never did a single bit of maintenance on this bike. Fortunately it doesn't have a ton of hours. When I pulled the swinger and linkage- it was as expected- bone dry.

I wanted to get it all greased up, which I did, but I have a problem with the rear brake pedal position on these bikes, so I went to work on addressing it. I like the pedal to sit lower than the footpeg. You can't get it adjusted to that point because the actuation rod bottoms out on the pedal itself. I figured I'd take the rear master off, and chop the threaded rod down some while I had the bike apart? I cut it off right about where the notched part ends, then cleaned up the cut with a grinder. Worked great!! I can adjust the pedal to peg height and lower now, without bottoming out. I'll take a few pics of how it it sits and post them next time.

So I took the rear end apart, and I scrubbed everything in a kerosene bath, then a soapy water bucket. I like things clean when I assemble them. Came out nice, but I wasn't satisfied with how the swinger looked. I wrapped it up and took it to my buds house for a bead blast and clean up with a green pad. Came out looking brand new! Check it out.

One more thing. The 140 has some slop in the rear suspension- which I talked about before. There's one section of the linkage that has a bushing, rather than a bearing, which is why I bought the All Balls kit for my own bike- it's all bearings. At this point, I'm 90% sure that the linkage play is coming from the bushing. I'll keep you guys posted on that.

Here are a few pics of where I'm at. Check out how nice the once crusty and oxidized swingarm looks now! --L*64