NEW DIRT BIKE PROJECT - Beware KTM content
For the most part this is copied from the thread I started on KTMtalk.com
Just to give an intro as that should be the norm. My name is john and I live in Savannah, GA. I used to do alot of trail and woods riding when I was younger. I owned honda's growing up because that is what the dad made me ride, haha. I rode with a high school buddy and we switched bikes. He had this weird looking orange thing no one knew about. I hoped on his orange "high dollar bike" and loved it. I sold my cr250 I had at the time and bought a 2001 KTM 250sx. I loved the bike. I owned it for a total of about 5 months when I got into a bad accident. I got banged up real bad and had to have a bunch of pins put in.
I sold the bike and promised myself I would never get on another. I rode street bikes as I felt keeping my two feet on the ground would be beneficial. I got in to racing cars and sold all the bike stuff.
I joined the military a couple years back and here recently (just got back from a deployment) all of my buddies have been buying bikes left and right. I rode a buddys repsol 1000rr and I decided I wanted another bike. The old lady said that there was no way that was goingto happen.
I picked up a 1995 Suzuki DR650 in near mint conidition. Spend a couple hundred bucks getting her in a safe cruising condition and started putting around. I decided I was going to do some woods/trail riding with her and found the extra almost 200lbs is hard to fling in the woods. My neighbor bought a used 1992 Yamaha YZ 250 in clean condition off of craigslist for $500 and I figured that I would start browsing myself. After filtering through all the jap bike ads for cheap I finally found a project.
I wanted to find a clean late 90's early 2000's 300 2 stroke but with no luck I found a 1996 KTM 250 EXC. The only down side was that it was 3 hours away. I hooked up the trailer to the wifes suv and headed south to ocala, fl.
PICS FROM WHERE I PICKED IT UP!
The guy I bought it from races four wheelers. He is the local "backyard" wrencher who works on everyones stuff. He built a motor for a customer who couldnt pay and he got the bike on trade. It is in rough shape. THe only upside is that it has a new piston and hot rod and clutch. Those are about the only upsides to it.
After spending a couple of days on the internet researching which direction i wanted to go with the bike I decided Iwas going to get her back to rideable condition and see if i actually wanted to get back into riding.
When I met the guy he cranked up the bike on the second kick. i noticed immediaately it was excessively smoking. He said it was just cold. My old bike never did this. Ialso noticed that both tires were flat, bars were warped, brakes were shot, tires were shot, and plastic was rough to say the least. At this point I am wondering if it would be better to just start with a bike that was $5-600 more expensive but i like tinkering so I said why not. I handed him $500 and took the bike home.
I got home late last night and left it on the trailer. This morning I woke up early and tore the bike all the way down to frame and motor. I pulled the wheels and tires off. Brakes off. Forks off. Shock off. All plastic, gas tank, carb, reeds, plug, radiators, etc... you get the point by now. I wanted to clean and inspect everything to get a warm and fuzzy.
I created a basic parts list to get her back to riding again.
- handlebars
- grips
- levers
- air filter, cage, and strap
- tires
- brakes
- tubes
- oil and mix
- correct plug
I have spent all day and most of the night downloading microfiche and looking up part numbers.
I have ordered most of the stuff on the list. I really want to freshen up the looks on the bike but we all know that getting back to riding after a long break with fresh plastics isnt a good idea.
I am hoping to get this bike in as close to perfect mechanical condition while still loooking for a clean 300. I can use this for a loaneer when friends want to come over, etc..
DAY TWO
Well today I got up and decided after several hours of searching online I was going to paint the plastics instead of ordering new ones. I dont normally like doing this because most of the time it looks like crap. I found some paint at wally world called pumpkin orange and it looks close to KTM orange. I also found some matte black trim paint that looked like it would work.
I painted the front and rear fender and tank black. I painted the number plates and radiator shrouds orange. It doesnt look bad. I still have to locate a bunch of hardware to put it all back to as close to stock as possible instead of the crap that was on it. I re-installed the forks and bought a bunch of oil change stuff. Here are some more prelim pics. Thanks for checking it out.
ITS A START!
DAY THREE!
Well did some more work today. I went and bought pretty much all new hardware for all of the plastic. I went up to advanced and picked upthe new NGK plugs I ordered. Got the bike all together for the most part. Just waiting on the stuff I ordered.
Not to shabby for a rattle can if I do say so myself.
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Originally Posted by Catnip
