Discodan

2019 KTM 250 TPI: Very Happy

Haha always the way! It drives my partner insane the amount of time I spend trawling ebay and other sites looking for bits and pieces!

Thanks Geoffro! The plastics are UFO, unfortunately the plastics original plastics couldn't be salvaged as the UV damage was too great. But everything else is OEM (besides the pipe) and if I was to do a quick tally in my head I reckon I would have spent close to $14k plus hundreds of hours of my time. It's been a huge undertaking and I wouldn't change anything. I could of probably saved thousands using aftermarket parts, but I wanted to be as true to the original as I could.

Long time between updates, but.... Almost done! Life + a lot of fiddly jobs got in the way of finishing the project off. Everything has been fitted now besides the rear wheel, the silencer and the fork guards. I'm waiting on the silencer mounts from Honda which were an 8-12 week ETA, also trying to track down a decent value spoke kit for the rear wheel as Honda want $240 for OEM spokes! Anyway looking forward to wheeling it outside and firing it up next week.

It's just painted. Obviously not as hard wearing as powder, but it can always be touched up with ease.

I wasn't going to start a new project until I finished my CR500 resto, but suddenly I found myself with a lot of time on my hands (inbetween juggling parenting duties). Growing up on the sidelines of a Motorcross track (Dad is a life member of Maffra-Sale), I wanted a Kawasaki badly, so much that still to this day green is my favourite colour and the 1989 kx125 was my dream bike! When one popped up for sale last year I couldn't help myself, I just HAD to have it. The poor old girl was a basket case and had been flogged. The smart decision would have just been to wreck it, but it's a shame to see these old bikes go to waste. The photos don't do justice to how rooted it really was. 60psi of compression, brake pads rusted to the pins, caliper pistons frozen inside the caliper and one so badly that I had to grind it out, no seals left in any master cylinder, all swingarm and linkage bearings and bushes badly rusted and seized. You get the idea.... I haven't taken many photos during this rebuild as I've been too busy swearing and bashing bits out, but I'm at the stage where I'm finally starting to put it all back together and so far I'm pretty happy with the results. I learnt many things during my last resto which has put me in good stead for this one. Anyway I'll try and keep this updated every now and again as I go.

Update time.... So a big box of effing expensive genuine parts finally arrived from the states which means that I've finally been able to start putting things back together. I also got the straightened radiators back and also the seat from Mario at Topline who did a bloody amazing job! The bottom end of the engine went back together without too much trouble, after heating the cases in the oven the bearings just slipped in. The only issue I has was putting a small washer in the wrong spot which meant that the transmission didn't shift properly, so I had to split the cases and rectify the problem and now it's all as smooth as butter. I'm just waiting on the RHS crankcase gasket to arrive because I'm an idiot and forgot to order one and then I can button up the last of the engine. It felt like I wasn't getting anywhere as I was doing the tedious things such as refinishing the swing arm which by the way is a lot of sanding and then careful finishing with a scotch-brite pad to bring back the brushed aluminium look. I literally sanded through my fingertips but holy shit does it come up nicely! So now that I've (mostly) finished building the engine it was time to put it into the frame, it was such a satisfying to see the 500cc sitting there looking brand spanking new. With the engine in place I could now install the swing arm and radiators and looking at the bike it's now coming together very nicely. I feel like I'm on a bit of a roll now so hopefully it'll be finished within a couple of weeks. The only major thing I've got left to decide on is the wheels. The front rim had a big flat spot, so it either needs to be repaired or replaced, but i've not been able to locate an original so I'm debating wether to just order some brand new Excel rims or try and track down an original from in good condition. The bike is all original and NOS parts besides the the plastics, the piston (because TSP reckons the Wössner pistons are much better than stock) and a shiny FMF Fatty, so I'm leaning toward finding a straight rim from somewhere. Anyway hopefully I can update some more complete pics real soon!

Well what a bloody awesome day out at Wombat today, perfect conditions for riding. Thanks to Pepperjack for leading an incredible ride, it was a great mix of terrain with some tracks that are probably the most fun I've ridden. Thanks to Mess and Markey Eck for doing a great job as sweeps, providing plenty of encouragement and help along the way. The ride flowed very well with minimal hiccups besides my flat and subsequent stop after forgetting to do up the pinch bolts. Turns out the forks work better bouncing up and down rather than squirming side to side. If anyone is looking for a circus perfomer, I put in a great audition with a perfectly executed backflip. Markey Eck would give me a good reference. Looking forward to the next one!

Starting to make a bit of progress now.. I picked up my nice shiny bits from the hydro blaster and they came up an absolute treat! I've just finished painting the frame and couldn't help myself but to mock up some of the rear end to give myself some motivation. I'm into the tedious boring bits at the moment, such as cleaning up all of the bolts and cross checking the parts diagram to make sure everything is there and I've also decided to do my own zinc plating to keep the bike as original as possible. The plating process has been pretty satisfying as the rusty old bolts are coming up like new again so it's worth the effort. Now I'm just waiting for all of my parts to arrive so I can start reassembling this thing.

By the looks of the dyno charts there is another 5hp at 1/4 throttle so that should allow for some nice tractability with the ability to pull a higher gear on those steeper climbs if need be. Fuel economy is meant to be even better than stock because of a more efficient combustion due to a better shaped head, but ultimately it probably depends more on riding style. I’d be interested to see what Gypsy thinks too as he knows the bike better than I do at the moment.

Fitted a new head and reflashed ECU. Engine sounds super crisp and cleaned up the bottom end. Can’t wait to give it the real test on the GF ride!

This week's progress..... Started stripping all of the cast aluminium parts so I can send them off to get hydroblasted. All of the bearings and hardware came out of the swingarm and linkage without too much drama which was nice. I stripped down the engine and everything was in better condition than I expected. The previous owner obviously didn't care too much for cosmetics, but looked after the engine well. I've taken to the cylinder down to TSP to have the cylinder measured accurately an according to Dave it's still on the original bore. I probably could have just put another piston in it, however I'm going to have it rebored and honed to the first oversize as the pistons are prone to skirt failures if there's any slop. Splitting the cases was relatively straightforward, although it got a little hung-up on one of the locating dowels due to some corrosion. The internals all look good, bearings and seals were all in good condition, but I'm going to replace them all anyway. I was in two minds about having the crank rebuild as there isn't any play in the bearings, but I may as well do it at the same time. Bearings slipped out of the cases with a little heat, only one requiring a little gentle persuasion. Next step is to get the hydroblasting done and the frame sandblasted and painted. It'll be nice to see some fresh bits to keep me motivated!

Nice, how far along are you?? I didn't even get to ride the bike before tearing it down so I'll definitely be up for a big bore day!

The strip down was pretty straightforward, the only trouble I ran into was seized swingarm and linkage bolts, nothing a bit of heat and gentle persuasion couldn’t fix. Frame is in good condition with no dints in the rails and the head stem bearing races have no signs of wear. Swingarm is a little beat up but minimal pitting and deep scratches, linkages look perfect besides the bearings. I’m pulling down the engine tomorrow, so hopefully no nasty surprises!

Hi Guys, I very excitedly picked up a 1998 CR 500R US import from the quarantine facility on Friday after patiently waiting a couple of months for it to arrive from Utah. This is my first nut and bolt restoration, so I though I would share the journey as I always enjoy reading other build threads. The bike arrived without any brake pads due to restrictions on importing asbestos, but otherwise it was all there. On first inspection it all looks as it was described on the ad, pretty rough cosmetically but overall in fair condition. I decided to throw some fuel in it and see if it would run after the journey and surprisingly it started after only 3 kicks, however there was a fair plume of white smoke so I suspect the head gasket was cactus. Time to start the strip down....