20. Not shocked, Linked in.

After spending the summer buried in three different history texts and writing over one hundred pages reporting on those books I did not feel the drive to write here. But with a few days off I have brought myself back to the keyboard to expose some of the KXProject happenings.
Two posts ago I began to tackle the shock and linkage, in this post I wash off all that dirt and rust and begin pulling bits apart.
Obviously the first task at hand was to bathe everything, I didn't get to take pictures of the bath scene because everyone was too shy to pose in such a state. After drying out I dove into the dismantle, and each time I do so I am amazed more than the last time as to the total lack of care and maintenance the past owners bestowed upon this bike.

The linkage arm:
As is and was the case with all bearings on the KX these were knackered, thus they had to come out and new put back in. I made the rounds of the local shops just to get an idea of what pressing the old ones out would run me. The cheapest I came up with was 25$ per bearing, ppffftt. In this economy, right. How do those guys stay in business?
So I created a press for a grand total of $0. A neighbor had some threaded rod, nuts and washers laying around which he kindly donated to the cause. I scrounged around a few local scrap piles and came up with a "receiver" and pulled out my impact sockets to play the part of "presser". I also pulled out the mini torch to add just a hint of heat if needed.
Here is the basic setup: Run a nut up a bit on the left side of the threaded rod, then a 3/4 or so flat washer then a larger fender washer that is a touch larger than the receiver tube, place the receiver onto the rod upto the washers. Place the rod through the bearings to be removed. Next find a corresponding sized socket, just a bit smaller than the bore, but a large enough to positively engage the bearing. Slide that onto the rod on the right side of the arm follow by another set of proper washers and another nut. Snug up this contraption making sure to keep all straight so as not to cause any jamming. Perhaps a little oil and heat, I used both and those suckers slid like butter.
Pressing away.













Viola.













Two down one to go.













Ah crap.













Wonder if those boys noticed any catching in the suspension when cruising over the bumps.












I would like to say these fell out, but they didn't.













With the bearings pressed out I turned my attention to the shock once again.
Unsprung. Prebath.


















Sanded.













Ready for primer.













Primed and painted.













More fun next time.

19. Framed

I have been busy with college, I have 13 weeks of classes crammed into 8, phew. But the project continues to move along, slow and steady. I had to hold of this Saturday as I 'had' to attended the AMA National at Washougal. Snapped a few pics, and as it was retro weekend I retroed it up with a film camera, no fancy digital camera, so it's off to the developers tomorrow. They vintage 2 strokes were on hand for a few laps, talk about slow and steady, well slow anyway. I still love the 2 strokes though.

As can be guessed by anyone who has "followed" my progress, as slow and sporadic as it has been, would correctly assume that the entire machine has been entirely stripped. So a few photos to prove the point.

Having fun.













Almost bare naked.













The rear master cylinder screws were rusted solid, had to drill them out. No surprise really.












Can't wait until I get to the rusty bits.













Workshop number one. I also have some tomatoes and peppers growing off to the right.












Freshly peeled.


















Rust-o-leum self etching primer laid down.


















Ready for the green.


















Lookin' better.













Green.













Some detail.













After all this work, I will be afraid to ride it for fear of scratching it.













But, why build it if I am not going to ride it? No, as one of the first post says this bike will be for riding.











Now it really feels like progress.

18. Shocked

As mentioned in the last post work has not ceased, it did slow down, and I find myself quite a bit behind in updates versus work that has actually been done.

I should have been shocked, but I wasn't. The state in which I found the shock, linkage and swing arm was appalling. When I pulled the pivot bolt rust and a few needle bearings fell to the floor.

One side benefit from working on such equipment is that your hands do not become oil and grease soaked. A quick and simple rinse with hot water and soap cleans the hands right up, no need for brushes and repeated scrubbing. One disadvantage is trying to remove all the frozen bearing parts and related bits. A few grunts and some grumbling later the swing arm was off.

Off.













See what I mean, rust.
This is just the way it came out of the bike.













One thing that astonishes me is the lack of lube where it is needed, and the overuse where it is not. Take the following for example, sure some did make it to the bearings, a paste thickened with sand. But why an all encompassing mass is needed around the stem bolt is beyond me.

This was fun to clean.


















The same story holds true for the swing arm, I was unable to find any lube internally, it seems lubrication was for the external bits only.

DIRT bike.-------->


















My hands looked like prunes after all the cleaning.













Just think of all the new bearings I will have when finished.













I do this for fun, and it is.













I may have spoke too soon earlier, my hands got plenty dirty fiddlin' with this stuff. I did need more than soap and water.

Ah, nothing shocks me on this project anymore.

See how things look when cleaned, refurbished and painted in the next installment.

17. Were was I? How's the Project?

Well, well, well.....it has been so long since I have written any tidbits of info in the bloggisphere. I must provide an update and say thanks as some donations have rolled in. Let's get to it.

I want to keep this blog about the bike, not about my personal life, all I will go into here is that I am working on an Associates degree. Funny how the posts ceased at about the same time I entered the program. That is not to say I also ceased working on the KXProject, the pace did slow to a crawl, yet some things did get done. Sandblasting took place, dirty hands, and an accursed set of swing arm bearings had to be dealt with. Cleaning, priming and painting of a few items took place as well. All of these edge of your seat stories will be posted here in short order. I do NOT get the summer off, but I do have fewer hours of classes, so hoping to ramp up the project proportionately.

I was also reintroduced to my long lost love. Wow, is she hot, even after all those long years apart, ten years since our last meeting. I even got dressed up for the occasion, and I must say I felt a bit awkward the first 30 minutes or so, stumbling and fumbling so as not to look the fool. After an hour or so though, I was wearing a huge dumb grin across my face, remembering how beautiful it all used to be, and was sure to be again.

After that first weekend together again, in April, we met two more times, but alas, I think we will be apart for a few months, at least until autumn at the earliest. Oh, well, a few months is not to long after nothing for a decade. I just wanna say "thanks for showing up again". Snowboarding, I'm back. Just don't break any of my bones.

Yes, snowboarding and the siren song of the mountains have pulled me back into their clutches, but I think I can put up with that.

That is plenty of information about non KX stuff, you don't need any more.

Onto donations, I have been finding out that the little button in the upper right hand side corner works. I must say thank you for the donations, and yes a little goes a long way on this project. Thanks again.

I will start to post project reports again, so after a bit of a hiatus, I'm back.

16. What's goin' on?

Many things goin' on, and have found that time slips by so quickly. Haven't updated the KX project since March 8th, but that does not mean no work has taken place. Actually, quite a few things have gotten done while catching up on the SX series over the weekends.

For example, one of the local shops held a sorta' tent sale, I was instructed to be there early as a line begins to form at around 8 am. I showed up and found myself fifth in line, waited for an hour to pass and the doors to open, when they did the masses poured in. I will be honest, prices where low, if you wanted selected youth or outdated clothing, energy drink emblazoned paraphernalia, or cheap Chinese riding gear. Ah, what a huge disappointment, not one single hard part to be found, no wait, I did find Renthal unbreakable levers for $30. I made a dash to the vendor.

"Show me the Renthals please."

"We don't carry Renthal, but we do have these, they are the pioneer of the unbreakable lever."

"These" turned out to be something that looked like they came off of my dad's 1967 Triumph, aside from the fact that they had some strange geared, levered knuckle joint so as to be unbreakable. Over this u-joint was a strip of dry rotted old inner tube. No self respecting rider would mount this crap to his bike.

"Isn't that false advertising, saying Renthal levers and you don't have them?"

"No, it is the only banner I have, and I do sell levers for $30. You want one or what?"

"No thanks."

The whole "sale" was really a joke I think, much like the dealers themselves. Walking into a dealership these days is like walking into an 'Old Navy' or 'Gap' for "bikers". An avalanche of clothing spills out as one enters these new cycle emporiums, all walks of the bike world are not immune. Fifteen years ago when I worked at a dealer we had hard parts galore, ones you could touch and fondle before buying. I walked into that same dealer not long ago and couldn't find part one while shoveling H-D vests and pants out of the way. Same goes for the sport bike crowd and the MX as well. I want to see parts, and things I can bolt on that will make my ride lighter, faster, and more aesthetically pleasing, "Rockhard" and "Mobster" energy drink underwear ain't cuttin' it for me.

So, when another dealer was to hold a similar sale I growned and prepared for another dismal showing. But, to my surprise and joy, 85 percent of the sale was hard parts, and lots of um. The prices where excellent too.

The KX project has a number of items on the "replace" list, and I hoped to tick a few off. I spied boxes of green plastics, but what were the chances of finding 1989 KX plastics, 100 percent none I found out. I was prepared for this though, and after digging into a number of crates full of body work I came out with something I needed. A 2001 KX 125 Polisport front fender, and yes it works. A little further prospecting and up came some Maier fork/brake gaurds, these being from a '89 KDX 250, yes they do match up perfectly to my 125er.




Ten bucks, perfect.




















No holes, how do I attach it?













Start measuring.













I think I have seen that pick before.













Measure once, drill twice.













Looks right.













Start drilling already.













There they are.













Don't use the largest bit first, start small.
Measure the grommet and drill hole to match.












Hope it works.













And for all you smarties, I do know which way the grommets go, see next photo.













That will do.


















For those of you who noticed the donate button, I had hoped to race the KX project this year, but alas, it seems my hopes have been dashed. Unemployment does not agree with spending money on the project, I would rather eat and live, but I still want to race. So if any of you feel like helping out, a little in the pot goes along way. This is a budget racer remember, thanks.

Next time, maybe some more painting or cleaning, it all needs to be done.

15. True

Well, what can I say. Three times I have set out to update this post, but lacked focus.

Letting the bearings chill in the freezer I readied the tools I would need to drive them home. A deadblow hammer, a socket that matches the outside race of the bearing and snapring pliers.

Cooling shrinks things, which is good, so my bearings had shrunk. I could not discern by how much with my naked eye, but I placed the first onto/into the hub and rapped it home via the socket making sure to seat it all the way home. A flip of the wheel, and not forgetting to drop in the inner spacer, I drove tight the second bearing, then a pinch of the snapring into its groove and the hub was nearly complete. I squeezed in the seals and slid the axle into place. Done.

After cleaning, polishing, painting and lacing up the front wheel it was time to true it. Let me preface this story with two points: 1. It is terribly difficult to true a wheel, false. Many of the new breed of rider has been mislead by money grubbing dealers, and shops, into believing wheels are some sort of item that the cosmic bodies must be in alignment to service. Not true; I only wish that these kids would take some time to actually work on their bikes, to understand how and why the work the way they do. So many of the younger riders I come in contact with answer the question of "how did you fix that?" with "I dunno, the guy at the shop said he did sumthin' with it, and now it works". And at $80 an hour, ouch.

I have come across a few who do work on their machines and it seems to me they get more out of the riding, the lifestyle of motorcycling. I know I do. For all you who wonder, and read the forum postings telling you not to build and true wheels, just try it, it can be done. If you need any help, many people are out there ready and willing, myself included.

Point number 2. I forgot what it was after preaching so vehemently.

As of right now I do not have a large shop, or even a small shop in which to work, each time I tinker on the KX I must unpack all my tools and equipment along with any of the parts I will be working on that day. Sooo, I don't have a truing stand set up, but forks or a swingarm will do just as good, as this is the front wheel, the forks would do the trick. A word to the wise, make sure all is secure and tight, that goes for forks, axle, pointers or gauges, you do not want any movement or shifting.


I placed the fork legs into the triple clamps and laid them across an old shop chair, tying all together and making double sure that no movement would be possible. I used a pick secured to the fork leg as a read out gauge, (in the photo I used a rubber band to hold the pick, which I forgot to snap as work commenced, zip ties and tape were used during actual work.)

The rim needs to be the same distance from the pick all way round. How do you achieve this? By tightening or loosening spokes, for example, if the rim is 1/8th of an inch AWAY from the pointer, the rim needs to be pulled "in". To pull this low spot in, start in the center, and work out, of the low area by tightening the near side spokes. If tightening the near side a half turn, loosen the far side spokes a half turn.

To remedy a high spot loosen the near side spokes and tighten the far side spokes, work slowly, using 1/4 turns and be patient. Something that helps with spoke adjusting is to make sure when building the wheel to use a lube on the spoke threads and nipple seats. This will prevent hours of cursing in the future when it comes time to service the wheel, which you will need to do. The wheel must also be round, not an egg shape, so make sure of this with another gauge. Flopping around the track on oval wheels ain't cool.


Once I had all secured it took about fifteen minutes to true the wheel. I had to make sure that each spoke was tight by giving them a tuning ping, all was good, I'll check them on the first ride and adjust accordingly.

At some point in the near future I will finish off the front wheel by mounting the rim lock, tape, tube and tire.

14. Hubba, Hubba

One of the things I did this week was tear into the front wheel, actually it was in quite good shape, considering the rest of the machine. Though, as with most older bikes, the spokes have been neglected, dirty and rusted tight. The tire was also contaminated with the hideous dry rot disease.

Out came the tire irons, and in a matter of minutes I had that dry tire heaved into the "get rid of" pile, along with the tube. The rim tape was given a wash and is in condition to be reused, although the same cannot be said of the rim lock which split in two when I went to do a proper inspection, so new tube, and rim lock are needed. I did get three brand new tires thrown in when I purchased this project, a sand, a soft and an intermediate, at least I will only need to procure a rear tire.

To loosen the tight spokes a squirt of Blaster oil did the trick, and after pulling all thirty six, I decided they needed a bath and shine as I would be reusing them.
A dollar spent for some "CLR" was well worth it, all the nuts, bolts and spokes take a bath in this stuff to rid the rust.

















This is not going to be fun, thirty six dirty spokes.













Everybody in the pool. By the way, remember there are two different lengths and bends, don't get them confused.











After spending about an hour in the chemical pool, a vigorous scrubbing with a wire brush is needed, then a dip into some rinse water then they must be dried promptly.










Here is what you can achieve with some steel wool and "Mothers" polish.












A close up of a before and after.













So, a few blisters and some arm pump, why? Well, 36 spokes times once with a wire brush, once with steel wool and once with polish, 36x3=108. And, each "once" was not one time, but a series of repeated, rapid, rubbing motions, thus a few blisters and some arm fatigue.

Next on the to do list was the hub, after carefully prying off the dust seals, which are in great shape, I pulled the inner snap ring and set out to remove the bearings. For this I used one of my old maple drumsticks that had been converted into a sort of punch or drift, one time use only. Inserted into the hub, I reached for a deadblow hammer and drove out the first side, flipped the hub over and wrapped out the second. Like I said, this wheel was in okay shape, and the bearings came out with no problem. As with any bearing one removes a new must take its place, and with a couple of hours research I found two for $5.25 with free shipping, you know what the dealer gets for those. A lot more.

All the bits, minus the bearings.













Time to get cleaned up.













You again.













I like photos, so I am including many of them, enjoy. The nylon brush made another appearance.











Much cleaner than before.













Another view.













In the spray booth ready for primer.













Primed.













Painted and getting laced.













A rim that has been washed and steel wooled, laced with hand rubbed spokes and a freshly painted hub.











Ready to jam some bearings home.













In the next post, bearings installed and truing the wheel, should be a hoot.