Updated E Series Cosmetics

[Thrahl]

Ever since I bought my KDX I wasn't really a fan of the styling. The headlight, angled rear fender, and radiator shrouds just looked outdated (because they are by today's standards ). So I set out to customize the cosmetics to something I was more happy with.
And here is the final result.




The list of modifications include:
'01 KX 125 front number plate
'99-'02 KX 125/250 rear fender
'99-'04 KX 500 side panels
Ebay graphics
KX60 swingarm decals on fork legs
Black gripper seat cover
Frame painted black
Swingarm stirpped to bare aluminum and semi-polished
Grabber green engine enamel on kickstarter, shifter, and brake
Wheels plasti-dipped black
FMF pipe painted black with header paint
Pipe guard painted silver
Brake lines wrapped with wiring conduit

Overall I am very pleased with how it came out. It looks a lot meaner than the dopey stock bike.
Possible future upgrades are newer KX 250F/450F front fender, green/black brake calipers, and USD forks at some point.
For now though I'm gonna ride it!
What do you guys think about the end result?

[Dekon]

I like it. In know you said you were going to go with USD forks, but black fork boots would look really cool on it now.

[Postigo]

Good job looks awesome!

[diymirage]

I am very surprised at how much it looks like my 96 KDX (consider that a compliment)
(the angle of the rear fender, the swingarm decals on the front forks)
not that it matters, but were you in any way influenced by my bike ?

[Thrahl]

I am very surprised at how much it looks like my 96 KDX (consider that a compliment)
(the angle of the rear fender, the swingarm decals on the front forks)
not that it matters, but were you in any way influenced by my bike ?

I've been influenced by a lot of people's bikes on here
Someone posted on here a while back about the swingarm decals on the forks and I liked the look so I did it too. It was probably you who posted it I don't remember.
The fender just happened like that. The KX fender mounted up really easily and just so happened to fall into that position which is in line with the angle of the seat. If I remember correctly your bike has/had a slightly bent frame which caused the fender to point a little higher than usual.

Some other influenced parts were the painted engine bits which I believe came from Slick_Nick's build a while back and the wrapped brake lines which I got from someone's bike I found while googling kdx pics

Honestly most of it was just out of necessity. When I bought it parts were either completely missing or rusted/nasty looking and I had the bike torn apart rebuilding everything so I painted/replaced as I went.

The wheels are straight from Thumpertalk though. There is a big thread there about plasti-dipping wheels if anyone else is interested.

[diymirage]

yup, that was mine http://kdxrider.net/forums/viewtopic.ph ... rm#p129092
I sincerely hope your hold up better then mine did, they came off after about 4 rides
one of those was in the snow though...for what that is worth

the rims really update it
looks good

[Thrahl]

yup, that was mine http://kdxrider.net/forums/viewtopic.ph ... rm#p129092
I sincerely hope your hold up better then mine did, they came off after about 4 rides
one of those was in the snow though...for what that is worth

the rims really update it
looks good

4 rides? You must have been lucky, mine peeled in 1 haha.
I noticed they started to lift the day after I put them on but decided to just push them back down and ride. They ended up getting dirt under them and basically were ruined.
So I peeled them off, took off the dirt and most of the glue with a razor blade and then stuck them back down with some really strong double sided tape.
That seems to have done the trick but the dirt had kind of messed them up already so it's not perfect. Good enough though.
If you decide to redo yours just use something stronger to hold them on and you should be fine.

[diymirage]

planning on it :)

I guess the plastic is just a tad too thick for the fork, not meant to be bent
I just might cook them for maybe 10 minutes at 200 degrees to make them nice and pliable

its hard to tell from this side of the pics you posted but how is your chain tension ?
looks mighty tight to me

you know what I think would look real good too ?
if you could have a local shop put a little bit of a kick in the tube leading into the spark arrestor so it follows the same line as the fender

[Thrahl]

planning on it :)

I guess the plastic is just a tad too thick for the fork, not meant to be bent
I just might cook them for maybe 10 minutes at 200 degrees to make them nice and pliable

its hard to tell from this side of the pics you posted but how is your chain tension ?
looks mighty tight to me

you know what I think would look real good too ?
if you could have a local shop put a little bit of a kick in the tube leading into the spark arrestor so it follows the same line as the fender

These pics were taken right after installing my rear wheel before I had set the slack. I set it to spec shortly after.

If I bent the silencer to match the fender I don't think it would line up with the mounting holes anymore.
And besides that means more downtime. I've only taken it out a couple times in the past two months and I'm itching to ride

[kdxproject90]

How was it fitting up that rear fender? Was there many modifications need to make it fit right?

[Gotanubike]

Yeah I've been in this thread multiple times searching E series rear fender fitments. Wondering which fender is that exactly? Stock, Maier, UFO, Acerbis??? That bike looks mean, also what size tire?

There's a bit more on this rear fender fitment in this thread

http://www.kdxrider.net/forums/viewtopi ... 0&p=121747

Also a detailed picture tutorial on fitting the fender to the bike. KX500 procedure more/less the same as the KDX200

[diymirage]

I was looking at my trailer the other day and I noticed one of the decals that was starting to come of off the forks
I had ripped it off and stuck it on the trailer so as not to litter (halfway expecting the wind to rip it off on my way back...almost a year later the decal I'd still there

[Thrahl]

I haven't been on this forum for quite a while so I didn't see these new questions. You guys may have got it all figured out by now but I'll give you the rundown of what I did for the rear fender in case someone stumbles upon this from Google or something.

The rear fender is from a 1999-2002 KX125/250. I believe mine is a stock takeoff but I imagine any brand would be the same.
It has big plastic fins on the top of the fender that interfere with the bottom of the seat so you have to cut all of that off. I just used a hacksaw, you can't see it with the seat on anyways.
Then you have to make a small cut-out for the exhaust which you can sort of see in the second pic of this thread.
Again hacksaw/utility knife/dremel does the trick no problem.

And that's it really. Its a bit of a tight squeeze between the frame rails but the stock holes line up perfectly.
I only have it held on with the two frame bolts (which btw have been replaced with much shorter ones since taking that picture with the really long ones).
I think you might be able to get one of the airbox bolts in with a bracket or by drilling a new hole but it's really solid how it is.

The rear tire is a 110/100-18. I don't think you can go any bigger without getting dangerously close to the swingarm.

And for anyone who's interested, this bike has been updated since this thread with an RM125 USD front end and KX250f/450f front fender. You can check out that build here.

[Gotanubike]

Acerbis 99-02 Kx125 fender works AWESOME but it likes to move around since there isn't really anything holding it in place..

Here isa pic tutorial I mae when I installed it

http://www.kdxrider.net/forums/viewtopi ... it=acerbis

[Thrahl]

I knew you would have already figured it out lol. I didn't do any cutting on the seat of my bike. The fit is a little tight and there might be some weird pressures in areas but after many hours I haven't had any issues yet.
I also didn't have to go nearly as aggressive with the trimming for the exhaust side, I just made a small cut for the silencer to pass though.

Glad you got it all figured out though, it looks good.

[3j3j3j]

How has the plastidip held up?

[Thrahl]

I messed up when I sprayed it on. You're supposed to tape it up with an inch of the tire still exposed so that after it dries you peel the dip from the tire and it cuts it perfectly around the rim. I did it like you would paint, taping right up to the edge of the rim and it ended up peeling up the edges in spots before I even got it on the dirt. So obviously dirt and mud peeled it even more.
Plus I had a badly blown fork seal that dripped oil on it for a solid month and turned the dip to goo.

I just taped up the bad areas and quickly resprayed them. Looks fine from a couple feet away and has held up good so far.

It's held up extremely well on my sport bike and friends dirt bikes so I imagine if I redid it the right way it would last much longer.
It's just annoying to tape up the spokes so I've been putting it off.

[seanalex538]

I saw this post a few weeks ago and quikly went out and bought a 1999 kx rear fender. I then got a 2013 kxf front fender and number plate. I searched for days and COULD NOT find kx500 side plastics! So i stuck with black side plastics and radhrouds. I will post pics soon!