Done!!!

[grump99]

I just wanted to say thank you to those who have provided info and feedback on this conversion. The information posted here came in very handy.

1996 (or 1997) KX 250 forks on a 2004 KDX 200. The bike rides like a dream! Very solid and secure at high speed, yet very supple in the tight stuff. I pounded the front end into every rock and root I could find and it just soaked it up with ease, much less deflection. High speed cornering is fantastic, even with a half worn front tire.

The only things left to do are attach the brake line to the fork guard and get a proper set of bar mounts (had to jerry-rig the stock mounts). The forks touch only the left side of the gas tank very slightly, will have to add a small spacer of some sort.

Link to pics (in gallery):

http://www.kdxrider.net/forums/modules. ... _album.php

Thanks!

Tony

[/img]

[Indawoods]

Very nice!

[m0rie]

Looks good Tony!

[stringburner]

Mighty fine, looks like it came that way from the factory. I hope mine turns out that good.

[bradf]

Looks great. Now get out there and ride! Show the nasties who be the boss.

[grump99]

Thanks guys!!!

[KDXer]

Yeah indeed looks nice, very clean looking. Now time to get rid of those ice-cream scoop lookin hand guards.

[krazyinski]

ya those things can hurt your hands

[grump99]

Hehe, hand guards are next on my list actually. Maybe santa will bring me some .

[2001kdx]

Yea, i want some hadguards too. A friend of mine makes them, just plain steel{I think} bars. They work great on the RT, i bounced off a tree in 3rd gear!

[canyncarvr]

Gee. Your bike looks MUCH less used than mine!!

What is your BV stack setup?

If you're still running the 12 (or whatever dumb number) of 24s, take them down to four!

I'd guess the 'supple' comment means they've been tweaked already...

[krazyinski]

I dropped mine to (3) 24's very plush

[canyncarvr]

3x24..what? What's the measured thickness?

[grump99]

Have not checked the BV stack yet. I would assume they were changed when previous owner had them revalved for woods riding.

I do know that I like the compression damping a lot, the forks soak up the rough stuff very well at all speeds. No headshake at all. I just float over stuff that would have made me cringe with the stock forks. I do notice that the front end is coming up on me a lot more often, maybe because I'm on the throttle a lot more now? I adjusted the shock clickers and that helped. I can't believe how much faster I can ride since the switch.

I haven't even really fooled with the clickers yet either (14 compression 10 rebound). The next time I have the forks apart I will post the BV setup for reference.

Tony

[krazyinski]

3x24..what? What's the measured thickness?

I don't know. this is seat of the pants (polock) tuning, stock had 7 of them and I removed 4 then ride, pulled one more then ride. and this is were I am at. I had issues with the front coming up to easy and cornering problems. I had some co riders that race MX ride the bike and their opinion was it was difficult to get the proper weight and rider position the way the seat was positioned on the bike. I was running med GUTTs racing foam, very comfortable, so I switched to GUTTS tall hard foam with a gripper seat cover and the CR high mini bars and for me @ 5'5" this set up works with being able to put more weight up on the tank ,as far as comfort goes I spend 60-70 % of my time standing and the tall foam makes it easy to transition from one to the other. The longest single track I have in South Texas is 30 miles, I know some of you have much more area to ride. Now ever thing is perfect until I destroy it

[canyncarvr]

If I EVER found a 30 mile single track....well, I don't know what I'd do. Ride it alot. No such thing even CLOSE to that around here. Well, if our definitions match, and that may not be the case. The LONGEST section of single track in these parts (that I know of) is about four miles....and it's a sold timber sale. It will be gone forever shortly.

Back to track:

Grump: You don't have to take the forks apart to change/check the BV shim stack. Prop up the forks so the oil doesn't fall out, wrench out the valve, change stuff. I've known riders that do it on the side of the trail when they're in testing mode.

I'm sure you're aware of that process.

I'm saying you don't have to wait until a fork service or the next disassembly before you change your BV stack. Well...if you're interested. While it may well be 'great' where it is, you KNOW it's where it's SUPPOSED to be if you've been on both sides..soft/hard...and j-u-s-t right!

Anyway, I would encourage you to look at them sooner than later. That primarily because you say they have been revalved. To me that means they've been screwed up, 'cuz hardly ANYone does ANYthing right these days. Mine were screwed up. Put together somewhat backwards, they were.

I've made slight changes to my valving on my KX forks. I have NOT expended much effort and time on them.

Interesting comments on seat foam, riding position and such. The most curious discoveries are those that seem to not be connected in any way.

It may be all in my head, but I thought the handling of my bike improved a good bit when I changed to a firm seat foam.

Good input!!

Re: 'Now everything is perfect until.............'

Ha!

[grump99]

I had the base valves out a couple weeks ago to clean them. I didn't take them apart, but now I curious. I will post my findings.

[bradf]

After what we saw on CC's BV, I would advise anyone that gets used forks to tear them down and do a complete and thorough inspection for missing or damaged or upside down parts.

[canyncarvr]

A general input regarding base valves:

Have a piece of wire (or suitable substitute) handy when you take the shim stack off. Thread it through the stack, twist the ends into a loop.

Now you cannot mix the stack up..or find one teeny weeny shim stuck to another shim at an inopportune time, like after they're spread out all over the place and you're not sure where it went.

Depending on what you're doing, variations of that idea work better. Like a pin or stake that allows you to keep them straight, but also allows removal/addition of shims.

What you don't want to do is take the stack off without some method of keeping the stack oriented. It is very easy to lose track of thin shims that have been stacked, squeezed together, and swimming in oil.

grump: If you can, take a pic of the piston and post it.

Thanks!

[grump99]

Will do.