KDXRIDER.NET

This is related to the front end conversion I am doing with the KX125 front I bought from SS109's buddy. We found the KX front rim cracked, and SS109 sent me a KDX rim to lace up to the KX hub since spokes and all were in great shape. I have started trying to change that rim.

The first snag is that the KX spoke nipples won't fit the KDX rim. The nipples are 8.3 mm vs about a 7.7 mm hole in the rim. I have been watching some vids on line and saw a street bike wheel build where the guy (a professional restorer) drilled out the holes in the rim. Can I do that in this situation? I am a bit at a loss if I can't. I have no idea if a set of nipples for the KDX would thread into the KX spokes.

Looking for ideas. Thanks for any help!
Bill

You can drill them out with good results. I put an 18" rim onto my KX 125 hub when doing my hybrid conversion and I ran into this exact problem. I can't remember which drill bit I used, but I just used it in a hand drill to open up each hole in the rim. I'm sure the holes didn't end up exactly perfect with regards to alignment, but the wheel trued up nicely and hasn't given me any troubles. Drill away!

Use a ream for the final size to reduce the chance of a small imperfection causing a stress crack. Just my 2 cents.

How did this turn out? I am considering the same thing to replace a damaged rim.

I have lots of things on my plate at the moment so it is going slow, but it is going fine. No reason it should not work out well.

A reamer proved hard to find locally so I drilled it in steps to get the best hole size consistency and surface finish I could. The wheel is assembled. It went together fine, looks good. It needs trued now. I have a buddy with a fixture and indicator so I am looking for a chance to get over to his place with the wheel to get that done.

That's about it. I looked all over the web researching how to lace the thing up but it was easy. I just needed to do it. Make sure you take some measurements on wheel offset before you start. The best tutorial I found was at Web Bike World (love that site). It's a street wheel but it all applies.

http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycle- ... ke-wheels/



G'luck!