Here goes nothing!
Posted: 11:48 am Apr 27 2020
Oh where to begin lol, this bike and i have some history to say the least, maybe I'll get around to some of the stories one day but for now I'll do a quick background to get up to where i am currently.
This awesome machine entered my family somewhere around 94 or 95 i believe. I would have been 12-13 and we had been riding offroad as a family for three or four years, mostly my dad, sister, and i, mom eventually got a quad and joined. Anyhow, i ended up in the kdx more than not and we bonded lol. I rode it until somewhere around '00 when i started riding quads more because that's what everyone else was on and it was easier to strap a cooler to.... I left for school around 01 and the kdx sat in my dads shed for the next eight years while i was on the other side of country. This did it no favors although i am lucky it fared as well as it did, and also lucky it didn't get sold (while i was away, parents divorced, new wife made dad sell all bikes and related things, i regret not convincing him to sell me his 220, but hindsight, past is what it is...) In 2009 I moved back east and reclaimed the beast. After clearing a mouse nest from the airbox, and carb boot and a thorough carb clean (although it should have been replaced) I got it back out in the woods and remembered how much fun it was. I don't know if it was the fact that i was trying to focus on my career or that i was spending most of my time on street bikes but the kdx was neglected... in '13 my wife and I had to relocate temporarily and I made a deal with a friend to look after, ride and enjoy the kdx as long as he didn't sell it. Well the hiatus took longer than planned as i should have known, but in 2016 we made it back east and i once again took possession of my kdx. Well as life goes, we bought a house and with go shed or garage, the kdx was put in a storage unit until further notice. I have plenty of other projects! I also don't know any other riders in the area yet and was low on motivation. Well my friends kids are out growing the cheap knockoff little bikes and getting into some real riders so i decided its time to do my poor kdx justice and give her the freshening she deserves.
So it begins. I am aware that this will be a build out of love, and I'm pretty sure that I'll easily invest more in the rebuild that when we bought the barley two year old bike lol. I'm OK with that.
The plan, new tires, wheel bearings front and rear, swingarm feels OK, new bars, grips and levers, steering head bearings, new expansion chamber and repack of the hockey stick, fork rebuild with gold valves, (may do springs eventually but I'm gonna do the rebuild and ride this summer as is) v force3 reeds, kx head gasket, replate and new piston, new crank seals and bearings, possibly plastics....i want to make it as right and tight as possible.
My challenges so far: unobtanium
Well i should have known with a limited production bike that I'd hit some snags. The biggest challenges so far are that i need a carb, i emailed Ron Black and was told they have nothing for me which leaves Lectron or replacing the stock pwk38. I'm still undecided as lectron can't help me until they get back to work after corona lockdown, so I'm starting to lean towards contacting sudco for a pwk....
Second, and perhaps bigger issue currently is that my shift shaft has gotten bent.... and apparently it was specific to this run of bikes. I am taking a gamble on one from a 88-92? Kx250, they use the same deal and visually look the same so when it arrives I'll know if it'll work or not, I'm guessing that the length may be my only issue, at which point, i may have to use the straight shaft and have it welded... not my first option but...
So currently i have the tires on, cases split, cylinder at millennium, and plenty left to do lol.
I'll try get some pictures up tonight.
This awesome machine entered my family somewhere around 94 or 95 i believe. I would have been 12-13 and we had been riding offroad as a family for three or four years, mostly my dad, sister, and i, mom eventually got a quad and joined. Anyhow, i ended up in the kdx more than not and we bonded lol. I rode it until somewhere around '00 when i started riding quads more because that's what everyone else was on and it was easier to strap a cooler to.... I left for school around 01 and the kdx sat in my dads shed for the next eight years while i was on the other side of country. This did it no favors although i am lucky it fared as well as it did, and also lucky it didn't get sold (while i was away, parents divorced, new wife made dad sell all bikes and related things, i regret not convincing him to sell me his 220, but hindsight, past is what it is...) In 2009 I moved back east and reclaimed the beast. After clearing a mouse nest from the airbox, and carb boot and a thorough carb clean (although it should have been replaced) I got it back out in the woods and remembered how much fun it was. I don't know if it was the fact that i was trying to focus on my career or that i was spending most of my time on street bikes but the kdx was neglected... in '13 my wife and I had to relocate temporarily and I made a deal with a friend to look after, ride and enjoy the kdx as long as he didn't sell it. Well the hiatus took longer than planned as i should have known, but in 2016 we made it back east and i once again took possession of my kdx. Well as life goes, we bought a house and with go shed or garage, the kdx was put in a storage unit until further notice. I have plenty of other projects! I also don't know any other riders in the area yet and was low on motivation. Well my friends kids are out growing the cheap knockoff little bikes and getting into some real riders so i decided its time to do my poor kdx justice and give her the freshening she deserves.
So it begins. I am aware that this will be a build out of love, and I'm pretty sure that I'll easily invest more in the rebuild that when we bought the barley two year old bike lol. I'm OK with that.
The plan, new tires, wheel bearings front and rear, swingarm feels OK, new bars, grips and levers, steering head bearings, new expansion chamber and repack of the hockey stick, fork rebuild with gold valves, (may do springs eventually but I'm gonna do the rebuild and ride this summer as is) v force3 reeds, kx head gasket, replate and new piston, new crank seals and bearings, possibly plastics....i want to make it as right and tight as possible.
My challenges so far: unobtanium
Well i should have known with a limited production bike that I'd hit some snags. The biggest challenges so far are that i need a carb, i emailed Ron Black and was told they have nothing for me which leaves Lectron or replacing the stock pwk38. I'm still undecided as lectron can't help me until they get back to work after corona lockdown, so I'm starting to lean towards contacting sudco for a pwk....
Second, and perhaps bigger issue currently is that my shift shaft has gotten bent.... and apparently it was specific to this run of bikes. I am taking a gamble on one from a 88-92? Kx250, they use the same deal and visually look the same so when it arrives I'll know if it'll work or not, I'm guessing that the length may be my only issue, at which point, i may have to use the straight shaft and have it welded... not my first option but...
So currently i have the tires on, cases split, cylinder at millennium, and plenty left to do lol.
I'll try get some pictures up tonight.
