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The $1500 jigsaw puzzle: Or the only way I can afford a KTM

poser

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Joined
Mar 25, 2007
Messages
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Location
COS
First Name
jason
Last Name
bohac
Background:
I've had a bad case of the "orange crush" ever since the dirt bug bit me. Unfortunately my budget did not agree. I ended up buying an older broke down XR400, and bringing it back to life. Rode it and LOVED it, such a great bike. Thought it would be what I needed for riding woods and stuff. After a few trips to SHNF, I started thinking lighter/smaller might be good. That was even further spurred on when i rode with a group of guys, one having a Honda CRF250X, and he was FAST [and bigger than me]. I was definiately thinking 250 range at that point. What finally sealed the deal for me was a trip to a MX park, Southwest MX park in Needville. It was my firt time on an MX track, and I was rock'n the XR like I didn't know any better [got a few funny looks :lol2:]. It was then and I found I really like jumping, and the XR didn't like it as much as I did. So the wheels start turning and I'm trying to figure out how to turn my XR into a modern 250.
I came across a comment on TON in a thread of someone else looking for a project bike, of this dude selling the KTM. So I sent him a message asking if he was interested in selling. Long story short, I sold the XR, and took that cash down to Victoria and picked up the KTM. That was over a year ago :doh:

A few details about the bike:
I'm the third owner, firt owner had it for about a year, older dude and just trail rode it. The guy I bought it from had just come off a bad crash on a CRF450, and decided something less powerful would be more safe. He bought the KTM from the dude in Lubbock IIRC, and dropped it off in the DFW area at a racing suspension outfit called Donnie Elmer. He spent about $1200 getting it resprung and valved front and rear for a guy is his size. As luck would have it, this guy was my size! :thumb:
I takes it home, rides it for a while and loves it. As he tells it, he had just come off a jump and was down shifting and the shifter felt like it was sticking so he crammed it down as hard as he could and then just rolled. Pulled it apart and found a broken gear in the transmission. There it say, opened up for over a year, and he lost interest. Said he was going back to racing cars on dirt.
Everything was laid out nice and neat, and grouped together. So when i arrived, we looked evreything over and loaded all the motor parts [completely disassembled] into boxes. Things like the clutch parts were all bagged together in a zip-lock, as well as the cam stuff. All the bolts were in their holes where possible. So I felt pretty good.

Fast forward to now, I've had it just over a year, and finally motivated to get it going. I had a few 4wheeler project I wanted to get done first [Suzuki LTZ400 sport quad, and the beast]. Then it was too hot to spend any amount of time in the garage. So now I'm iching to ride it, and tired of getting made fun of :lol2:.

Its going together nicely. So far I have the transmission back together [bought a complete one off ebay instead of just replacing the one gear, figured it was easier], shift forks and all that back in, and the cases are back together. A few other items are back in. I had to order a lock washer for the clutch basket nut, so I stopped the other night. I'm going to keep going and put the top end back on this weekend and stuff. My hope it to get to together and running sometime this next week.

Stay tuned......

A few teaser pics.
More pics to come...

sorry for the lame cell phone pics

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and yes I am that much of a poser that I put stickers on a bike before it is running :lol2:
 
1. The days of blaming your cell phone for your crappy photography skills are just about over. 5MP camera in my phone. :mrgreen:
2. That is a heck of a jigsaw puzzle. You could have afforded an older already assembled KTM, but that one will go pretty darn nice once you get it up and running.
3. Since you chose an appropriate name, you don't need to defend your posership every single time.
 
1. The days of blaming your cell phone for your crappy photography skills are just about over. 5MP camera in my phone. :mrgreen:

One would think.... Heck I have an 8mp camera on my Evo and my 5 year old Canon point and shoot outdoes it with every photo.

Good luck Jason! It's going to be a sweet running bike once all is said and done. Oh yeah, what was wrong with it in the first place?
 
PO [the second owner] broke a gear in the transmission. I bought a complete tranny off ebay not long after picking the bike up.

Oh and I think its more about the lense than MP at this point. Unless lighting is perfect, my BB takes pics like these
 
Oh yea, a DSLR will outdo an camera phone, but the current crop of cameras in phones are pretty sweet, and will take some nice photos. I'm just saying that the excuse of camera phones for crappy photos is going out the window. :mrgreen:
 
updated first post to help get it back on track :rofl:
 
KTM trannys I thought?

oh by the way, Don't google image search "KTM tranny" with the safe search turned off!!! :brainsnap:puke:
 
Made some good progress tonight.
Just about have the bottom end finished, all I lack is the clutch, torque down the flywheel, stator cover and shifter and stuff.
Got the top end all together, and hopefully the cams in correct.
I should be able to throw it in the frame the next time I work on it.
I'm too tired to post any pics
 
was putting on some of the last pieces last night, and then nearly made myself cry when I broke the inner clutch hub.
All thats left is the clutch, front sprocket, rear brake lever, and shifter.

Haven't really posted any pics because our laptop got pushed off the table and the old computer takes FOREVER to get pics off the camera and upload them. Soon I'll have pics
 
Sorry to hear the mis-hap. Sometimes those five bolt hubs only fit one way. Be sure you can seat it by hand before putting the springs and bolts on. Five ways to line it up, four of them are wrong. Not always, not certain yours is that way, but have seen and worked on one that was.
 
Update:
Everything is together, well pretty much.
As I was trying to bleed the hydrolic clutch, I discovered a problem with the clutch slave cylinder. There was a little scouring inside, preventing the piston from moving in and out smoothly, and sticking possibly preventing the clutch from disengaging.
As it turns out this is fairly common, as in looking at the replacment part you get referenced to a new part number. i guess KTM figured it out and sourced a better unit. I found a few guys on KTM talk with the same issue. I can see how this problem would cause a situation for the previous owner to break the gear in the mannor he did.

That being said, I'm still waiting on that, but everything else is ready. I even dropped some gas in it to see it I could get it to start.
Choked it, kicked thru the stroke a few times, and it kicked over in just a few kicks!!!!
I was so excited I started helling and screaming :lol2: It sounds soooo good, especially considering how long its been in the garage, and me day dreaming about it :lol2:

Here's a few pics, and I'm going to try and throw together a little slide show of the motor coming together

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Very nice. You are going to love that thing. On the other hand, those of us with really old KTM's know that you won't have that problem with a cable clutch. :mrgreen:
 
well she's finally finshed 100% :dude:
There were a few set backs, but she's ready to go. I'm going to take her out on a short "shake down" ride at a place close to the house this weekend, and then to the forest Feb 19.

Stay tuned for pics of the finished product :thumb:
 
shake down ride went great. let me tell you that thing is a beast for a 250. it really surprised and scared me a few times. Oh and it likes to wheelie :thumb:

First real world ride will be next month, Feb 19th, in the forest, everyone is welcome.
I'll post pics later tonight
 
Here's a few pics of the finished product, hope you guys like it :thumb:

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You know it was a fun ride if the bike looks like this afterwards :eek2:, hey they don't call it a DIRT bike for nuth'n :lol2:

oh and don't judge my bucket stand :rofl:

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still a few things on the wish list:
bark busters
skid plate
kick stand [maybe]
bar risers
 
I was scrolling down wondering where the dirty pics were. No, not that kind of dirty pics either! This is a family site!

Kickstand, I use mine. But when the bolt broke and I didn't have one for a bit, any tree worked just fine.
 
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