Wheel Leftovers.

 

This is all thats left of the wheels after today. I got them taken the rest of the way apart and cleaned up inside and out. Now the search for replacement parts begins, or should I say continues....

Crash & Burn

That's Me, on my 1986 KX125 Crashing my head into the dirt. I just thought I would put up a picture now and then of the bike from back in the day when I was racing it.  A few things to notice in the photo.1. my awesome Bell Moto 3 custom checker helmet with snap on visor, 2. The always trendy JT Chest protector with matching JT race pants. 3. Red AXO boots, also very stylish with left heel tucked under the fender trying to ride it out. 4. Probably wearing white cotton glove liners. 5. No racing jersey, long sleeve sweatshirt or t-shirt. 6. Duct Tape on the tank of the bike, my main investor/sponsor wanted to keep from scratching it up. Better for resale value. If you click the photo it will load a larger version of it to see the detail better. Its a little blurry but still visible.

I did get up and continue on my way in this race. The bike had a bent subframe but was still ride worthy. I Also went to Washougal MX the next day and Raced, Placing 3rd I think that next day.

This Photo was In the April 1987 Issue of Dirt Bike magazine I cant find my copy of it but if you have one take a look for it. The article was about proper safety gear I believe.

I have more photos around here somewhere and as I come across them I will post them up just for fun.

Wheels....more and less

Just a quick note, I have not had a ton of time to work on things this week even though I think about what I could be doing and what I want to do with it and the parts that I haven't got yet or the ones I haven't even ordered yet and which ones I should order first....Well it will come in time, I'm just not the most patient person when I know what I want.

For the time that I did have out in the man cave I took the rear tire off the rim and proceeded to work that over.  This is what I found..-->
I have never seen the inside of a rim look like this.  That's a lot of corrosion for aluminium. The good news is I don't have to worry about cleaning it up.

The bad news is that I could only get 8 of the 50 or so spokes to come out.  The rest will have to be cut out with the saws all. I may get to that tomorrow.

A Little More.

 I worked on this little item today, rear brake caliper.   It was pretty grungy much like everything else on this bike, it cleaned up nice and everything is working good. The shiny bracket below the caliper looks brighter then it really is, I think the flash made it stand out more. Again didn't take a before picture.

 This is a shot of the subframe with the airbox mounted into it. I put this together to get a  look at where the Shock it going to fit. (notice its not there).  I ordered one on Ebay so it should be in next week. You all know how much I like new parts.

The foot pegs are pretty worn down, a little bent over at the tops and the teeth are not as sharp as they once were. There really is no way to fix that so I painted them up to look nice and put them on the list of might replace some day down the road. I guess the problem with that is there might not be any to replace them with. I found a set of NOS ones on ebay for $36 if anyone wants to buy them for me, that would be great.

OH Crack!!

Dang it, early on in the project I wondered how this bike could have made it 25 years on the original wheels since in 1986 I broke mine in the first six months of racing it. Well, it wont make it any longer I was in the middle of cleaning the rear wheel diligently with steel wool cleaning spokes when I found this. That little jagged line just below the 100 is a break, I found three others like it on this wheel.

So yes I had to look at the front one, Yep found three cracks in that one too. Poop! the cost of the project just went up.  Wheels and spokes front and back, I did check the hubs and there is a crack in the rear one but it is outside the bearing race so that will be on the watch list but not replacing now unless I find a really cheap one.
I think that this bike never saw very much action on a track or anywhere else for these wheels to have lasted that long.