KDXRIDER.NET

I have a 2002 220 and a 1995 KX125

My plan is to swap forks

I've stripped the forks off the KDX and expect to strip the KX tonight.

The KDX forks aren't going to work very well on the KX, are they? Will they fit at all?
The KX will become a "buddy bike" and trail maintenance bike
I seriously considered a full hybrid, but I was afraid of ending up with two junk bikes

This better be as good as everyone says....



Karl

Why not leave the KX intact, and get some KX forks on ebay? I got mine for about $150 , having another bike would be worth more to me than buying another set .

I may do that later, if the KDX forks on a KX really s#ck.
I got the KX in a really ragged out condition and put a lot of effort into making it happy. It is a lot of fun to ride and all that, but the motor makes it, for me, a not very usable woods bike. I'm too old and brittle for MX.
The best would be the KDX motor in the KX chassis.
I'll settle for the KX forks on the KDX for now

search this forum for a KX125 with a KDX motor. I think that might be a better plan, and I remember seeing one. Might be a lot of fabrication for mounts though. After doing my conversion ('04 KDX, '03 KX forks) I'm a little disappointed with the rear suspension now. This winter I'll probably be trying to do something about that. After riding my kid's '05 YZ125 though, I can see that there is a lot of merit in a well designed total package. My KDX has a lot of money in it, and his bike looked brand new and cost $2200. If I was doing it over again, I'd be on a trail-modded YZ250 or maybe a KX. Throw on a big tank, lighting coil, light , and a tool bag, and you're good. Lots more aftermarket stuff for the MX bikes too. I know, heresy on a KDX forum.

Yeah I might regret the whole thing, but then again I can always put it all back. sell 'em both and buy a GasGas
The KDX works real well for me right now, very comfortable ride. We have about a 20 mile loop of real tight single track nearby and I can run it in just under an hour and 10 minutes. That's about 14 miles an hour. No matter what, I can't seem to better that and I believe it is because of the current front end. It gets hairy over the roots and ruts when the trail opens up a bit.

the forks will help there, but you might look into a steering damper. I love my Scotts. A lot of money, but on the other hand, they can cut down on medical bills.

The job is done, and what an improvement!

I took a slightly different approach from the usual, though.
I went over a buddies house who has a 20 to press and tried to push the KDX stem out of the KDX TT. Nothing doing, I was going to bust something before that thing moved.

The problem is that you can not get a top bearing that has an ID that matches the KX stem and an OD that matches the KDX frame. The two diameters are too close together to get needles in there, at any point I could not find one.
I had a new bearing "pocket" made that allows me to use the same bearing at the top on both bikes. I cut the old one off the KDX and welded the new one on. I found a bearing that does have an ID that matches the KDX stem and the OD matches the KX frame. I've ordered it and I'll post the number when it comes in. This will let me mount the KDX forks on the old KX, and switch back easily when and if I want to
If I could figure out how to post a CAD drawing or even a copied to Word image I'd post the drawing of the bearing pocket.
Because of alignment issues, I did not just cut the old bearing pocket off the KDX frame. I cut the walls of the pocket down then carefully ground it the rest of the way to the bottom of the pocket, but did not grind on the bottom of the pocket. This came me a reference surface to get the top and bottom bearings parrallel. If you look at the bottom of the pocket where that top bearing goes there is a through hole that the stem comes up through. The bottom of my new bearing holder had a edge that engaged that hole and made the two bearing concentric.

All worked out real well. I'd like to post a drawing of the bearing pocket. Any Ideas How?

Karl

I took a slightly different approach from the usual, though.
I went over a buddies house who has a 20 to press and tried to push the KDX stem out of the KDX TT. Nothing doing, I was going to bust something before that thing moved.

I found heating the lower triple clamp around the stem with a torch for 15 minutes made the difference in being able to press out the stem with our 12ton press at the shop.

Yeah, my heart wasn't really in it though. I'm starting with a complete '95 KX 125 that runs real well and a complete '02 220. I wanted to leave the stems and TT's unmolested.
Now I've got a KDX with KX forks that seems to work REAL well. I've only got three rides on the newly forked KDX, but so far I am VERY impressed. I think I'm going to have to do some rear suspension work.
I've also got a '95 KX 125 that gets KDX forks. Good for trail maintenance and the unsupecting Buddy ( Yeah man, it's a real good motocrosser, let's go over to the track and run some laps....)
The cool thing is they now swap back and forth no sweat. Good for resale.

Interesting work Karl!
Always looking for new ways of doing things.

How did you make the bearing cup?

I have a buddy who runs a machine shop. I gave him a drawing and he made it for $35.
I'd like to post that drawing here somehow. It applies to '95 KX forks on an '02 KDX.

Make a gallery, post it there... put the tags here with the URL in the middle.

Make sense?

No
Can I send it to you?

If you can send it to me i'll turn it into a JPG for you.

re: 'The problem is that you can not get a top bearing that has an ID that matches the KX stem and an OD that matches the KDX frame.'

Yup.

That is the correct answer to your question in the first place, but you already figured that out!

Re: 'The KDX forks aren't going to work very well on the KX, are they?'

No.

Re: '..what an improvement!'

..and the time is now....???

CC-
The time is now to send the shock out for refreshment.
I had it worked over by a fella off this forum about a year ago. Very nice!
I guess action degrades slowly over time and one hardly notices.

NNNnnnoooo...the one hour, ten minute time is...........

Although it may be time to get your shock done, too.

Yes. Shock action does degrade a good bit over time. You notice what's happened to it when you get it BACK from being 'fixed'.

The first ride on my last 're-do' was at ski's last month. What a delight!! Now..that maintenance happened to include a change in valving that mattered, too, but it's the same with simple maintenance. Every time my shock has been done the result has been peachy!!

CC-
I got you
The round trip is ~20 miles
I don't count the travel to start or travel back to the house
I start my clock HERE and stop it THERE, 16.25 miles apart
Last week (KDX fork) that took one hour 7 minutes, or 14.5 miles an hour
Yesterday evening (KX fork) it took one hour 2 minutes, or 16 miles an hour

A 5 minute gain. It seemed like it would be more than that, but thems the numbers. Less tiring, too, it seems, or maybe that is just enthusiam.

5 minute gain is substantial. I have been riding faster & harder & now my KNEES are F$%KING killing me. I'm going to an Orthopedic on Monday. I P/U a pair of EVS RS-6 Knee Braces for $70. I have to try them out.

A fella up the street bought some knee braces, but they were like $450 (?)
Swears by them, says they help him a lot with pain and how much he can stand up while riding.
I tried to take up jogging once. Bad idea.