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jafo
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What's This???

Post by jafo »

I was looking at some KX's on E-bay and came across this front end. I'm not trying to buy it but it kind of struck me odd as to the description. So what kind of front end is this and whats the benifits?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/KX125-Ai ... dZViewItem
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canyncarvr
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Post by canyncarvr »

You can make YOUR forks 'air adjustable' too. Just thread in a schraeder valve, add air.

The effect is similar to changing the air shock by changing the oil height.

I don't know anything about a '73 KX125 frontend..or if this IS such a frontend.

But putting air in forks isn't any big deal. My SC700 forks are air assist. Benefits? When I went riding with 80# of junk on the back..a few pounds of air helped a good bit with bike stability.

If your oil level is set correctly in the first place, you will have more need of bleeders to keep the pressure OUT of the forks than you would schraeder valves to put air IN the forks.

Besides, you can effect somewhat the same thing with bleeder valves by either loading or unloading the frontend and pressing the bleeders. The former lessens pressure, the latter increases it.

If you need 5psi of air in your forks to make'em work...maybe you should just set them up right in the first place?

IMO and all.

I suppose if Supreme Woodsrider wants to be Supreme Trackboy for a day..a few pounds of air would be a good thing. :roll:

The pics aren't too informative. Note this is NOT any sort of powerseller with lotsa good feedback (that would be zero.

Guess everyone starts somewhere.

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skipro3
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Post by skipro3 »

I remember forks of that era that had no springs in them, just air and oil. Lighter I suppose but when a seal blew, you were SOL.
Jerry

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KDXGarage
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Post by KDXGarage »

>|<>QBB<
skipro3 wrote:I remember forks of that era that had no springs in them, just air and oil. Lighter I suppose but when a seal blew, you were SOL.
I bet! :shock:

jafo, canyncarvr already mentioned the air assist nature. That used to be the normal design until the mid-80's I believe. My '87 KDX200 has valves, but the manual says "they are designed to work without additional air" or something like that. It wasn't until 1989 that KDX and yes, even KX forks, came with an air bleeder only screw instead of a valve.

I didn't see a 1973 KX125 on buykawasaki.com. I think they didn't start making KX's until 1974. The upper clamp looks like the 1974/1975 models shown on buykawasaki.com. It also shows the design of having one long spring and one short spring. Everything old is new again. :mrgreen:
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jafo
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Post by jafo »

Thaks, I was just curious about this. Thanks for the detail CC.
Oh I was'nt going to buy these forks, I like the ones I have now, I was just curious about having air in the forks when I thought it was not a good thing to have air in there, like you sais, if they are set up right, you can use the air bleeds to keep the air out.
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Post by NM_KDX200 »

I THINK my '78 RM125 had "air foks", but I can't totally remember. I know one of my past bikes has had them- the '84 XR200R maybe? Anyway, I only ran 5 lbs or so of air in them.
1999 KDX 200
2001 KDX 220
2002 RM 134
2004 KX 125
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Colorado Mike
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Post by Colorado Mike »

The big benefit of those would be the whopping 6" of travel most forks of that era had. oh, and if you're lucky, they never changed the oil in them. This would make them highly sought after by Chinese restaurant owners. The fish oil inside will attract the cats from miles around.

Those things were totally out-classed by my '75 YZ. it had forks that had some insane amount of travel.. maybe almost 8" even. Plus they had the advantage of these big bulbous canisters on the top of each fork tube to hold nitrogen and oil seperated by a rubber membrane that could be more effectively used as a woman's diaphram. But hey, at least they were heavy. The things required a lab coat and a PhD to work on, and performed only marginally better than the first in the world monoshock on the rear. It had the cool feature of heating up on long whoop sections, going into hydraulic lock, and ejaculating the rider right over the bars like a rodeo bull rider. Then the bike often managed to mysteriously right itself and run me over. The spectators always cheered for the bike back then. Oh, and the monoshock ran horizontally over the engine, with the tank wrapping around it..you know, to keep it warm and hard to adjust and stuff. It needed nitrogen too. I'm pretty sure the Japs thought we filled our tires with the stuff.

That bike had another entertaining feature too. Sometimes when you started it, it would run the engine backwards. This was a huge crowd pleaser. Imagine a guy leaning over the bars to control the awesome power, he dumps the clutch and the bike shoots out behind him as he tumbles over the bars like a dork! Yea!! do it again!!

Anyway, thanks for reminding me how much better things are now... :partyman:
Mike

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KarlP
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Post by KarlP »

My 87 XR200 had those valves on the top of the fork legs. Most advanced bike I'd ever owned. I had no idea you were only supposed to put 2-3 psi in them, if any.

Stopped at a gas staion one afternoon and decided to try pumping them up to see what it would be like. I put 100 psi in each and was sitting tall, felt real cool.
When I hit the gutter in the parking log they collapsed and blew oil all over :lol:

Karl
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'99 CR/KDX Hybrid with that RB stuff done to it
KX100 for the boy
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Post by KDXGarage »

AH HA HA HA HA!!! Great stories! :mrgreen:
Thank you for participating on kdxrider.net. :bravo:
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