WWDD

[85RZwade]

I'll try to make a long story short (not my strong suit): some of you are familiar with my friend Dennis, who passed away late last year and was known here as dgorms. Dennis never met a motorcycle he didn't want to own. I was on the horns of a dilemma the other day, trying to decide if I should buy a used dirt bike as an upgrade for my son (1990 Honda XR200R now, looking at a 2002 KTM 200MXC), and my wonderful wife Laura asked: what would Dennis do? I'm picking it up tonight.

[SoCal250]

  

[85RZwade]

One step closer to an all two-stroke garage!

[mnein]

You'll love the KTM. I did a similar last year and bought a 2005 KTM 250EXC 'for my son'. It is an absolute beast and a blast on the trails. Almost too much bike for tight trails, but hey I don't want to sound like a wimp.

[85RZwade]

Oh, get it; bought a new '94 300EXC and it was too much. I never did really gel with that bike, and bought a'99 200EXC that I'm still riding. Fastest bicycle I've ever been on!

[85RZwade]

Trying my seat on the MXC while making a shopping list: tires, fork seals, front wheel bearings...

[oxford]

I had a plated 08 200xcw.  It was an awesome bike for the woods in PA.

[The Red Scourge]

I love it!  And as a bonus, it's going from a 4 stroke to a 2 stroke.  Should be tons of fun.

[85RZwade]

New wheel bearings and IRC in place; fork seals next.

[85RZwade]

I got the fork seals and oil in, reassembled the front wheel, changed the nearly-black transmission oil, cranked the rear spring preload into the normal range and took my boys riding...




I have seen a lot of bent foot pegs, but this is a first:



He's fine, and they're just motorcycle parts. The little that I rode it (mostly downhill and one-handed, taking it back to the truck), it seemed very familiar and good.
BUT. Why are the new fork seals leaking like sieves after (literally) 1.7 trail miles? I have manuals and the correct tools, I like to think that I know what I'm doing, but this kinda sucks. They're All Balls seals; I've used their bearings in the past without issues, but this is the first set of their seals I've tried. I'm not looking forward to taking these forks apart again so soon 

[mnein]

Enjoy the dirt with your sons! I've noticed that All Balls stuff is mostly Chinese made stuff, for what it's worth. I bought some crank bearings/seals of theirs that were Koyo (I'd never use a Chinese crank bearing), but all the other wheel and steering bearings have been no name Chinese.

[Andrew S]

I had the same experience with All Balls seals once. Won't make that mistake again.

[85RZwade]

Mounted new rubber on the rear and replaced the ball joint for the lower shock mount (it's a KTM thing).
Managed to come home from a ride with my boys Friday unscathed, then hurt a rib changing this tire!

[mnein]

Ball joint on lower shock mount?
I do hate changing tires, and have pretty much given it up.

[85RZwade]

Probably should move this to Haus of Projects or something, but...meh. In my quest to resolve the leaking forks, I decided to replace the seals with SKFs and put new bushings in while I'm at it. Found bushings on eBay for half of retail, one of 'em from these fine folks in Florida who took my money, supplied a tracking number and the whole thing. USPS updated the package arrival at another city in Florida and the seller promptly canceled my order, refunded my American dollars and apologized profusely. Seems the item was missing or damaged when they went to package and ship it. They forgot to tell the USPS, who continued to diligently provide updates on the non-existent package as it made its way across our great country. This morning:



Sure as death and taxes, the bushing that should not be (that's either a Metallica or Alice In Chains reference, you choose) showed up today:



So...do I tell 'em? I think I do, but I kinda want to leave them glowing feedback about their pricing and what a tight ship they run instead.