Just got it last night...it's a super clean 250, with a great running engine...too bad it's coming out tonight
the guy who sold it to me was sad to see it go to become a 5biller...oh well ...i'm really impressed with how clean this dude kept his bike...03' and he said the closest he has come to a crash was when the bike fell over in the back of his truck when he was trying to strap it...and he said that really pissed him off... ...i've crashed my 450 about 100 times easy this year alone! i'm happy that i have something so clean to start working on!
I'd waste no time making a home for your 500 inside that...leave the 250 motor on the guys door step dripping wet with oil like a severed head if he was sorry to see it go. Then mail him a picture once the job is complete.
this is my foot about 2 weeks after i broke my ankle, and about a week after my first surgery...the thing tripods off and a rod went straight through my heal...this is what they call an 'external fixator'...and they used it to keep my foot straight until my 2nd surgery...it's much better now but underneath all that bandage is not a pretty site...that's what happens when you try and go really really big on a 500
Last edited by Balaclava on October 9th, 2008, 3:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
fucking rights man...but if i had commited it might have been my neck, wrists, face, teeth, jaw or anything...i got fairly lucky...would have been hard as hell to land on flat ground from that high even if my bike was straight...i've hit the ramp about 1000 times on my 450...but i found out very fast that 500's have much different launch...i'll never make the same mistake again...i guess you could put it that way...and the only reason i even tried the ramp is because i felt soooo comfortable with my bike...
Last edited by Balaclava on October 9th, 2008, 3:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ya man i don't know what the throttle bearing is called but it's really really sweet...it's like ice...no friction at all when you crack the throttle...i am not sure if i can convert it for use on the 500...but i'm sure there is a way...this bike also came with a super bling asv clutch lever, and a 200lber silver shock spring that will be going on this bike...i'm pretty positive i will get at least 1500$ for this engine/pipe/carb/electronics, so i'm only going to be in this frame for 1500$...which ain't so bad considering the condition...
oh ya...250 out, 500 in!...gonna get going on this bitch asap! just proof that it's coming along...this bike is so clean, every bearing is still in good shape...
it's an 87...i just rebuilt it last year and never rode it yet...i'm keeping it maybe for my girlfriend and basically just because it was what i learned to ride on when i was young...those 80's ripppp...
Got crackin' this weekend on some frame action. All i had was my hacksaw and my cousins mini air grinder. Took me quite a while longer to get through the welds then a big electric grinder would have, on my 450 frame i chewed through them in five seconds. But this time around i took my time but still managed to chew off more of the stock mount then i wanted to. I dont' think i will even use it. My spacers were made from some bar stock that i was going to use on my 450 conversion but instead went with 1'' tubing for that build...The trickiest part is getting the spacers in the tubing with the Y in place. It's pretty tight. any suggestions?
thats how I did mine and a cut both ends of the plug at an angle like you did on one side, then I stuck both plugs in the cradle with only about an inch sticking out. pushed the Y into place, then grabbed the little bit of plug that was sticking out and dragged it into the upper cradle section. I wrapped a tie down around the upper cradle section to pull it together so the plugs would go in easier, then I tacked it into place.
on my gen-4 the plugs fit a lot tighter, so I drilled holes behind the plugs so I could use a screw driver to push the plugs into place.
here is an example of my gen-4
sorry, don't have any pics of the gen-3 posted.
'09 kx450f 4-Poke
Gen-4 trail bike --SOLD--
Gen-3 badass trail/mx bike --SOLD--
Gen-1 built dunes bike --SOLD--
'05 klx110 --SOLD--
'95 pw80
btw, I think the problem might be the length of those plugs. mine were like 2 1/2" at most, any longer and you can't get them inside the frame far enough to get the Y on.
'09 kx450f 4-Poke
Gen-4 trail bike --SOLD--
Gen-3 badass trail/mx bike --SOLD--
Gen-1 built dunes bike --SOLD--
'05 klx110 --SOLD--
'95 pw80
thanks alot danny...ya i know my plugs are too long, i left them that way so i could angle out the other side...i worked on it all day yesturday and i did all the cutting on the plugs with my hacksaw, so my arms were f'in tired by late last night. i'm going to get the engine in there and the plugs in the cradle by the end of tonight. I don't know if i'm going to have to notch out those rad welds to get my y piece high enough...i might just take some more off the y section itself so see if i can't get it to fit better.
i did the same thing, and cut around the weld...but on the back side i just kept grinding away until it was flush with the rest of it, then i took a screwdriver and chiseled it until it was loose, then the bottom cradle cuts did all the work and just had to move it back and forth a little bit. You think there is any downside to taking the Y down? i know you can only go so far, but if i have to that's the way i'm going...i don't want to interfere with the rad mounts...
I'd rather cut down the lower rad mount welds than cut down the Y myself.
if you look carefully at mine (sorry the pics suck) you can see that my welder just welded the Y, rad mount and downtube together. I didn't have to move the rad mounts, just grind down most of the lower weld. I pleased with how mine turned out.
'09 kx450f 4-Poke
Gen-4 trail bike --SOLD--
Gen-3 badass trail/mx bike --SOLD--
Gen-1 built dunes bike --SOLD--
'05 klx110 --SOLD--
'95 pw80
the down side is that you removed a significant portion of the "footprint" of the weld....also called contact patch or surface area. In the world of welding, particularly welds put into shear, surface area is a key component. Additionally, the reason the factory weld is curved is to give the weld miltiple directions to resist said shearing loads. if you ground down the Y section so that the weld is now only going to be straight across, I would strongly suggest you make sure the Y section and the frame downtub e are butted together along a physical shoulder, and also that you consider putting a backing plate style brace over the joint to reenforce it. Did you not see Iggy's frame failure? The frame sees a ton of compressive force at that location if you case a jump, and compression along those members equate to almost pure shear on the weld.
...i'm really impressed with how clean this dude kept his bike...03' and he said the closest he has come to a crash was when the bike fell over in the back of his truck when he was trying to strap it...and he said that really pissed him off... 
...i've crashed my 450 about 100 times easy this year alone! i'm happy that i have something so clean to start working on!
