[Bruce CurtisMember]

TB and rat are right about more reciprocating weight, but I ave had some experience on Roadies using lightweight pistons, and while the sub-piston components do have to deal with higher combustion pressures I have found that if you have an over-engineered bottom end and rod kit the benefits are well worth it on certain powerplants.

Not arguing with the lads as I believe the 250/4Ts are pretty highly stressed to begin with leaving little margin for increased strain on internals.

Eric Gorr out of the states does some good complete big bore kits that take into account all of the issues with just upgrading the topend alone, not sure if he does many 4Ts though.

BC

[Bruce CurtisMember]

Trailboss wrote:

Quote:

Ollie wrote:

Quote:

The PE was capable of 160 out of the box! and it handled.

Handled, handled against what a wet bag of walruses :laugh: I had one and still have a RM370 to use and neither of them handle, the PE you could feel the frame flex. My old 490 of that era handled better then the PE or RM :laugh: :laugh:
Mate had a PE175 and it handled sweet as, no frame flex

TB

That bag of wet walruses you rode TB, woulda been a beach ride wouldn’t it?

Yes the old RM370 was nightmare mid-turn, but was still fast around a flat paddock, the PE400 I must admit never tried it as an enduro bike, but was an awesome long-track mount, at 75 kilos wringing wet the forks where pretty supple and the rear was typical Zook, once it got hot it was slow bouncy and predictable, but way better than the dead fish rear the bloody ITs had that would take 3 minutes to react to anything, then compress your spine and the slow slow steering that pushed everywhere, at least they hasd (relatively) good brakes and the tank was the worst thing I’d ever tried to climb onto as I turned in, bloody wonder we don’t all sing soprano after riding the ITs, the suzuki tank was much easier to slide onto, which is I reckon why Yamaha got onto the safety seats before the others, necessity.
Having said that, apart from the Eurotrash of the time, they were the only decent enduro things on offer unless you liked the brittle Kawasaki snapperony Framed KDXs.

Anyone ever ride the Big KDX 420/450? I only ever saw one in the flesh had a real barking note to it and went well from what I saw.

BC

[Bruce CurtisMember]

micknmeld wrote:

Quote:

Hopefully I pick up my IT250H resto project this week sometime.So we will be able to compare notes.

Anyone know someone with a RM125C ?? I found a set of piston rings for one I have been hoarding for the last 25 years.

I’m confused Mick, you want the rest of the Bike to go with the rings? …. Cool I’ve got the rear linkage and some bearings off an 1986 RZ500 sdo that’s where I’ll start my resto from…….

BTW I admire you blokes for doing these projects, don’t know where you get the time and energy, but go for it.

BC

[Bruce CurtisMember]

Ollie the J was the third from last model wasn’t it, and the last with the early PDS with the shock under the tank and seat?

Reason I ask was I had a few IT125/175s as a young bloke and while the engines had some power the handling was “different” but the 250 was s’posed to be the best of the lot and i never got to ride on to find out, rode a 465 and a 490 and was not overly fussed on them either, thought the older PE400s turned better and had more usuable poke. But everyone raved about the IT250s so what’s your take?

BC

[Bruce CurtisMember]

Nice find Ollie, I’ve got the updtae one sitting on my bookshelf at home had it since Moses’ was riding a Red Devil, and my father was riding a Suzuki ( The Lord God always was partial to yellow and speed together)
From Memory it’s called Motorcycle Tuning for speed and power and while some stuff is way outdated (clearances, etc) the general ideas are solid.

Now who around here rides two strokes Ollie????

Bruce C.

[Bruce CurtisMember]

Whanny locally an aftermarket tank will cost $450+, try just gas tanks out of the states or monkeybutt parts, pretty good to deal with and 1/2 price of domestic stuff.

BC

[Bruce CurtisMember]

All is well with Moto then, let us not say goodbye Steve, but rather see ya soon.

Don’t forget to live though, youth is wasted on the young and it is all gone too soon.

as always

Beecee

[Bruce CurtisMember]

Good one Mick, hadn’t thought about it that way, KTM riders must like the occassional hit up the bum.

:unsure:

:blink:
which explains quite a bit actually

TB I wonder if his headstones reads “inventor of PDS, & first known victim“

BC

[Bruce CurtisMember]

So Mr Transit why exactly did you wish you already knew that?

First time i ever saw one it was called a “penton” (memory so it coulda been a pentan??) and was obscure , more so than Ossa or Puch. Now look at them going for world domination bloody teutonics

BC

[Bruce CurtisMember]

Knew someone would call foul, fair enough with my bagging of PDS, but elsewhere I nominated a KTM for bike of decade. Actually Rocket me laddie I don’t really have too much brand loyalty I’ve owned most mainstream brands out there and a couple of highly obscure ones too, if any bike won on design and intended use criteria I say “good call” but you don’t judge an apple on it’s vitamin C content or how well it goes with vodka, I actually probably lean towards team yellow anyway, and notice they didn’t even include the new RMZ?.

I own a Yamaha because they made the last of the 2T MX based ADRed bikes with MX traits, if Zooki made the RMX 250 up til mid-ninties I woulda had one in a flash, and I’ll be convinced of this when i see a KTM with PDS attack the whoops and stutters as quickly as Chads or Bubbas do.

BC

[Bruce CurtisMember]

TB, Ollie, and Dick have set you on the right path there young Mal withthe float and or suspect crappola in float bowl, I’m less inclined to believe the tank pickup is getting obstructed as the bike will run for a fair distance on the residual fuel in the bowl. However if it was coughing and stuttering on long steep uphills I’d be going for tank issues, but over jumps and whoops this is quite common on smokers that have an incorrect float height and yes they go out of adjustment as the needle and seat wear a little or just plain vibration and terrain, but this can be mimicked by a larger piece of detrius in the bowl temporarily blocking the fuel in some way.

[Bruce CurtisMember]

Ktmrat wrote:

Quote:

I have a few friends who have been busted with this and the real rego is back dated and payable to the rta and then you get a swag of fines ranging from unregistered , uninsured and then fraud…..think twice friends think twice

Fair enough Mr Rat, just that I was talking to an RTA rep yesterday about Ulyssess members and conditional rego on Vintage bikes and he suggested this may be , guess back to the drawing board for REC rego.

[Bruce CurtisMember]

Finish off (or start off) with a heat gun and apply heat to plastics gentlyand it can bring the colour back, then finish with Dicks method of polishing.

a very polished Dick he is indeed.

Indeed it appears we have a Dick that shines

BC

[Bruce CurtisMember]

Computer went beserk and posted twice apparently, maybe it should lose a shootout even though it got 10/10 in actual performance….

[Bruce CurtisMember]

Did anyone else read the whole 6 pages and wonder how the hell the assistamt editor came to the conclusion when david Armstrong (tester) didn’t really say anything good about it, he actually said he wanted the YZ???? he stated the KTMs suspension was choppy and harsh, and 3rd gear rolling start acceleration test??? WTF is that about, bloody roadbike warriors imposing dyno tests and rolling acceleration tests… yeah I’ll just cruise around in third and then when someone pulls up besides me we’ll do a roll-on in third around the MX track… :angry:

I don’t care which one wins, but at least make the parameters relative to the design criteria, they are MX bikes, the track test is where it’s at, not in a dyno room or how flashy it is to onlookers.
What’s next put a bunch of Navaras, hluxs, Colorados, tritons etc on eastern creek and rate them by how well they handle it?

Just goes to show the ability to put pen to paper doesn’t ensure a brain behind it

Bruce C

Brahmann with a point

[Author]

Posts