In fact, the last time he rode it, he and I went out to a local track and he ended up taking a digger and fracturing his ribs. So I knew he had a love-hate relationship with this machine.
I kept asking him from time to time if he wanted to sell it. The answer was usually no, but I think he finally got sick of me asking and wanted some quick cash. After all, the bike was just collecting dust in his garage. When I got my hands on the bike, it was a bit hammered. One of the forks would stick in the middle of the stroke, the pipe and silencer were dented up, plastics were for the wrong year, and basically a lot of parts were just plain worn out. My intention was to take this dirt bike and rebuild it from the frame up, but only put enough money into the bike to fix it up without exceeding its value. Once I got into the project however, it was clear to me that I needed to give this KX250 the royal treatment.
FRAME
I had the frame powder coated by SUPERIOR POWDER COATINGS in Sacramento. They were super cool and had the frame done literally the next day! With the frame done, it was time to tear into the motor. ENGINE I thought for sure this motor was going to be clapped out and would need a complete rebuild. To my surprise (and relief), the motor looked as if it was either fairly new or had JUST been rebuild. I checked for wear, and after a full inspection, I only ended up honing the cylinder and putting in a new Vertex Piston and some rings. I was stoked to have saved a little bit of cash on the motor! The motor did get a few upgrades that included a Boyesen Clutch Cover, Ignition Cover, a Supercooler, and a V-Force Reed Cage from Moto Tassinari.
The Boyesen covers are more for looks than anything else, but the Supercooler is something I like to have on my bikes. Heat and friction are what kills dirt bike motors, so anything I can do to limit those two things, I’m all about it!
I was able to find a set of radiator hoses from MOTOHOSE. This is a one man operation, but I’m so glad I found them, because nobody else had hoses for this bike. To clean up the engine cases, I used a Dremel Tool instead of media blasting them. I plan on getting a media blaster in the near future, but I wasn’t going to send these engine cases out to be blasted. That was just one more expense. Instead, I put the money into more parts. SUSPENSION When it came to the forks, I had a choice to make..... do I fix the damaged forks or do a fork swap. I started looking for dual chamber spring forks and found a set on ebay for a little over $200 that came with the triple clamp as well. Obviously this was a no-brainer and I went with the more modern forks off of a 2007 KX250F. 
I sent off the suspension to Randy Blair at AIREMX. He’s done a couple of my bikes before and he does great work. He re-valved and re-sprung the suspension and set it up for my weight.
When mounting the forks and the triple clamps I ran into the issue of the forks hitting the frame. This happened because the ’07 KX250F triple clamps were designed for the thicker and more modern aluminum frames, and the steering stops were off-set too much. The solution I used was to mount up a new steering stop from Trick Engineering. Installation was fairly easy and it stopped the forks from hitting the frame. The bike didn’t have the turning radius it used to, but I never once noticed it while I was on the track. THE REST The bike got a whole host of bolt on goodies and bling. This included a Tusk Wheel Set, FMF Exhaust System, steel braided brake lines, Acerbis plastics, Mika Metals Sprockets, chain and handlebars, and many other items. 
MY FIRST RIDE
I was very eager to get on this bike and give it a rip! I had remembered 2-Strokes being hard to ride, a bit unmanageable with the power delivery, and pretty much just squirly. From the moment I got on the track with this bike, I was grinning ear to ear. It was a BLAST to ride! The power delivery was smooth and manageable, no doubt due in part to the V-Force reeds. The rear tire hooked up great and the suspension felt nice and plush, but didn’t bottom out. I could definitely tell I needed to refine my skills a bit. It was obvious I had gotten a little lazy riding my KX450F. Overall, I’m very happy with the bike and how it turned out. Two Strokes are totally different animals, but they’re great if you want to refine those skills, cut down on repair costs, or just jump on and have a good time! That being said, I don’t think I’ll be getting rid of my 450F anytime soon. 
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