In the September 2010 issue of Dirt Rider, hitting newsstands any day now, you’ll find a story (“Readers Rule!”) on four bikes that we borrowed from four of our readers, fixed them up the way we saw fit to make better bikes for their needs, then tested the bikes against one another to see what the modded bikes had turned into. We wanted to give a great opportunity to a few of our readers, but also show everyone how different bikes can be tweaked to work better for different needs. We thought we’d get an opinion from the four lucky bike owners after their ‘new’ bikes were returned to them, so here is one of four reviews, straight from our readers, of what they think of their Post-DR-Reader-Bike-Build-Story machines!
Barry Jencson’s Story
“This was shortly after the bike was delivered to me. That smile stayed for days!”
Being picked for the “Dirt Rider Bike Build” was like hitting the lottery for me. After my initial conversation with Pete Peterson about my bike, I didn’t think he was going to choose me. To my surprise, I was selected to send them my ’06 KX450F. The excitement was overwhelming and I could not shut up about it! I told everyone I knew about it and some had to hear it more than once or twice.What I wanted DR to do to my KX450F was change how it put power down to the ground. My bike was set up for MX and I mainly trail ride the bike so I fought it a lot on the trails. I felt my suspension was great as it was, and told DR they didn’t need to do anything to it unless they felt the need. I am so glad Karel Kramer felt the need to do something to it! All in all I didn’t request too much nor did I expect a complete bike rebuild. My main requests were to smooth the power out, add a new (quieter) exhaust and maybe put a slipper clutch in if possible. When I got the bike back I was blown away with all that had been done and I spent a good hour just checking it out, starting it up and going through all the spare parts that came back with it. I wanted to load it up in my truck and take off to the hills but I had to wait for the weekend to get my first ride in.
“I just couldn’t believe all that was sent back to me!”
My last ride on my bike was not my best. I got careless and ended up wrecking which put me in the hospital for a week, but at least I got a helicopter ride out of the deal! After an 8 month hiatus I was very eager to get back on my bike and the time was finally here. I could hardly sleep on Friday night knowing I was going to get to ride this awesome machine (I’m sure a lot of you have experienced this) and I was up before my alarm went off Saturday morning. I had a friend who was camping this particular weekend and had told him to expect to see me Saturday morning so I could go ride with him. When I made it up into the mountains to his camp I was disappointed to find out he was already out riding. As a rule of thumb (my wife being the thumb) I never ride alone. Well, I couldn’t just sit there and wait! I geared up and decided to go see if I could find my friend as well as get a feel of what the bike was doing after the rebuild. I never did find my friend on the trails. After about 30 minutes I headed back to his camp where we finally met up. What did they have to say about my bike? “WOW!” with their jaws wide open. I felt that remark and reaction summed the bike up entirely.
“I’m all dressed up with lots of places to go!”
A power delivery change was the major request from me. Karel, you hit the nail on the head with this request! My first impression was that the Motion Pro Throttle was responsible for how smooth the bike is. It no longer wanted to throw me off the back just by giving it slight throttle. Turns out it was more than just the new throttle. Karel added a seven ounce flywheel weight along with a Leo Vince X3 full exhaust to the bike. The combination of these made the bike so much more user friendly on trails. I found that I wasn’t gripping the bike as tightly and didn’t fatigue as quickly. This was exciting for me! Less fatigue = more riding time! As for other engine mods there was a Vertex piston and a new cam chain added. The piston is a higher compression piston than the one I had in originally. I didn’t really notice a power gain from the new piston but this could be due to how smooth the power delivery is now or my lack of skill to notice the difference. Where I did notice it was in trying to restart the bike after a stall. The bike always started amazingly easy and it still does but I found the kick needed to be faster than before to get the engine to turn over.
“The smoother power delivery gave me a lot more confidence when grabbing a hand full of throttle”
The suspension. Oh, how I thought I had such a good set up! And if I was just doing MX, I did. This was the one thing that I didn’t think I needed but I was wrong again. My suspension was sent to Race Tech with the intentions of making it be able to handle the rocky single track trails here in Colorado. On my first ride I thought, “Man, this is way too soft.” And was kinda wishing I had my old set up back. That thought changed very quickly once I started climbing some of the rockier, technical switchback hills we have. I noticed immediately how much more speed I could carry through these sections! The suspension grubbed up the rocks and no longer bucked the bike left and right when the front or rear would hit that unexpected rock. I didn’t change the clickers much. At first I had softened them and quickly found myself dialing it back in to where they had been. It made me realize the bike came back set up nearly perfect for me. I have not had a chance to take this bike to a track since I’ve had it back. I’m sure it will handle what I can throw at it with a few clicks, but for the more aggressive riders my suspension might be too soft for daily track riding. For something I didn’t think I needed I sure am glad this change was done!
“Grabbing traction is made easier with a new set of tires and I was pleased to find out that the MX51′s hold up great on my trails!”
Besides the suspension mod, new exhaust, flywheel weight and the Motion Pro throttle there was a lot more added to the bike than I expected. I received new front and rear Tusk disc rotors, Scotts shark fin to protect the rotor, Primary Drive chain and sprockets, new chain rollers and chain guide, some really trick looking Motion Pro rim locks and a new set of Dunlop MX51′s. They also went as far as putting a new set of Renthal bars on, Moose Racing clutch perch with hot start and cable, Acerbis full wrap hand guards to help protect the smooth, buttery-feeling controls that were added. I even received a much needed skid plate made by Ricochet. Oh, but they didn’t stop there! DR put on all new plastics and graphics, SDG seat (my old seat would give you monkey butt faster than Alessi out of the starting gate!) an over-sized Clark gas tank and a Boyseen water pump. They even bling’d the bike out with Tusk wheel blocks, red caps on the carb, some cool looking green radiator hoses and some quick bleeders for my forks. Needless to say, I was taken aback by all of this but there is still more! I had a large blue tub come back with the bike. In this tub were all of my old plastics, seat, tank, and such. Basically anything that was still usable came back along with extra shrouds and graphics, a kick stand and a bunch of other spares.To everyone at Dirt Rider I want to say thank you! You all have made me a very happy man! Pete, thank you for this wonderful experience. Karel, thank you for all the hard work you did on my bike. You couldn’t have done a better job! The one thing I didn’t think I needed was the one thing I love the most; my Race Tech suspension. Combined with the smooth yet meaty power, you have made my trail rides with my family much more enjoyable! One thing I didn’t count on was all the knowledge I gained about maintaining my bike from Karel. He told me what was right and what I should be doing better on. Believe me Karel, it didn’t fall on deaf ears! To all the companies that provided parts for these builds, thank you! I am very proud of my bike and every product on it and it is very humbling to have received so much. I’m sure without your support Dirt Rider could never have done this. I foresee a great summer ahead of me! To those trails that chewed me up, spat me out and forced me to turn around with my tail tucked – watch out! I’m coming back and this time I won’t be the one who is conquered!
PARTS LISTParts And PricesVertex Pistons: www.vertexpistons.com
High-compression piston kit: $196.66
Cometic Gasket: www.cometic.com
Gasket kit: $54.99
Steahly Off Road: www.steahlyoffroad.com
7-oz flywheel: $109.99
Acerbis: www.acerbis.com
Replica plastic kit: $121.99
Rally Pro hand guards: $83.99
Clarke Mfg.: www.clarkemfg.com
3.1-gal. fuel tank: $199.99
All Balls: www.goallballs.com
Linkage bearing kit: $69.99
Swingarm bearing kit: $58.99
Chain rollers: $13.99 ea. (2)
Primary Drive: www.rockymountainatvmc.com/dr
Steel sprocket kit with gold X-ring chain: $89.99
Tusk: www.rockymountainatvmc.com/dr
Front rotor: $59.99
Rear rotor: $59.99
Carbon front brake pads: $13.99
Boyesen Engineering: www.boyesen.com
Water pump cover and impeller: $164.99
Ricochet Offroad: www.utahsportcycle.com
Skid plate: $87.95
Motion Pro: www.motionpro.com
Revolver VR throttle kit: $139.99
Armor rim strip tape: $6.99
LiteLoc rim locks: $31.98
T2 clutch cable: $37.99
Dunlop: www.dunloptire.com
Dunlop MX51 tires: See your dealer
Attack Graphics: www.rockymountainatvmc.com/dr
Slasher preprinted backgrounds: $44.99
Custom graphics: $75.95
Moose Racing: www.mooseracing.com
Ultimate clutch system: $53.95
Race Tech: www.racetech.com
Suspension mod/rebuild with Gold Valves: $702.15
Maxima Lubricants: www.maximausa.com
Maxum4, quart: $11.99
Renthal: www.renthal.com
971-08 7/8th bar, used: $70 (price is approximate based on used online market)
Leo Vince: www.leovinceusa.com
X3 Enduro Sport titanium system, used: $800 (price is approximate based on used online market)
Kawasaki: www.kawasaki.com
Cam chain: $45.11
Chain guide, used: $20 (price is approximate based on used online market)
Total Cost Of Fix-Up (Not Including Tires): $3,442.56
Total Man Hours: 40
