125-200cc cr/wr125 questions

So I've recently acquired a 2009 wr125 (i think) and i've got some questions I hope you all can shed some light on.

1) My bike has closed chamber forks and no lighting coil and a cr ignition. I've got the original sales receipt and it says wr125 and the vin has wr in it so i'm to assuming these parts were swapped from a cr?

2) I had the shock off to change the spring and i noticed I could hear air if I cycled it through it's travel while held upside down so I decided to service it. First thing some oil came out of the schrader when I released the pressure. Also the shock head would pop back up after I pushed it down to get at the circlip. I ended up removing the compression adjuster and draining the oil out of there then I was able to get the rest apart.

I was surprise to find it had a bladder? I don't see one on the parts fiche. Anyway the bladder was kind of twisted and compressed looking. I'm guessing the shock wasn't serviced properly? maybe it was overfilled? is that even possible? I've only done a few shocks and this is the first i've had problems with.

As far as bleeding it, I should just do it the same way I've done other bladder shocks right? I've used the procedure outlined here in the past:

http://www.borynack.com/xr650r/KYBShowaShockService.htm

Thanks!

I don't know if I can help you with your questions...so consider this a free bump, lol.

By chance... Did you buy the 2009 that was somewhere near Sandcastle? FCR suspension, nickel plated pipe of some kind, hand guards, new style front number plate/fender, etc.?

Thanks and unfortunately yes.

I was torn between it an the '06 that looked really nice for $1500. I ended up going with the '09 because I wanted the newer frame and suspension. It looked okay and I new there were issues with it because of the way it ran, but man, it's pretty bad.

At this point I'm trying to ignore how much i've sunk into it and i'm trying to focus on what it will be when i'm done. 165 kit should be here in a few weeks and i'll have completely gone through it end to end so it should be pretty awesome.

I actually looked at that bike in person. It didn't look terrible but I decided to pass. Hope it works out man. Let me know if you need anything!

I'm sorry the bike isn't cooperating. I didn't quite trust the guy selling it, makes you wonder what the hell these guys are doing with their bikes.

Thanks guys.

So I talked to Rodney at Beaver Creek Cycles who in addition to stocking a ton of oem parts has deep technical knowledge as well (end shameless plug).

I think he pretty much nailed it. The bladder used for the conversion in my shock is a 103mm kyb bladder and I think it's too big. It pretty much takes up the entire volume of the reservoir leaving very little space for extra oil.

Looking at Racetech's there is another less common kyb bladder that's 88mm. I don't suppose anyone can verify that this would be the appropriate bladder for the conversion?

So I tried to pressurize the bladder that came with the shock and it leaks.

I think i'm going to give the shorter bladder a shot as I don't see how this could work correctly. You can't get it into the reservoir without crushing it and there would be almost no space for oil.



Ordered it the shorter one from racetech

SKBL 460088 SK BLADDER KYB 46x88L

Here is a pic of the 103mm bladder next to the 88mm bladder. After examining the 103mm bladder I can say with a pretty high degree of confidence that it failed because it was too big. The hole in it has an indent around it that was left by a recession in the top of the reservoir.



Servicing it with the bladder was pretty much the same as a kyb except it doesn't have a bleed bolt so I did a final bleed using the compression adjuster.

That guy told me a buddy of his from FCR did the suspension work. He did a pretty good job, huh?

I'm refraining from passing judgement on anyone because there is no way to verify who did what.

Whoever did the bladder conversion used the wrong bladder. I'll leave it at that. The fluid that I drained out looked new so it did look like it had recently been serviced.

I taught myself how to do this stuff because I'm a curious little monkey and like to know how things work, it's saves some $$, and after seeing some pretty sketchy things the "pros" do I have trust issues.

True - he may have just serviced it, maybe he didn't actually install the bladder. I am the same way - if you want it done right, do it yourself.

I don't have a picture but it turns out the 125 shock has a shorter reservoir than the 250 so the bigger bladder would probably work for those.

Finally got all the parts to get my wb165 back together last week



Broke it in per Walt's instructions and a quick ride Saturday then off to the races Sunday.

I had a great day. The course had a lot of single track and the bike ran great and handled pretty well. I ended up first in the old slow guy class

When loading the bike up I noticed both forks are leaking oil. Anyone know the recommended oil volume for the closed chamber zokes?

The shifter lever is also very loose even after I tightened it before the race. It's got a nut on the bolt so I'm not sure what's going on there, but I'd like to have a spare anyway. Any more affordable options that oem?

Hi, interesting comments.

Can only add that I changed the gear shift bolt to an allen key style bolt as you can tighten readily, whereas the bolt was unable to be tightened due to conflicts with frame.

Regards,

I think it's from a different bike. I took an angle grinder to it and made the slot wider and now it tightens up and seems ok. Also found this post by Kelly about yz250 shifters fitting:

http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/fyi-02-13-yz250-shifters-fit-125-huskys.29905/

But i elected to go with an msr part# sf-693 for $24 shipped.

Also found this thread about the forks which has the oil volume:

http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/marzocchi-fork-bleed-dirtbike-magazine.3171/

Serviced my forks tonight. I'm not sure what the torque spec is for the pinch bolts but they were way tighter than I usually run them. No tears on the seals so I just cleaned them up and put them back in. They were k&s brand. I've never had good luck with any aftermarket seals other than skf so i'm not optimistic.

Bled the cartridges per the article except I couldn't get the pvc and hose clamps to seal the bladder. I ended up just gently hose clamping directly on the bladder about 1/4" down from the cap.

The forks worked well except they felt harsh hitting sharp edged rocks while going fast (fast for me anyways). I'm already pretty far out on the compression clickers (like 7 from full soft). Anyone have any suggestions on what to try?

I'm going to keep updating this in hopes it may be useful to somebody...

Fork seals started leaking after just one ride so I decided to replace them. Luckily I found a set of new oem nok seals in with the parts that came with the bike. Now that I think about it my 250 came with the k&s seals and they leaked after a couple of rides also so I'd avoid them and go with oem or skf's. I've got the skf's on the 250. Can't say I noticed a huge difference in the way they feel but they lasted a whole season of racing without leaking.

I haven't opened the MSR shifter but I don't think it will fit as it looks like it lacks the bend to get it out and around the clutch cover Despite my best efforts the shifter that's on there comes loose and needs to be tightened periodically. I'll probably get a steel yz shifter like Kelly did.


We went down to Buffalo Mountain which is part of the Hatfield McCoy trails a few weeks ago and got lucky with the weather. It was 60+ and sunny for the 3 days we were there and got some pretty good riding in despite the shorter days. I brought the 250 thinking I would ride it for a day but other that a few break in runs for the new top-end it stayed on the trailer as I'm really enjoying the 165.

Here is a video of me on the 165 following my friend on his ktm 300


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXEp5s1Zx5I

Looks awesome man - hope all of your kinks get ironed out!

let us know what you think about the 165 at the MX track you were considering going to this weekend