125-200cc WR125 Teardown in 8 seconds flat, (Caution: Bike Porn)

Ok,ok.... More like 45 minutes.... If only it would go back together that fast..

I bought the bike a few months ago, and thought at the time I should go through, and do a once over.... Well, I honestly had no motivation, since it was a new bike to me, I just wanted to ride it....

FF a few months, and the snow just hit the mountains... GREAT GREAT riding up to now... January is always slow work wise, and with no riding in my immediate future, i decided to tear into her, and give her the "annual massage"..... I cleaned her up pretty good, looking for cracks, wear, etc....

Turns out every bearing in the linkage, and upper shock bearing, and upper steering stem bearing needs replaced. 1/2 of them are frozen, one was blown up completely, and the others still roll, but are rusting... PC just bought a press, so i may have to sneak over there to get these replaced...

My Little Helper:







And, can anyone tell me what this carb is?? I know its a kehin, but thats about it.

Its a pwk ag airstriker off a KTM. Is the same dimension as the TMXX. Good carb.

Thanks Walt! What bike does this come on? And how do I tell if it's a 36 or 38mm? I've measured the inside of it, and comes out to around 37.9mm, but my buddy thinks it's a 36...

It would probably be a 38 or if it is a 36 it has been bored to a 38 and so there is no difference. It came on a few of the KTM's. I got mine off a 150sx. They put the 36 on quite a few too.

Mine measures closer to 37mm but is definatly a 38mm
definatly the best working carb I have tried on the husky and I have tried a lot lol

That's a pretty cool video dude!
I need to tear mine down too and hit em with some grease before it costs me money.

The press will make short work of all those bearings EXCEPT for wheel bearings unless you break the wheel down to the hub. I do have a press fitting for the wheel bearings and some punches, so its easy enough to hammer them out and in.

About that carb...
Both mine and Blake's carb measured at 37.7 (or something close to that) and my carb came off a 1999 kx125, which I've verified came with a 36mm PWK 'shorty' carb. And my buddy owned the 99' kx125, so there is no doubt about its origins. I have a couple PWK 38's, but dont want to remove one just to measure, so I haven't checked it against those, but I'm 99.9% sure my 36mm carb measure at 37.7.

And that carb and needle from that 99 kawi rule the earth! It was hands down the best $50 I've ever spent for performance. It was a night and day difference for me, but others with the same carb aren't reporting the same results. And I'm jetted rich, so its not like I'm on the ragged edge of tuning. I guess I got a factory ringer or something.

After riding your bike, there is NO question, yours is SUPER SUPER SUPER strong in the mid... It will pull the front wheel with my 220lb fat arse like it's nothing....

It does hit hard and then sign off early, but I think a lot of it is the PV adjustment. I need to bring it down a few mm's and see if that helps.
That midrange hit is fun, but I would trade a little for more revs.

After that little rip last weekend with Travis I've been jonzin to get the 125 out again.

As soon as I get this 125 back together, you can be sure I'm riding somewhere..... Even If I have to drive a ways to get out of the snow...

I'm gonna come use your press today? Ya, No?? Beer??

Sure man.
And cant say no to beer. Although I'm drinking lite beer now so I can get down to weight Dave setup my bikes for

Since this bike is semi-new to me, I have no idea how long it's been since the shock has been serviced... Decided to give it a whirl. I've done it to the Showa on my 450, but this is just a little bit different. I'm no suspension guru by ANY means... I just came across a couple of head scratchers, and want to give a couple of hints to people that are thinking about doing this themselves... It really is pretty easy. Messy, but easy.

Don't forget to count where your clickers are at for high speed, and low speed compression, and also the rebound. Then turn them all the way soft before you start.

After you have the spring, etc, off deflate the nitrogen chamber, then remove the valve stem. Use your fingers, and push the cylinder down into the chamber, to expose the circlip that was holding it in place. Remove the circlip.
Flip your valve stem remover over (or use somthing else) and screw it on the threads of the valve stem, and pull to remove the


Grab a small allen wrench, and loosen the set screw on the side of the low speed compression, and remove the knob. Be VERY careful, there are two tiny Stainless Steel balls under this cap, sitting on tiny springs. Do not lose these!! They are what give the "clicking" action when you turn it. Remove them and set them aside.


Get a spanner wrench (or needle nose pliers) and put them in the holes in the cap and turn lefty loosey to remove the cap. It is very important you have deflated the nitrogen, and have the shock fully extended to remove the internal pressure.

Now flip over and pump the shaft (ya I said it) while draining the oil.

Notice in the nitrogen chamber, there is still a piston stuck in there??


I wanted to remove it (to know what it looks like, and clean under it if necessary). Here is an easy way to get it out. Take the cap you just removed, and turn the brass clicker screw all the way in, and screw it right through the cap. BE CAREFUL, there is another little ball / spring in this one too...


Set this clicker screw aside, and re-install the cap finger tight. Put something over the bottom of the chamber (like a rag), and give it a LITTLE bit of air through the clicker hole. It only takes a little to send that piston flying across your garage. No, it didn't happen to me this time.


If your shock was leaking, you probably need to pull the main valve stack/piston from the shock, and replace some seals. I won't get into that here..

Once your ready to stick it all together, put the piston back in the nitrogen chamber. A little grease on the o-rings never hurt. Push the piston all the way in, so when you pump some air in it, it doesn't SLAM against the top.


Then push the cap back in far enough to get the circlip back in place, once again, grease is good! Once the circlip is installed, pull the cap back against it, to again, avoid slamming. Put the valve stem back in place, and pump around 40psi into the chamber.


Flip it over, and pour your prefered oil in, and go through the bleeding process. Lots of shaft pumping here...

Put that brass clicker screw and little spring/ball back in the needle, and re-insert into compression cap.

Here is where I got stuck for 30 minutes, so pay attention....
On the bottom of the compression cap, there is a square plate that is attached to the low speed compression shaft, and it has to mesh with 4 notches that are down in the threads the cap seats in. If not, the cap will not seat all the way in.


It requires you to screw the cap in, while keeping the low speed compression shaft still, and not rotating it with the cap as it screws in. This can be tricky, but once you get it, the cap will seat like this, and the low speed compression shaft will turn freely.


I put a little grease on the springs, and stainless balls that go in the compression cap, to hold them in place while I put the thumb screw, and set screw in place.

Anyone else tired of the stupid stock bleeders on the twin chamber Marzocchis? I'm always worried about loosing the tiny rubber caps, and on top of that, getting some dirt stuck down in the valve, So, I eliminated them, and put in some Motion Pro micro bleeders.

First, how the cap looks stripped down


Some JB Weld to fill in the holes


Holes filled.. I taped the top and bottom to contain my mess. I cut out a little hole in the top, and shoved it in, then removed the tape on the top, and left the tape on bottom until it dried. Lots of tapping here... I tapped each cap on the vice quickly 50-100 times, to try to fill the hole, and get rid of any air bubbles... touching the cap on a running orbital sander will do the same thing, with way less work. It also helps the JB Weld self-level a little bit...


Drill and Tap!


Install Bleeders


And another view!


This is a learning experience. I hope the JB weld will hold. Seems to be pretty good so far. I'll see how it holds up on the trails. If it fails, I will fill the hole back in with JB Weld, then drill and tap it through the metal somewhere..

Now's a good time to stick the Rider's Edge Valves in them with his shim stack. Really takes that harshness out of them. Looking good! I like Transformer Engineering! Better invest in a whole bag of kitty litter when you bleed them!

You know, when I bought the bike, I was dreading the suspension. I was thinking I would have to drop 500 right off the bat to have it all re-done... I've put about 30 hours on the bike, and I love it the way it is! The guy before me was quite a bit skinnier, but it still feels good. It has some progressive fork springs in the front, and they work GREAT!

On it like white on rice.... I've got everything prepped for those bearings, and should be put back together, and ready to rock a day or two after hopefully. The forks are all apart, inner chambers getting filled in 15 min, and will be ready for those seals when they show too... Global Warming FTW!!!

Don't believe everything you read and hear about global warming. The effects of higher levels of greenhouse gasses is far from a dead cert. Much of the research is done by people with vested interests and conflicts that jade their findings. Politics has more bearing on what you read than actual science. I believe there is just as great a chance for another ice age as there is for excessive warming. HAVE ANOTHER BEER OR COCKTAIL

Yep, let's burn the gas! Grandkids can ride electric someday. Go fog for some mosquitos!

Haha, it was more of a sarcastic reply to the snow melting around here right after it snowed....

I have always wondered why the green crowd is so against the burning of FF. I would think that they would want you to use them all up ASAP so that we are forced to go green. 5 major Volcanoes erupting spew more Greenhouse Gasses into the atmosphere than 20 years of mans expulsions. The fluctuations in earths atmoshpere over the last couple of million years are orders of magnitude greater than anything that we are going to produce. Now granted earth can't sustain 7 billion individuals during a minor escalation of ice or heat but that is a cultural problem not a human extinction problem. How off topic is this....Sorry Blake. I am going to have another cocktail.