DT125R FORUM

@Calum yeah I know, but 8 is what he said! Come on Calum there is no advantage here, suspension is worse, chassis has way more flex, way down on power and well perhaps I can claim a weight advantage but I would happily swap! Pro Tapers - Whatever is fitted to a 2018 Husky FE 350, they were the standard bars from that bike and I swapped them onto the DT as they were laying around in the garage as spares.

Yes i'll be up for sale after christmas. Time for another KTM - probably an EXC 250 (two stroke).
I've had my fun, and already have another KTM at home, and every time I ride it (my ktm) I see less and less point having this bike, has been a fun project though.

Also decided to improve the ergos on the bike. The handlebars had to go so I purchased swapped in a set of pro tapers from a 2018 Husqvarna MX bike and bought a set of APICO mounts. Also swapped the piece of s*** gear lever for an Apico unit from a 99-04 Yz 125. SOOO much nicer to ride.

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I met a guy last weekend while out on a ride. He was on a KTM 690 enduro and stopped to say hello, nice chap. He did ask if my bike had around 8hp or so and said it was nice to see people getting into riding before parting on his way. I have certainly not just got into riding (i expect the L plates and the ill suited bike probably gave him a different impression) but I decided to give chase and passed him through a whoop section' trippling a set and jumping straight past him. I met him at the end of the trail three or four minutes later and suddenly the little bike with '8hp' was quite interesting to him!

Anyway it will be up for sale soon.

Been a while since I updated.

Had some play in the rear end so stripped to inspect to find that the swingarm bearings had disintegrated, particularly on one side where the bearing race had worn almost completely through.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/159452079@N02/44511910020/in/dateposted-public/

here is what was left of the bearings

https://www.flickr.com/photos/159452079@N02/31389599307/in/dateposted-public/

From memory I think it took 2.5 tons of force on the hydraulic press to press them out! Forgot to take pictures of the new bearing install.

I decided to experiment with some 15W fork oil (standard is 10W). The change is noticeable when hitting a whoop section is fourth gear, the bottoming resistance is increased which has the effect of keeping the front end up. It also allows you to jump two or three in a row where as the forks previously absorbed the face of the woop. Other than that it is as you would expect, not much of a change. The old fork oil was very urmm... black!.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/159452079@N02/45416044455/in/dateposted-public/

here is a picture pre-fork oil change of it completely bottomed out after the smallest of jumps

https://www.flickr.com/photos/159452079@N02/45416044915/in/dateposted-public/

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@kyle-rhys Saw this at 'two wheel tuesday' a few weeks back parked next to an old husky supermoto, replace those worn out nobblies if you want to use it for green laning, it'll be all over the place!

The shopping list:

• Rear indicators - if anyone has any lying around they would like to part company with, let me know!!
• Battery side side panel - again if anyone has a spare they would like to sell, let me know otherwise I'll get one from fowlers.
• 28 mm fat bar conversion mounts. These renthal 'street fighter' bars are utterly s**t.

On a side note, can anyone recommend a longer gear lever? the stock one is a bit clunky with mx boots.

Any recommendations on some wider footpegs that would be a direct fit? again would need to be mx derived because she doesn't see road use.

Bit of an update:

I have still been abusing the hell out of the old girl on the local green lanes and as you might expect with the dt's soft suspension, I am bottoming it out rather a lot. There is evidence of the rear tyre touching the frame https://www.flickr.com/photos/159452079@N02/43278720294/in/dateposted-public/

and also the bottom of the frame and the shock linkage look like this after two months! https://www.flickr.com/photos/159452079@N02/43091630755/in/dateposted-public/ -

Have also rubbed through the paint on the side of the frame https://www.flickr.com/photos/159452079@N02/29059950177/in/dateposted-public/ - but i'm a function over form kind of guy.

I managed to lose my number plate whilst out on a ride but luckily I was able to re-trace my steps and find it. I always carry some basic tools and a roll of duct tape with me when out trail riding, and it was the latter of these things which came in handy! - I rode for the rest of the day with my plate taped to my ruck sack https://www.flickr.com/photos/159452079@N02/30128539738/in/dateposted-public/
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It has since become somewhat of a re-occurring theme for bits to fall off! I got home this afternoon after enjoying what the recent weather has done to the trails to find that I was missing a side panel! No idea where it is so if anyone in the norfolk area finds it, give me a shout! https://www.flickr.com/photos/159452079@N02/29059685867/in/dateposted-public/

Made sure to clean the old girl before storing in the garage next to the other slightly more orange toy https://www.flickr.com/photos/159452079@N02/30128565668/in/dateposted-public/
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@Calum A bit off the original topic I know but......
i've seen a lot of chat saying the dt ignition is pretty poor and hence a programmable cdi is a great place to extract more power. Out of interest how much does a zeeltronic retail for - can't seem to find a price anywhere.

Also noticed on the dt you get a midrange punch that quickly signs off and although the engine revs out it doesn't pull as hard above a certain rpm although it will keep revving further, in your experience does advancing the timing eliminate that characteristic of the engine? I appreciate others might not notice this drop off in power but I am spoilt riding ktm's on a regular basis!

@Sgt-Robuck-5 @finnerz89 @stinkwheeler by hook or by crook he managed to get them off after the usual tricks, they were pretty stubborn though. I always wonder why no one ever looks after these bikes, I don't think i've ever looked at one that has actually been cleaned well, ever, let alone before I arrived to look at it!

Trouble is the casting marks prevent you from getting a good grip with the mole grips. there isn't enough material to drill out and re-tap. Screw extractors could have worked, but between us we didn't have any small enough. Never thought of the hammer and chisel method, will bare that in mind next time. Thanks fellas.

Good evening all,

My friend has just bought an 05 dtre after having a go on mine and finding himself with the biggest grin on his face. Trouble is after getting said bike home this morning it became apparent that something was a miss.

We traced the problem to the carb after ruling out the obvious. It will only run with the choke on and even then pretty badly. Tried to strip the carb to clear out the jets, but as with every other nut and bolt on the bike the 3 bolts on the bottom of the float bowl are seized solid. Does anyone therefore happen to have a serviceable carb spare that they would be willing to sell?

thanks in advance

@calum in that case might you be persuaded to part with your zeeltronic

@calum @declan thats criminal, get out and ride it ! lol

@calum I'll second that, and interesting build that is for sure. I've seen you're now building an Aprilia, have you now sold the DT?

@bradt You won't be able to see any visible leakage as it will be leaking internally - the coolant will be draining into the combustion chamber

@bradt Head gasket failure, happened to me two weeks ago. The water pump is driven off the crank so the higher the engine speed the more water is pumped round the engine and thus the more pressure in the cooling system so the higher the engine speed the more coolant will be lost to the crankcase. Just order a new one as it isn't a problem that will fix itself but rather will leave you stranded when you most need to get home! - I used an Athena head gasket and so far no issues, I think it was around £15.00 off ebay. It's pretty straightforward job, you'll need to check that the head isn't warped before reassembly by putting it on a known flat surface i.e a glass table or a granite work top and if you can rock it side to side, then it is warped. If it's warped you'll need to have it skimmed before reassembly - you can do this yourself or have someone do it for you.

Took it out for a blast today with the GoPro, check out the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVbrnwvShoY

@bradt Glad you got it sorted

The previous owner rather irritatingly had painted the plastics. Rather than buying new ones to trash with some hard abuse I stripped them back to bare plastic, sanded to 400 grit and then restored the colour by heating them with a heat gun and once glossy quickly dowsed them with water to prevent the melted top layer of plastic from oxidising. The before and after is night and day.

with a spare hour to kill and armed with some white vinyl wrap and some masking tape I set about recreating the standard graphics, turned out quite well for an experiment!

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Lastly here is how she stands as of this morning

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This is the cheap taiwanese head gasket that lasted 200 miles!

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The bike overheated and the head warped slightly as a result meaning I had to skim it for a second time

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I replaced it with an athena head gasket and so far so good

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Besides everything required to completely rebuild the engine I had to order a new chain, new fuel hose, larger main jet #150, new air filter, new brake pads front and rear, a new throttle tube, sprocket lock tab, replacement clutch push rod ball bearing as I lost it, and new bleed nipples for the front and rear callipers.

Unfortunately the rear brake pads didn't fit, am I correct in thinking the 2004 dtre used the old style rear calliper and it changed in 05 ? Anyway I still have them if anyone's interested - i'll take a fiver for them.

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I also ordered a set of Metzeler MC 360's - 110/100/18 rear and 180/100/21 front

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When I reassembled the exhaust mounting bracket was missing, so I made my own out of some 2mm sheet steel I had lying around.

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