Pictures fixed 
Could be completely wrong but it looks to me like it might push out rather than unscrew, but could be rust seized so will require a lot of force.
I've never actually removed the linkage on one of these bikes so I wouldn't start hammering until someone else can confirm though 
Awesome cleaning job on those parts. Vaqua seems like a thing of dreams 
@bakerDT125R-SM I ended up selling this middle of last year and forgot to update the thread!
Never heard of this MOT rule before 
I'm assuming a hand made pipe would fail too then unless the creator stamped some numbers on it?
I imagine the sound you heard was like the first few seconds of this vid?
In that bike's case it was the bottom end on the way out and there was play in the conrod but obviously shouldn't be the case with your bike.
Could be compression related though I guess.. Did you get your cylinder checked for correct sized piston?
Might sound silly but you are using a genuine head gasket or an Athena one yes?
It's a Grom with a KTM LC2 engine (Same as DT engine)
A chap named Mike Taylor is building it. Pretty cool I thought. I found riding an actual Grom pretty dull so a DT engine might make it a bit more interesting.
Just to chime something else in, my TDR doesn't really have much past 9-10k either, but it seems to be due to a small hole where my silencer meets the expansion chamber. Whenever I patch it up, I get much more pull up the top of the rev range. Sadly my fixes don't last long 
