Maintenance & Technical > KX500 Aluminum Frame Conversion (AFC)
1990 KX 500 to 2006 KX450F Conversion Project
scooterVOOII:
Kwackerman, as long as you're happy with the job, or parts thereof, that's all that matters. I'm with jBernard on this one though, and I was a victim of MPS as well. From what I can see, nothing has changed in the 5 years since I bought my frame from him, and it never will.
As for the guy at Dynoport, I get where he's at. He made the pipe according to Fanelli's spec, and it was under contract to him. Any shortcomings fall on Fanelli, so while I can't condone him being an ass on the phone, he has a point. George's design, George's problem.
Roostius Maximus is redoing my frame now, but during our numerous conversations over the years, he also said the when you cut apart a used bike, the frame rails are usually "sprung" sometimes, and that has to be fixed. About the only truth Fanelli might have told, but his idea of "compensation" is a little skewed. For what it's worth, my frame looked the same. Crooked on one side, by memory. Best of luck getting your build finished.
Just as an FYI, Paul Stoffers is no longer in the frame mod business.
umberto:
Let me start by saying that I am not an expert welder or fabricator, I'm just interested in a fellow rider's safety. I'm not trying to dog your project or MPS either. With that being said, do the welds seem to have good penetration? I showed them to my dad, who has been welding on Hot Rods for longer than I've been alive, and he didn't think all of the welds had good penetration and that some of the welds were mostly piled on top. Take that with a grain of salt, his eyes aren't as good as they once were. With that being said, I might take the bike by a local welder to get his thumbs up/thumbs down. If those welds let go, it can be pretty catastrophic to the whole frame.
Kwackerman:
Don, Charlie, and JBenard, you guys aren't offending me in the least. I expected something much more "factory-like" for $1000, from someone who's been doing this for years, but at this point it is what it is. At least the bike is all fitting back together well, with the exception of the pipe.
As for the welds, the local guy I took my bike to to finish the fabrication and fix the pipe, does AF conversions too and has hand built about 30 custom cars from scratch over the past 30 years. I went to him first to do my project, but he was too busy and I was in a hurry. It NEVER pays to get in a hurry!!! Anyway, he looked at the welds and thought they looked OK, but agreed with some of the comments on here that he wouldn't have gone the route George did with the down tubes. He said he would have bent brand new tubes and installed them (as stated by others on here), instead of piecemealing the tubes together.
His ccraftmanship is nothing short of amazing (like the pics at that link). He built two KDX220/KX250F hybrids for a father-son team I race with, and their bikes truly look better than factory. And he did each bike for about $1,100.00, including final assembly. All they had to do was pick them up, fire them up, and go racing. You can't beat that!
I'm picking my bike up from him today after work and I'll put some more pictures on here of the completed pipe, airbox, and radiator mods he did for me.
I just hope my frame doesn't break. I'm a racer and that could be really ugly!!! You can bet I'll be inspecting that frame very closely after every ride for a while.
I'll keep this thread going and post a race report after my first hare scrambles, 1 March.
sandblaster:
Hey Kwackerman.
Great attitude.
Nobody here want's to see you get hurt.
I know we would all like to see how well you like your build and vids are cool :-D
Thanks for posting.
Foxx4Beaver:
--- Quote from: sandblaster on February 19, 2015, 04:45:42 AM ---Hey Kwackerman.
Great attitude.
Nobody here want's to see you get hurt.
I know we would all like to see how well you like your build and vids are cool :-D
Thanks for posting.
--- End quote ---
absolutely, +1 :mrgreen:
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