ktm39

More contenders for Wildwood 2015?

I replaced the lower shock bearing on my 2006 290 and it was a major pain. The bushes were stuck in so tight (possibly due to corrosion, or a mismatch of materials) that it took a massive amount of force to remove the old bearing. We found it impossible to remove the old bearing without destroying the bushes. I thought the shock body was going to break with the amount of force we had to use to press it out. I also learnt that the Allballs rear linkage kit comes with a rear shock bearing, but no bushes. This makes it completely useless. I ordered the Allballs kit because my local supplier assured me that it would come with the bushes. I ended up fitting the Allballs linkage bearings and buying an OEM lower shock bearing with bushes. The OEM bearing is made of different material to the Allballs bearing and appeared to be of better quality. This was the only pic I took during the shock bearing saga as I was too busy yelling and swearing. This is the Allballs shock bearing.

What surprises me is that in the couple of hours that I was mucking around with it with Mark, it didn't fire once. Not one cough, splutter or any other indication that fuel had been ignited in the combustion chamber. The new plug was wet. We even poured a little bit of fuel into the chamber to make sure. It was flooded, but we left it for a while and also kicked it over 10+ times with the throttle wide open to clear it (we're not novices with bikes - just trials bikes). I wasn't there for that part, but by "checking the woodroffe key slot at TDC" I assume Mark is saying that he looked at the flywheel where it mounts onto the crankshaft and could see the groove in the crank. I know he hasn't removed the flywheel yet. The research that I've done suggests that the flywheel may have moved due to failure of the woodroffe key. We'll know when he sources a puller and removes the flywheel. It's a pity there aren't more of these bikes around here (South Australia) as my normal trouble shooting method with electrics would be to start swapping components over from a donor bike until the problem is identified. Does anyone know if the CDI from my 2006 Sherco 290 happens to be the same as the one on the Gasgas?

I was with Mark trying to get this bike started and the first thing I said was "Fuel, spark and compression and a 2 stroke will start". It had spark and fuel (we ended up putting a few drops down the plug hole to be sure) and it never coughed or even sounded like it wanted to fire. That was why he put the new piston in it - because we assumed that since it had spark and fuel, it must be compression. I'm glad he did replace the piston, as he found evidence of a previous seizure, but it has been running since then, so that shouldn't be the issue. There is also evidence of some serious heat (bubbled paint on the cylinder head) which I suspect was related to the seizure. I suspect that it's an electrical issue, assuming that the top end was assembled correctly and that the carb was also assembled correctly after cleaning (Mark is experienced with bikes, so this should be a safe assumption). It's a mystery as to why it is not firing at all, even though it has spark when we kick it over with the plug out?

Cool vid. Looks like a lot of guys dreading that hill. The track looks awesome.