'77 Suzuki PE250B "Pure Enduro" retro woods enduro racer!

[Chuck78]

After giving in and finally giving my brother back his Honda CR125 2 stroke dirt bike, I picked up my own upon recommendation, pricepoint and easy availaibility, fantastic power to weight ratio, and overall great reputation, a Kawasaki KDX... the last generation before they changed them to the KLX300 4 stroke for emissions reasons, a 1999 KDX220... The more torquey, low-rpm mountain goat with a tractor power 2T water cooled powerplant cousin to the faster 1995-2006 KDX200...
Well, if I was really doing my homework instead of being a total newb to 2 stroke enduro (woods/trails) bikes, I would've been more highly inclined to search out the infamous and highly regarded last of the air cooled KDX's, the 86-88 KDX200 - last air cooled KDX, first power valve equipped KDX (i.e. variable port size = more low end power).
Although I fancy one of those as my primary trail bike, I thoroughly enjoy the 99 KDX220 because it is a beast, a total mule, an armored tank...which takes extreme abuse and keeps on going....

To satisfy my vintage (and Suzuki-leaning) compulsory addictions, I picked up one of these to restore and heavily modify in period-correct updates...

My 1977 Suzuki PE250B:


and what this well-abused vintage trail beast originally looked like off the showroom floor:


^ ^ ^ I always got a kick out of the disclaimer in red on the left: "The PE250 is a competition motorcycle and is sold on an "as is" basis and has no expressed or implied warranty"










The NYE train is a callin', will add more throughout the next few days!

[gsrick]

At a WAWA on the way back from getting the Riding Game tags earlier, I met two guys at one of the non-etahnol pumps that were talking to each other. One had a Kawi Eliminator and the other a '76 KZ900. I had worked on the Eliminator a couple of years ago at the shop I work at. I handed them my card and got to talking to them trying to drum up side work, After a few the Eliminator guy left and the guy with the KZ walked around the pump to check out my GSX1100G and mentioned he had two Suzuki PE250s. Said he road them as much as his KZ's. Said the are awesome bikes.

[Chuck78]

THIS:

https://youtu.be/RFM12pNTLm4

..Is an AWESOME Suzuki promo video for the 1977 PE250B's!

At a WAWA on the way back from getting the Riding Game tags earlier, I met two hguys at one of the non-etahnol pumps

Wow... if only we were so lucky as to be able to choose "non-ethanol" vs ethanol fuels... the only way we can do that in Ohio is to go to a lake that has a marina that sells boat fuel, as boat fuel, aviaton fuel, and racing gas are the only types of gas we can buy here that do not have ethanol!!!
When plotting my very remote Southeast Ohio / West Virginia / Eastern Kentucky Appalachian twisties routes for my 5-10 hour ultimate twisties rides, I am lucky to stumble upon 1 gas station per hour, let alone any marina or station that sells racing fuel... impossible to ride freely in the fun hills and be able to fill up with non-ethanol fuel here.

For my PE250, if I can locate any Sunoco/etc stations (or VP Racing Fuels) that sell Cam 2 race gas, somewhat on the way to the Wayne National Forest trails an hour from my house, I may consider bumping up the compression ratio a fair bit to run onlY high octane with the intent to only run non-garbage (non-ethanol) gasoline
10% Ethanol blends have far less btu's than pure gasoline, hence less efficiency, lower fuel mileage, less horsepower and torque... the only way to combat that is pump up the compression ratio of your engine to make the most of the higher octane - ethanol in fact boosts the octane (slower burning) rating, so higher octane blends in fact may contain MORE ethanol than lower octane blends!!!

[Steve]

Way back when, I spent a few minutes (maybe half an hour) on a PE175 out in the desert, just off the parking lot where a friend had just completed an enduro event.

It was quite a comfortable ride (ergonomics and power), I can only imagine how much better the 250 would be.

.

[Chuck78]

I spent a few minutes (maybe half an hour) on a PE175 out in the desert,
It was quite a comfortable ride (ergonomics and power), I can only imagine how much better the 250 would be.

Yeah... I strongly encouraged my buddy to make his first dirtbike a "Full Floater" monoshock '82-'84 PE175... Like me, his first real ride on the real trails, he was HOOKED! He has sworn that he will NEVER get rid of that full floater PE175!
Only 215lbs and pulls the front wheel off the ground easily through the first couple of gears, and has soooooo much suspension that he has no trouble blasting across any of the terrain that we are doing on bikes 20-35 years newer!

The guy that sold it to him told me "I can't image what the 250cc version of this would be like, the 175cc is so fast that it scares me!" - vintage 2 stroke power at it's best! A 2T fires twice as often as a 4T, so it's no wonder that it takes a 350 4 stroke to produce similar horsepower to that of a 175 or 200cc 2T of similar era... not to mention a 125 4T is still going to be heavier than a 175cc or 200cc 2T off-road bike!
For woods riding, I'm pretty much 100% sold on a 2-strokes-ONLY rule! The 2006+ KLX300 (4 stroke KDX) is one if the very few 4 strokes that even come close to weighing in similar to their 2 stroke counterparts (the KDX200), & it's 235lbs or so vs a 215lb 1995 KDX200.

It has honestly taken cutting edge manufacturers like KTM nearly FORTY YEARS to finally be producing 4 stroke dirtbikes that can come close to matching the power-to-weight ratios of a 2 stroke dirtbike from 1980...
2T flat out totally rules for the dirt/woods/mountains!!!



Happy New Year, GSR!!!

[Chuck78]

If you know me at all, you should know that I can't keep much of anything stock for very long in terms of fun things with wheels...

So I chose the '77 PE250 vs the improved 80-81 PE250/PE400 primarily because the first year aluminum tank and headlight look so darn classic... although compare how many nice looking 77 alloy tanks you can find vs 78-81 plastic tanks! Not many out there of the alloy 77's that are still un-dented... I'm going to pick whichever of my two tanks would be a tougher dent repair job, and save the other one for AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days weekend when I gotta show it off... or just preserve the better condition tank.
The other reason I chose the older 77 model vs the 80-81 that has a better rear brake, more power (cylinder porting), more suspension travel, and an aluminum swingarm stock, is because I got a fair deal on a heap of parts and titled "almost complete" bike with 2 spare engines and a ton of other spare parts...

So on with the "Chuck" treatment...
7.7" suspension travel and 10.2" ground clearance and 4.96" of trail barely cuts it on the rough trails in the suspension and geometry department. And I am in love with beautiful aluminum swingarms...



The groundbreaking 1978-1/2 RM250C2 (and 1978 RM400C) were the last of that generation of RM motocrossers which the 77-79 PE250's were based off of, so the highly sought after (for more than just Suzuki PE/RM's) aluminum swingarm that was exclusive to those two models has been something I have been searching for quite some time now for! FINALLY found one!
This is a pristine RM250C2 here with a nicely polished swingarm and nickel plated exhaust... I hope mine ends up looking JUST like this bike but with PE lighting and the alloy 77 PE250 gas tank...

[Chuck78]

The "Chuck" treatment continues...
an old enduro racer machinist vintage suspension restoration buddy of mine had most of the parts for 1 Fox Factory Shox remote reservoir 15.5" shock, and I had a really flogged looking complete shock also missing it's mate, and with a bent shaft...
These Fox Factory Shox were the absolute best of the best of vintage shocks, and beat out the similar Works and Ohlins models of the era, and really offer about as good of damping as you can get for a twin shock even on today's standards (they really are that good, but you generally really pay for it!), minus the external adjustability.

So Kenny has been tinkering on making a "hybrid" (read, "parts-bin special") custom tailored set of Fox Factory Shox based remote reservoir shocks just for me. I should have pictures of the actual shocks to post here in the next few days, finally tracked down the shaft jets and all the rest of the parts.
Kenny insisted on making some hybrid bodies with threaded pre-load adjustment by using some Fox snowmobile shocks, but to keep them looking like Fox Factory Shox, chopped the ends off of some Suzuki RM "KYB Dr DeCarbon" shocks to get the hose fitting head end, then bronze-welded them to the Fox snow sled bodies, and custom machined a collar to go around the snow machine threaded preload nut so that it looked more similar to the Fox Factory C-Clip retained upper spring perches... CUSTOM!
I had a NOS set of Fox Factory Springs that I sent him, but the longer of the two pairs of springs (uses 1 short 1 long per shock) was slightly too soft per his calculations, so he had a set of Works springs that were similar size and in the rate we needed to match up to my shorter blue upper Fox Factory springs...
To make them even more of a mongrel, the Fox Factory Shox remote reservoirs are great for what they are, but he actually donated to my project a set of Penske remote reservoirs and nice nice Penske hoses, and the reservoirs have a high speed compression adjustment clicker on them! So I do get a little bit of external adjustment on my vintage Fox Factory hybrid shocks!
Here is an original set of the Fox Factory Shox on an 80-81 PE... They'll look very similar but with threaded pre-load, and Penske compression clicker reservoirs!








We custom spec'd these to have 5.2" of shaft travel at bottom-out of foam bottom-out-bumpers, so with the PE/RM Swingarm Leverage Ratio of a bit over 1.9, the rear end will now be upwards of 9.9" rear suspension travel!!!! That's a good realistic number to keep up with modern trail bikes with no qualms whatsoever, DR-Z250 is 10.2" travel, KDX's & KLX's are around 11" (motocrossers are 12"+ for those brutal landings off of massive jumps, and much stiffer than a woods-bike setup for the same reason)
These shocks will be about 15.25" eye to eye, where as stock was 14.25" and very very very soft. So that equates to over 1.92" more travel than stock, plus a bit stiffer spring setup than stock, so ride height will be a substantial improvement! I'll be going with an aftermarket chain tensioner to keep the extra slack in the chain in check since the swingarm angle will no have more of an extreme hang upwards of 11.5 degrees vs stock which was nearly level vs the new inclination, which will be about the reasonable maximum. The chain gets looser the steeper the swinger angle gets (the lower it hangs), and gets tightest when the swingarm is in a straight line with the engine countershaft sprocket and the swingarm pivot.

The Penske remote reservoirs with compression clicker adjustment!

[Chuck78]

Front end!

In the front end, I considered trying to reduce the 12" travel of some 84 RM250 43mm forks, but the triples were not really the same at all and would have required even more modding...
So I decided to look at what forks will slide into the PE's 36mm triples. The 82-84 38mm PE175 forks use a different steering stop setup similar to the 84 RM250, so sticking with 36 was the easiest. I just hope I don't launch the bike into a tree or send it cartwheeling down a hill after I put some money into some 36mm forks!

The stockers had rust pitting, so they're going on the shelf. a 78 RM250 or 79 or 80-81 PE250 fork would have offered adequate travel in the range of 230mm, but in order to go one generation ahead and get a 36mm fork with replaceable lower slider bushings as well as uppers, I followed the tip of a PE expert Leith Codringon, and had to source a clean set of 82-83(?) DR250 36mm forks, which were advertised at 246 and 250mm travel (topout spring compressed by air pressure to get that much "advertised" travel).

FORKS:


These forks are longer travel (about 9.6" realistically, vs the originals at about 7.7" advertised travel) and almost 3" taller overall length, but I'm already at 1.93" or greater additional rear ride height, so I only have to scrub about 1.1" off of the front ride height to equal stock steering geometry. I will have to slide them up in the triples about an inch or so to the max possible before hitting the handlebars, then with the springs removed, test to see if the forks will bottom out before the front tire hits the fender bolts on the lower triple...

Correcting the front end geometry to closer to where I want it, rake and trail wise, I will have to drop the front more than just the longer tube length adjustment of ~1" slid through the triples. I'm going to likely have to add a slight but of internal spacers on the damper rod at the top out spring to drop the front end slightly more and reduce travel slightly, maybe 1/4", but I will give myself the maximum travel possible up to the point where a 90/100-21 tire will "almost" rub the fender mounting bolts on the bottom of the triple. Then drop it a slight bit additional internally to correct my trail figure to where I want it. If I run a 90/100-21, the trail will be slightly longer anyway, but I am hoping the low psi TuBliss setup will allow more squish of the tire to effectively equal the height of a standard 80/100-21 in order to maintain the slightly quicker steering I'm aiming for.
I may go slightly taller rear tire than stock as well, which will help my rear altitude to keep a slightly steeper rake or caster.

The DR250 36mm forks are basically a direct bolt-on if used with 15.25" or 15.375" shocks to keep geometry proper, and use the same size axle as the PE as well. They were run on slightly different width triples, so I believe I may have to shave 2.5mm off of the brake plate indexing/locating notch to run these on the PE front wheel with PE/RM250C2 triples.
These forks will absolutely be getting RaceTech cartridge emulators and springs, to match the top notch Fox Factory Shox damping in the rear end.

Oh yeah, the RM250C2 upper triple will allow me to slide the fork tubes up higher, and also feature vibration isolator rubber cushion mounted handlebar clamps, so that was a no-brainer! Got one of those now.



My goal with this project has been to make a very fun trail bike with top notch classic vintage looks and period correct mods, but also have a bike that I won't look at and say to myself "well... I'll just ride my '99 Kaw KDX220 with modded KX500 inverted forks and ported cylinder and monoshock and stiffer frame..."
I really want to get this thing to be the best it can possibly be while still being period correct in terms of looks. Suspension and tires are the areas of the most absolute importance there...

[Chuck78]

I'm running NeuTech TuBliss systems on any woods bike that I care about, because it absolutely revolutionizes the ride quality and traction capabilities of a bike if you choose the right tire (stiff sidewall carcass to allow lower psi to let the tread squish and conform to every bit of the riding surface). It literally makes your bike feel like it is running technology ahead of our time in terms of grip and ride quality... This system uses a 100psi "bead-lock" inner tube that sits in a housing down in the rim and protrudes only slightly above the rim, inside of the tire. this is inflated to 110psi to slam the tire onto the rim sidewalls very firmly as a 360 degree beadlock and also a very firm rim protector. Then the old mechanical rim lock hole uses a new clamp-in mechanical rim lock that is also a second valve stem, and then it inflates the "outer chamber" - the tread area of the tire - everything beyond the rim basically.





Running inner tubes at 7-9 psi with a moderate sidewall stiffness tire can get you pretty darn good traction, but at that point, the tire bead is rolling all over the sidewall of the rim and giving a squirmy feel, and you are more likely to spin the rear tire on the rim and rip out your valve stem, since you only have the single mechanical clamp rim lock in place. With TuBliss, you can run a stiffer sidewall tire that wouldn't allow much flex(for traction via compliance over the ground) at a standard 12psi pressure with inner tubes, but now you can air these tires down to 6 psi no problems at all, some tires 3 or 4 psi, and the mighty Sedona MX880 has such a stiff sidewall that it can run literally ZERO PSI (of course that is boosted when rider sits on the bike, and more so when hitting obstacles or landing jumps and compressing the tire, reducing the volume). The stiff sidewalls still hold up the tire shape properly, but the low psi allows the tread area to flex and conform around the uneven riding terrain surfaces and grip substantially better as well as giving a greater tread contact patch...
I'm thinking for the riding we are doing, I may try out the highly regarded Sedona MX907HP with it's unique tread pattern and a very excellent reputation on hardpack and rocky terrain. I am running the incredible Shinko 520 110/100-18 now, and it is GREAT, and excels in the softer terrain and mud exceptionally... the Sedona 907 won't do quite as amazing in the mud as the Shinko 520 mud hog rear tire, but will do slightly better on hardpack and rocks, which is where I think the PE will spend more time. The KDX will still be the workhorse mule that I take out when I want to do really really ignorant hill climbs or flog it through the mud and wet loamy soil.

Sedona MX907HP rear:


Shinko 520 rear:


(both are amazing tires)

a Shinko 546 front, or Bridgestone M59 front will likely fill the front position. they both have very popular tread patterns similar to what many manufacturers use...

[Chuck78]

Engine... we need a little more power.... so.... guess what I found?!?! In addition to 2 brand new in box Wiseco pistons in 67.5mm and 68mm overbores, and some extra cylinders, I looked at one of the cylinders which has obviously had some substantial porting work done to it, and guess what I see?!?!?! Engraved "Tom Turner Two-Stroke Racing, (999)-999-9999" (can't recall the actual phone number). Wow... Tom Turner closed his shop down and retired a decade ago, but he is a LEGEND... to prove how much can be done with two strokes, he built an INSANELY FAST RD400 2 stroke drag bike that blew the doors off of any competition.... He was very big into the 2 stroke dirt stuff, and this is an honor to have a cylinder ported by this guy...

So the cylinder had a bit of wear and slight scoring, so another legendary fella Bill at BoreTech was retiring and closing down his shop within weeks of me taking action on this, so I got it in within a week of the cut-off deadline to have him overbore the cylinder for the +0.5mm oversize Wiseco piston and perform his well regarded "carbide-embedding bore process" to fill all of the pores in the cast-iron liner with a carbide compound that is virtually wear resistant. So I get a cylinder that breaks in like cast iron sleeves, but wears even better than a Nikasil plating! It cost $180, but well worth it as far as I am concerned to preserve this ported cylinder. My option #2 was vintage cast iron Nikasil plating process through PowerSeal USA, which was going to run about $220. With as fast as a 2 stroke can wear out rings, I wanted to make sure the cylinder had an additional layer of protection. If I ever need an overbore, I can go to powerseal and have them plate and resize the cylinder back to 67.5mm, or go up to 68mm or even a 69mm Wossner piston, while still having SUBSTANTIALLY THICK cylinder sleeve walls...






The other engine tricks I'm going after is this... the cylinder port timing on the PE is different from the RM (like camshaft profiles and timing on a 4 stroke) in order to build a more broad flat power curve with some good bottom end, vs the RM motocrosser which has taller ports for more high rpm power - which yields very little low end power and an explosive "power band hit" in the midrange which feels like the equivalent of someone surprising you by pushing a nitrous oxide button on your bike unexpectedly...
Anyhow, due to the different port timings, the PE cylinder head had 3cc's chamber volume added in order to keep the true compression ratio the same as the RM. Well, this is a fun bike, and if we did 90 miles in the woods in a day, that would be insane... so I don't mind paying more for 91 or 93 octane or maybe even Cam 2 or VP Race fuels. Running the RM head and getting the head cut down to optimize a 1mm or so squish band will really REALLY wake up the bike, but may also require 91 octane on hot days of slow riding.

Done deal here, RM head and squish band modification for the most efficient quench height I can run (.040"-.045" @ TDC from edge of piston crown to cylinder head, with head gasket installed and head torqued)





Then... I stumble upon RK Tek - http://www.2strokeheads.com
These tech wizards do some crazy chamber reshaping and machining to build the most efficient redesigned combustion chamber possible. They actually worked with a group of researchers at a university to design the most efficient, clean burning 2 stroke snowmobile engine possible. They are serious and are definitely onto something...
Unfortunately I don't believe the alloys that Suzuki used in the late 70's up to 80 or 82 are weldable aluminum (too much zinc content), because they can really do some radical things to build power and make a broader power curve, by welding up the chamber to have more metal left to machine exactly as their specs desire...
BUT...they still can do some work to this RM head to further the engine output. This will be a b@d@$$ trail ripper!!!!











^ ^ ^ Pretty wild stuff they do with their redesigns of the combustion chamber shapes and their added fluting to promote better flame fronts and more efficient combustion... They have patents on their combustion chamber designs.
Apparenty, Kelsey, the head tech and owner, is a wonderful guy to deal with, and really really really knows his stuff...
They can do all sorts of variations on the chamber shapes to dictate slightly different power curves or more bottom end or more top end, they can do different methods to tailor the bike better for certain higher altitude operating ranges, and same as standard squish band mods, can alter the chamber volume to increase the compression ratio and also will machine it differently based on what octane fuel you plan to run.

[Chuck78]

So far I've got:
*huge order of OEM parts, seals, gaskets, engine bearings, exhaust mounts, carb rebuild parts, etc due in any day now.
*The Fox Factory Shox hybrid builds will be together this week.
*The ported cylinder is done and in my hands with a fresh Wiseco piston and the the carbide-embedded bore
*I have the DR250 forks, seals, boots, & bushings, and RM250C2 triples, but not the RaceTech stuff yet
*TuBliss setups front and rear are here, and front tire. still deciding on rear.
*new RK chain and custom Sprocket Specialists rear sprocket

TIME TO CLEAN UP THE SHOP AND GET TO WORK!!!!


Needs:
*RaceTech fork springs and emulators
*front sprocket
*Sedona 907 rear tire 110/100-18
*Buchanan's stainless spokes
*All Balls steering stem bearings
*77-78 RM250 head to ship out to Kelsey @ 2strokeheads.com after engine assembly and squish band mockup measurements
*aftermarket RM250 spring loaded chain tensioner
*LED headlight conversion
*appropriate PE front fender
*1978.5 RM250C2 rear drum brake
*RCM Shop's RM250C2 alloy brake stay kit (have to weld a bracket to frame, the early PE had brake stay mount on the swingarm, RM250C2 alloy swingarm has brake stay on frame, not the swingarm!)
*'77 PE250 headlight number plate


Future upgrades, "Phase II" -
*PVL's PowerDynamo ignition and with 12V AC lighting stator - better spark by far and way more reliable than a 40 year old CDI box and stator, plus substantially greater lighting power - I'll actually be able to do legit night rides with a powerful LED headlight retrofit...
*Circle F or PFR custom order 78 RM250 exhaust expansion chamber
*Pro-Circuit "Nature Friendy" aluminum Spark Arrestor silencer
**hoping to find a GN250 twin leading shoe front drum brake to drop directly into the PE hub. The PE250 already has the biggest drum size of any Suzuki dirtbikes of the era... Need more braking still... Going all out on everything...
**possibly a Lectron flatslide 36mm carb


I have been toying around with the idea of ditching the stock roundslide VM36 Mikuni in favor of a flatslide, and Lectrons are the only period correct flatslide, and they supposedly work extremely well... PLUS... with Lectrons, re-jetting does not require a stockpile of jets to swap! All "re-jetting" adjustments are mechanical adjustments in the carbs, no parts are swapped out! The flatslide design will help boost the power slightly and increase the jet signal, response, and overall rideability...
Here is a PE400 with a new Lectron custom machined by Lectron to be a drop-in swap:

[Chuck78]

Most of the parts for this resto have arrived, however I fell terribly ill over the weekend and Mon-Tues off work ill, and prior to that, was playing catchup on side jobs and family/friends skilled labor favors. I'm now getting back on my feet and very immersed in trying to set up a really killer workshop in my basemen very far beyond the capacity and capabilities of any prior workspace I've had...
Watching lots of videos on how to use my South Bend Heavy 10 Lathe, Atlas Horizontal Mill, Enco vertical Drill/Mill, got immersed into transforming my old school 1961 Miller M-180P AC/DC stick welder into a scratch start TIG, then a High Frequency Start TIG, now a High Frequency start / continuous HF mode for Aluminum + footpedal amperage control mod with a dimmer switch controlling dual SCR modules feeding the power to the transformer... Very excited that I can keep this vintage beauty of a workhorse with very few parts to break, and have 180 amp AC aluminum / 150 amp DC EN steel air cooled HF start TIG capabilities now! The PE frame needs a previous weld repair touched up, nad likely some gussetting added to reduce frame flex slightly...

I also scored what turned out to be a Labconco $2,500 explosion proof fume hood air purifier fan, NOS, for $90 shipped, 1/4hp TEFC motor + fancyt blower housing, so that I will have for the first time ever a make-shift fume hood powered by this expensive fan... I figured the fan cost $450-700 new when I saw it, so I snatched it right up. No clue it retailed for nearly 3 grand!
Found a great website http://wireandcableyourway.com that could supply me with 36 feet of 75 amp THHN 3 conductor + ground PVC sheathed wiring with higher insulation ratings, for $100, whereas the best I could have done in sort of similar 6 gauge NM cable at Lowes/HomeDepot was 55 amp capacity for $140 after my discount. Running a shop sub-panel for my machinists' equipment, lighting, shop receptacles, and welder power. adding a bunch more flourescent lights to the basement ceiling after I retrofit a bunch of 3 bulb 4 foot fixtures which I dumpstered from a job I was doing remodeling a plumbing supply warehouse. I will be able to see what I'm doing for once!
Might add a few pieces of 1/2" steel pipe through the joists to use to hoist bikes up off the floor to work on without bending over, and to be able to remove the wheels and running gear off of. Using those same joist spaces lined with sheetmetal as the fume hood area on one end of the shop, for welding/paint fumes and possibly dust (especially after last night's excercise in de-rusting some 1950's tool chests that I'm trying to prolong the life of...what a mess I made!)
Once all that is done, the ceiling is getting covered in 1/4" masonite with a white melamine coating on one side, to brighten things up, keep dust from falling through the cracks in the floorboards into the shop, and keep sparks from being thrown up into the ceiling...
Now with two roll around multi-level tool chest statcks as tall as I am, I can finally organize all of my tools!!!! No longer will they be scattered in many different handheld toolboxes, buckets, milk crates, on shelves, in random cardboard boxes, etc!!!! Organization is GREAT!!!!!



For the PE,
I still need to talk to the owner of RK Tek about the 78 RM250C head, and getting some of their fancy machine work done to reshape the combustion chamber. This will be a huge bonus and huge advancement in efficiency for this old 2 stroke chamber design! The head is here, and I contemplated buying a second head as a guinea pig to see how weld-able the Suzuki castings of this era were. a few years newer were not weldable whatsoever due to zinc content in the alloy I believe it was.

Also need to look into Buchanans for spokes... There are some spokes likely of Chinese origins on ebay, all over ebay, but I think that may be a poor decision seeing as how hard enduro bikes can get slammed around in the woods over rocks, logs, roots, dropoffs, jumps, whoops, collisions with trees, collisions with drunk 4 wheeler ATV "operators," etc...