Posts
4150
Joined
1/2/2015
Location
DFW, TX
US
Edited Date/Time
4/28/2017 2:23pm
I bought a bike awhile ago that I planned on going through but life got in the way and it has taken a lot longer than I anticipated. Some people on here may recognize the bike. There is a story to tell with the bike but I'm not sure this is the place to tell all of it.
I bought the bike without any suspension on it, tore it down to the frame and sent the motor off to Pro Circuit to be rebuilt. I acquired an old Pro Circuit factory Kawi race cylinder and, stupid me, thought they'd be okay with me having it since this bike is over 15 years old and Kawasaki doesn't even make a 125 anymore. Long story short, they rebuilt the motor entirely but with a stock cylinder they were able to source. They sent me back the old race cylinder but with the temperature sticker and Pro Circuit sticker removed. It still had the same dremel marks though so I knew it was the same one. Pro Circuit didn't seem too thrilled that I sent them a motor for an old 125 that needed to be entirely rebuilt and it ended up costing a pretty penny to put it nicely. When I think of KX125s I think of Pro Circuit so I thought that was right in their wheel house but, again, stupid me I guess.
I also ended up getting the kit suspension that was originally on the bike but sold by the previous owner before I bought it. After my experience with Pro Circuit I decided not to send the suspension to them to have serviced but rather take it to Enzo here locally.
I've replaced all of the bearings except the one pressed on the steering stem. I ended up having to cut the rocker arm out of the frame because the bolt had fused to the bearings. Picture below.
The bike came with a lot of cool carbon fiber bits on it and I acquired a few more pieces. It's got an oversized Braking front brake rotor and a nice Braking rear brake rotor. PC axle blocks, ignition cover, clutch cover, power valve cover, rear master cylinder cap, pipe, silencer, throttle tube, clutch, etc. I put a V-Force on it as well and rebuilt the carb.
I got the 2000 Splitfire Pro Circuit graphics and seat that I'm putting on it. I found someone to make me some replica number plates a few months ago with my number on it because I do plan on racing the bike.
I'm not done with the bike as you can see in the photos but I've had a little bit of time lately to work on it more so it is getting close to being finished.
I bought the bike without any suspension on it, tore it down to the frame and sent the motor off to Pro Circuit to be rebuilt. I acquired an old Pro Circuit factory Kawi race cylinder and, stupid me, thought they'd be okay with me having it since this bike is over 15 years old and Kawasaki doesn't even make a 125 anymore. Long story short, they rebuilt the motor entirely but with a stock cylinder they were able to source. They sent me back the old race cylinder but with the temperature sticker and Pro Circuit sticker removed. It still had the same dremel marks though so I knew it was the same one. Pro Circuit didn't seem too thrilled that I sent them a motor for an old 125 that needed to be entirely rebuilt and it ended up costing a pretty penny to put it nicely. When I think of KX125s I think of Pro Circuit so I thought that was right in their wheel house but, again, stupid me I guess.
I also ended up getting the kit suspension that was originally on the bike but sold by the previous owner before I bought it. After my experience with Pro Circuit I decided not to send the suspension to them to have serviced but rather take it to Enzo here locally.
I've replaced all of the bearings except the one pressed on the steering stem. I ended up having to cut the rocker arm out of the frame because the bolt had fused to the bearings. Picture below.
The bike came with a lot of cool carbon fiber bits on it and I acquired a few more pieces. It's got an oversized Braking front brake rotor and a nice Braking rear brake rotor. PC axle blocks, ignition cover, clutch cover, power valve cover, rear master cylinder cap, pipe, silencer, throttle tube, clutch, etc. I put a V-Force on it as well and rebuilt the carb.
I got the 2000 Splitfire Pro Circuit graphics and seat that I'm putting on it. I found someone to make me some replica number plates a few months ago with my number on it because I do plan on racing the bike.
I'm not done with the bike as you can see in the photos but I've had a little bit of time lately to work on it more so it is getting close to being finished.
I just got the impression through the conversations I had with them that rebuilding a motor that isn't currently in production was a big inconvenience. Lately I race bikes from the 70s so I get it, finding parts can be a challenge and they basically replaced every single part inside the motor. I just didn't think a bike they have such a strong pedigree with that is only 15 years old would be a problem at all for them. But they did rebuild the motor and in less time than they originally quoted me so they didn't do anything wrong and I don't want to give people the wrong impression.
I got some more stuff done on the bike tonight. Picture below.
The Shop
I was bench racing with a local tuner a few years ago and we got on the subject of Pro Circuit. He mentioned that he had visited Pro Circuit and saw the team race shop (which was top notch) but he also saw the "normal guy" shop. He said it was a slave driving assembly line. It was dirty and dismal. He said he didn't know how they kept up with all of the parts and stuff, people were just frantically working. I'm sure they have a ton people who are competent at specific tasks that play into the bigger picture of getting x amount of heads disassembled and prepped for porting per day or some other metric they use to measure their productivity. They probably lack sufficient resources with the technical know how to spend intimate time on a machine that needs a ton of attention. I would have loved to been a fly on the wall when they unboxed it.
MXA always talks about how Mitch still hand ports all the cylinders himself. I just don't know how he could still do that. Anyhoo this bike looks sick. This was my dream back in the mid to late 90s.
I work at a ford dealer and for someone to bring in a 15 -20 year old car and say rebuilt it...its a tall order because parts get discontinued when no one is buying them.
I had someone with a 07 expedition, who wanted to convert to air suspension. I was able to get all the parts but it took a few month, some were on backorder, and most were discontinued, I had to call mulitple dealers to track down the parts. He wanted to convert a second one, and i told him to pound sand. it wasnt worth the time and effort to locate and buy everthing again.
anywho very nice bike. I had an 02 pc bike years ago. came across it back when all i wanted was a 4stroke and unloaded it.
CrGuy2T has been a huge help and I never would have found most of what I have without him.
Anyways, I did a little bit more on it tonight. I got the carb installed with all new lines and also got the throttle cleaned and put back together. I went to install grips and had a little... mishap... so I need to buy some new grips again. I've still got a few carbon fiber pieces like the skid plate to get installed. I also need to decide if I'm going to run the vented front number plate or the standard flo green one. I only have one front number plate background.
I'm debating on whether or not I'm going to replace the Enzo suspension stickers with the period correct Pro Circuit ones that I have.
Btw, thanks for the kind words on the bike everyone.
On the topic of PC... its laughable that mxa prints mitch hand ports every cylinder. Theres a local pro around here, his mechanic has worked for some mx and sx teams and they get their motors from PC, the mechanic told me even their motors are built/ported by a $10/hr mexican who more than likely speaks zero english.
Pit Row
I sent the motor to PC because this bike has a traceable lineage to Pro Circuit. It was one of their bikes and as CrGuy2T stated, I believe it was some sort of practice bike. The frame is not reinforced like I have seen on their race frames but the subframe does have the extra aluminum pieces welded for the seat. So, I felt like the bike deserved to have its motor built by them. I know their service for the average joe blow like myself is different than their race team but it still is Pro Circuit and for a Pro Circuit fanboy like myself... that is cool.
The bike is pretty much finished now. All I need to do is add the oil, coolant, fuel and oil the air filter and it will be ready to fire up. I'll but sure to post photos of it all completed once I do that. I'm also going to replace some of the carbon pieces before riding it like the mud guard beneath the air box and a few other pieces that are nearly impossible to find. I always told myself I was going to ride (and race) this bike but now that it's just about done I am starting to second guess that decision.
Well, here it is. I promised myself I'd have the bike finished by today. I fired it up for the first time while taking these photos. I can't wait to get it out on a track!
Hard to think of a bike that could be more fun on a track
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