just picked up a 2003 KTM 625sxc to continue my RTW after 63,000 miles done so far on a Yamaha XT660Z Tenere above…so here is a list whats been done by the previous owner …

1. Carb: BST Mikuni stock carburetor with slide drilled out conservatively. I did not go to 1/8 but something a little less and that

seemed to add some nice snap along with a complete tear down and cleaning. I also terminated two of the breather lines with K&N air filters rather than re-breathing spent fumes. Replaced the four bowl screws with hex screws.

2. Airbox no longer has water overflow, crank case and fuel over flow (all from main chassis collection point) dumping into it. Apparently that made the box a little gummy and also the carburetor. Much cleaning operation now. Have new air filter but not installed as I cleaned the original one off (not too many miles on it).

3. Changed the oil used new KTM oil filers. I believe I used Yamalube.

4. Lighting installed LED markers all around and updated head lamp for High and Low beam operation. There is some non-insulated wire coiled up behind the headlamp. This is ground and its copper so no need to insulate.

5. Checked all four valves. Intakes were off just a little tight.

6. New Continental TC80 tires front and rear less than 150 miles.

7. New lead acid battery.

8. Have auxiliary factory seat that lowers the ride height and and can be used to customize as needed.

9. Added duel mirrors and bar mounts and have the original factory folding mirror. Now you have an aux 10mm mount on the handle bar for GPS etc.

10. All manuals and have two exhaust gaskets, Motion-pro feeler gauge

…and this is a short version of why i bought it…and at the bottom photos of the bike

so the Yamaha Xt660z is alive and well and taking a well deserved siesta, but i wanted a change (actually once this is complete the XT maybe will go up for sale)

as a RTW rider you kind of learn as you go along, with roughly 200,000 touring miles under my belt, 63,000 in last 22 months you come to conclusion that you will read here and everywhere else, i wish i had a lighter bike. There are a lot of places that i have missed, some i have tried and failed to get to simply because of the weight of the bike, all the guys riding the heavy weights wished for mine, i wished for less.

The reason being; i am heading to New Zealand, then Australia, the Far East, the Stans, Russia, Mongolia and eventually Africa…are you seeing where i’m going with this thought pattern, lots more dirt in my future

the XT660 is the heaviest in its class but very durable too, but once you add luggage, and i am a light packer you still have a lot of weight, not GSA standards but restrictive weight.

so i started looking at other options for when i carry on RTW, i posted on a few forums about what i was looking for, light weight, good power, options to add a very large gas tank, reliability and so on to get some other riders input

the short list came back as:

WR250R

XR650L

DRZ400

DR650

KLR650

570 husaberg

610 husqvarna

now other requirements for a RTW rider is shipping and import, what does this have to do with bike choice? Well a lot actually, obviously weight and the ability to reduce the bike to the smallest size possible and Carnet, the fees can get outrageous in some countries for import, so expensive bikes cost a fortune to bring in to some places

The WR250R was top of the list for a while with the DRZ400 in very close second, but finding a good used one with minimal miles was not happening, and a new one by the time i added everything i needed i would be pushing the $10k mark, why not just keep riding the XT i was asking myself

…then out of the blue some guy makes a comment, have you looked at a KTM 625 SXC, it’s everything you are describing, all the other bikes to be made RTW ready would cost more in the long run, the KTM has a good level of components as stock, you can get a 27 liter tank, (you could add a rotopax that will be empty 99.9% of the time to opposite side of the exhaust can, taking it up to 31 liters)

it has minimal electronics, so less to go wrong, no fuel pump, no FI etc, only problem is they only made a few and getting a low mileage one is virtually impossible, and most owners once they buy never sell

so doing web searches on all the above bikes i came across a 625SXC with only 500 miles on it, the owner was having some health issues and never rode it. As its a 2003 the book value is minute (great for the Carnet) and he had done a lot of mods already to save me additional time and money…it weighs about the same as a WR250, double the power, i can get a tank that’s 2.5 gallons bigger than the biggest for the WRR

so i pulled the trigger and now i have gone orange and i’m proud owner of a basically new (to me) LC4… in the coming months it will go thru a transformation to be made RTW ready – any comments/ suggestions/ recommendations/ farkle lists would be gladly accepted

here we go….

i love it when my UPS girl shows up as well…who cares if she’s got my parts…it is Vegas after all

Mount Everest just landed in my living room

i don’t have a tape measure handy so what is good for measuring with that is internationally known

rad mfg – radmfg wheels and components

my bike gets unloaded from my truck (front fender is missing, more on that later)

so a little about Rad Mfg that i learned today, they are under NEW management so anything you have read on here or anywhere else that is more than a year or two old is now totally irrelevant, their professionalism, customer service and quality is beyond reproach. I hadn’t even got out of my truck and the guys were coming outside to meet me and say hello

they run this operation completely from this building

rims come in from DID, EXCEL and most other rim manufacturers you can think of depending on your wallet or riding style, technique.

….there are loads of them…

everything else is done in house, they bring in solid round stock aluminum billets and cut them to length and run them thru the CNC machines to make all the hubs, everything is made to order, and if you requested anodizing that in done in house as well!!!

…and let me tell you having owned a motorcycle business for a number of years, also being a motorcycle builder for 12 years and i also have hands on experience in CNC facilities…this is a top notch operation

cast stock components don’t compare at all when you can get this precision…

NIPPLES…everybody likes nipples…well they have them in loads of colors and make them here too

so i have left my bike with them, as its a two year only model they wanted to confirm their measurements on file were 100% correct and then my wheels will be made to my specifications (you’ll have to wait and see what i chose)

on leaving the manager Gary Holdcraft gave me his card and welcomes any and all inquires about what they can do for you, let him know RTWPaul sent you along please…his phone number is 435-574-2537 and his email Gary@radmfg.com

parts have been rolling in and trying to find time to get this going, i figured out an easy way to make more time…i quit my job

******let me preempt this whole build thread by saying i am kind of thorough when it comes to building bikes, having done it for about 17 years and built over 150…so this is not a dig at the previous owners, there were two even though this bike has only 500 miles on the clock…

or at KTM, but i am always very wary about Monday and Friday bikes

i would rather make sure things are right while i have all my tools around me and a comfortable place to work rather than on the top of a mountain as a rain storm and 75mph winds are heading my way

and then if something goes wrong and its my fault i can make a good attempt to kick myself in the nuts ****

so boxes of stuff coming in…and still more arriving daily

i ran back up to Veyo Utah to see gary and the boys at RAD Mfg. to collect my rims, i had chosen to go with DID Dirt Star rims in black, orange hubs and nipples and upgraded heavy duty stainless spokes made in house, the nipples are longer than standard (insert wise crack here ) to add additional threads and increase strength

rear cush drive hub uses stock ktm cush drive rubbers, i was given a care package or additional spokes, nipples and rubbers for emergencies (time for another wise crack)

i asked for the wheels with tires unmounted…here is where being thorough begins, personally i prefer to tape over the inner nipple area with a few layers of duct tape and then add rims strips on top of that, i didn’t have to as RAD Mfg do this as standard procedure…sweet

new rear rim getting weighed…12lb 1 oz

a gain of 2 lb 12oz over the stock rim for the addition of the cush drive and heavy duty spokes…worth it

stock valve caps replaced with ones with integrated core removal tool

brake rotor replaced using BLUE loctite, steel bolts going into aluminum

sprocket replaced, through bolts with nuts on the back sides so steel to steel – RED loctitie

rear axle nut replaced and Blue loctite used as its not a castellated nut with a retaining clip

chain guard screws cleaned and Blue loctitie added, i always seems to loose these things

for reference i mark my sprockets, i’ll be carrying a few different ones…

front rim rim weighs in at 8 lb 7 oz…saving 14 oz

…and again blue loctite on rotor bolts going into aluminum

fork clamp bolts were finger tight, so again some blue loctite

so here it is mounted

and the full shot

do you like spaghetti?

so i started to tear into the bike this morning

having ridden vibrating bikes most of my life i know to check to make sure everything is good and tight…NOPE!

first thing i find is the secondary micro filter mount is loose, and its missing a bolt, the other one is holding by about one thread

i replace the bolt add some blue loctite and decide to check a few more, the next half a dozen bolts are all loose…so i spent the next hour removing everyone i can find and adding loctite and torquing down to spec.

BTW never found any evidence of any loctite on one single bolt

so once that was done i took off the headlight….holy Füçkïñg §ĥĬŧē

about a pound of zip ties and extra wire, dozens of unnecessary spliced connections, chaffed wires, open ends, pinches, melted wires, even found a twist strap from a loaf of bread holding a wire in place…starting to wonder if this bike really has 500 miles or the first owner who had it the longest just unplugged the speedo or replaced it with his wiring skills…second owner only had it for a short while so i know its not down to him

guess i’ll be rewiring for a while here, but amazingly everything works so it’ll be more of a clean up job

can you imagine if you just bought this and flew it to Mongolia sight unseen and then had an electrical problem in the middle of the Gobi desert…

it would be a case of opening the gas tank throwing a match in there  and taking a camel home…

when i was a parts unlimited/ drag specialties dealer i got them from there, very easy to use and they come in multiple configurations (Available in 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 12 cavity arrangements) click this link deutsch connectors and find someone near you or even your local good quality electrical store is probably a good choice or of course there always ebay – just make sure you get the correct male and female connectors, and radio shack used to sell the crimping too for less than $10

once you use them you might not use anything else they are so easy

then it all came apart ready for some wiring correction

and i found out why the mileage was so low (maybe) missing a back up battery in the speedo for the ‘memory’

seeing that i was a little pissed and i decided to work on the front end and leave the electrics for later

i had spoken with Craig at lexington motorsports most of you might know them as KTM parts house i had already contacted another GPR dealer about a steering dampner and was told they don’t make one for the SXC! i specifically wanted an under bar mount and didn’t like the gold Scotts version overbar…Craig called his inside source at KTM and they came up with a combination of parts so i could make this work…this is what you need if you didn’t know already like me as this is my first orange bike

so i took the front end apart and found loads of grease so maybe my bike was built on a wednesday but wired on a friday …but i still regreased the bearing and they were in good shape and so were the races

the new mount and stabilizer adds 2 lb 10 oz

add some bars – renthal RC high bend 922’s

and some dual compound grips – 63002021200, need to find my safety wire and wire them on as well…later

so around the same time my tank came in my fairing did too.

now this is my opinion here so bear with me…when i originally started in business i was a one man show, the little guy so to speak, and if no one took a chance on me i would have closed my doors real quick, so that being said if i find a small company or inmate in this case who is making a cool,useful, practical and well made product i am all behind him…even if it does cost a few dollars more as ‘he’ is a one man show right now and makes everything himself

enter stage left Bernard aka inmate ‘aiMhi’ and his website http://www.aimhi-enduro.com/ he has worked hard on this fairing and it shows, it is a quality piece of equipment…so check out his site and if you do get one of these fairings please let him know you saw it in this build thread so he knows where the order came from and who to talk to…believe me as a one man show you can’t be everywhere

now not only does he make a great product he also sells someone elses great product too, Rigid IndustriesLED light, and if you haven’t seen this already take two minutes out and watch…

OK onto get everything mounted, went backwards and forwards and tried a few variations of mounts and none i really liked, even one attaching it to the hand guards, reason being that i didn’t stay with that is when the bike goes down  and it will, the weight of the bike will go on the hand protectors in my case Barkbusters, so my first thought was to mount it to them and then realized i was an idiot and the first time the bike goes down the fairing will be junked

so for a little inspiration i went out, most of you may go to a bike shop or a spend an hour or two on the internet trying to find a solution

not me…i headed out to Viva Las Vegas hotrod show…lots of out of the box thinkers there

and i found this…stainless steel 2 1/4″ exhaust clamps from summit racing, the upper fork legs on the SXC are approximately that size

take two of those and two pieces of inner tube

OK so once i knew the direction i was really headed in i got to doing it after dicking around for a few days

start with a blank canvas, and as this fairing doesn’t come with mounts it is your choice how you get it mounted

the inside of the fairing has some mount points

made some lower mounts, the hole in the very front mounts to the bottom mount of the fairing

once that was in place then i made upper mounts and cross members in a rough mock up

this is how they mounted, i added coupling nuts to make it obvious where the mounts fitted on the exhaust clamp, structurally very strong and minimal weight

because of not have access to all my machines and tools (sold most of it already sadly) i was just hand fabbing stuff with simple tools and fitting this by eye most of the time

i ordered some perferated aluminum sheet, a 12×12 piece

from custom car grills i got some with 1/2″ holes so i could dimple it with these 1/2″dimple dies

dimples add rigidity and structure to an otherwise very flimsy piece of material

what are you doing that for i hear you say?????

well even though i have built hundreds of bikes i haven’t really built anything like this but i know from my personal experience what i need and what will work, with the gas tank i chose a tank bag is out of the question or if i did get one then it would be very small and in the wrong location…so yes i have a GPS but i like maps as well, so i need somewhere to put them while i’m riding…so i made this

all mounted up and put it together with a waterproof 8×12 map pocket, but i still need a final clip system which i’m working on but for now here’s the idea

and here how it looks from the front, the photo distorts the view a little and makes it look massive but its not, the top sits about chin high which is perfect, simliar to the XT so i know it works and i can see