'99 KX250 Rehab (Budget Rebuild)

[Foxx4Beaver]

welding it would hold providing the welder was/is good at welding...
I myself would buy a new wheel...one less thing to worry about...and no need to roll the dice with your well being and possibly your life if it was to break/fail. 

[KevinTwoStk]

Agreed: a competent TIG/Heliarc welder should be able to fix those cracks. The area around the cracks should be scrubbed clean...like hospital clean, eat-off-of-it clean. Then a small hole should be drilled at the end of each crack to keep it from running further. After the holes are drilled, the cracks should be beveled. At this point, the welder can work his/her magic.

The case for replacement is a strong one, though. The cracks are either from plain old metal fatigue or from a single big hit. That rim has led a hard life.

If you do choose to have it welded, I think you'd best consider it a temporary fix and replace it ASAP.

[ecdeyzel]

Hi guys. I've struck luck. I found a guy willing to sell me his rim for a great price. It's a D.I.D. from what I can see. He says it came off a KDX200. It doesn't seem to have space for a rim lock though. Only one hole for valve or rim lock. Will it be a train smash to run no rim lock and just get a snug fitting tyre?

What it says on the rim: D.I.D. Japan J 21x1.60  4 90 DOT

Current cracked rim: Takasago J 21x1.60 DOT 317 Japan 798

Will the new one work for me?

[ecdeyzel]

Hey guys, while I was at home for lunch I quickly counted the spokes and both are 36. So thats good, and they are both 1.60, should work alright.

I pondered about the rim lock a bit and thought of this...I've been riding my DR650 pretty hard off road and run it at 1 bar. It doesn't have a rim lock and never had issues with tearing the tubes, so I am actually not to phased about the rim not having a spot for a rim lock.

[dinkyguitar]

I am faced with another issue, this time on my front rim. It has a crack on both sides in the same spot, but doesn't run all the way through.





I spoke to a guy at my local shop who I buy stuff from, who also rides, and he says I can get it welded, strong weld instead of pretty weld, and it should hold up. But he can also offer me a new rim and spokes for R2000 / $168,29, but will set me back a lot with the bike build.

As this is a safety concern for me I am almost leaning more towards the side of spending the money to have a piece of mind when I ride, but if you guys think the weld will hold up well for a long time, I will prefer to go with that.

Any thoughts on that?

I went through the same thing with my 87 KX 250 build.

I had a machine shop say "yeah we can weld it" and the work was done by a young guy and I paid $60.

I told him not to grind the weld on the outside....which he did anyway, and I had to take it back again since I saw a hairline crack in the weld. I could do a better job myself.

$60 down the drain and l couldn't get my money back since "the work was already done" and I didn't feel "safe" riding it that way.

Plus the rim was probably brittle anyway being it was from 1987.

I know it's an extra expense, but do yourself a favor (like I was told, and should have listened) and replace the rim and spokes.

I eventually bought new spokes from this place, http://www.radmfg.com/ for around $60...mention your a member of ADV rider and get a .....I think 10% discount.

Then I bought Warp 9 rims from Rocky Mountain.

I did both front and back and I "feel" safer rider it.

Just my 2 cents
dinky,

[ecdeyzel]

I went through the same thing with my 87 KX 250 build.

I had a machine shop say "yeah we can weld it" and the work was done by a young guy and I paid $60.

I told him not to grind the weld on the outside....which he did anyway, and I had to take it back again since I saw a hairline crack in the weld. I could do a better job myself.

$60 down the drain and l couldn't get my money back since "the work was already done" and I didn't feel "safe" riding it that way.

Plus the rim was probably brittle anyway being it was from 1987.

I know it's an extra expense, but do yourself a favor (like I was told, and should have listened) and replace the rim and spokes.

I eventually bought new spokes from this place, http://www.radmfg.com/ for around $60...mention your a member of ADV rider and get a .....I think 10% discount.

Then I bought Warp 9 rims from Rocky Mountain.

I did both front and back and I "feel" safer rider it.

Just my 2 cents
dinky,

Thanks Dinky, I managed to get a good condition rim for under $40. Check my out my last two posts prior to this one.

It sounds like a ball ache what you went through! I am lucky to have found such a good solution, so quickly for such a good price. Made my day.

Ed

[dinkyguitar]

Glad your sorting it out.....

Riding is so much better when you feel safe...


dinky,

[Foxx4Beaver]

I know it's an extra expense, but do yourself a favor (like I was told, and should have listened) and replace the rim and spokes.

I'm pretty sure I told you the same thing....same scenario. 

[ecdeyzel]

I know it's an extra expense, but do yourself a favor (like I was told, and should have listened) and replace the rim and spokes.

I'm pretty sure I told you the same thing....same scenario. 

Hey Foxx! Yea you did  I wrote this earlier today. What do you recon?

Hi guys. I've struck luck. I found a guy willing to sell me his rim for a great price. It's a D.I.D. from what I can see. He says it came off a KDX200. It doesn't seem to have space for a rim lock though. Only one hole for valve or rim lock. Will it be a train smash to run no rim lock and just get a snug fitting tyre?

What it says on the rim: D.I.D. Japan J 21x1.60  4 90 DOT

Current cracked rim: Takasago J 21x1.60 DOT 317 Japan 798

Will the new one work for me?

and...

Hey guys, while I was at home for lunch I quickly counted the spokes and both are 36. So thats good, and they are both 1.60, should work alright.

I pondered about the rim lock a bit and thought of this...I've been riding my DR650 pretty hard off road and run it at 1 bar. It doesn't have a rim lock and never had issues with tearing the tubes, so I am actually not to phased about the rim not having a spot for a rim lock.

[Foxx4Beaver]

spacers and axle size would be the concerns....maybe alward25 would know, he's really good with wheel fitting.

[ecdeyzel]

spacers and axle size would be the concerns....maybe alward25 would know, he's really good with wheel fitting.

I only got the rim, I did not get a hub with it. I will use my existing hub and re-lace the new rim onto it using the old spokes.

[Foxx4Beaver]

you should be fine if that's the case...providing the spoke nipples are the same diameter for the new wheel you're getting...which I'm not sure of.

[dinkyguitar]

I know it's an extra expense, but do yourself a favor (like I was told, and should have listened) and replace the rim and spokes.

I'm pretty sure I told you the same thing....same scenario. 

Yep....I should have listened to you....

$60 down the drain 

Live and learn.

dinky,

[Foxx4Beaver]

Live and learn.

dinky,

yup...we've all been there....I'm still learning the hard ways of different things everyday

[ecdeyzel]

Hey guys. So last night I tried to remove my spokes from the old rim and snapped one of the spokes, so now I will have to buy a new set, which is a good thing for the reliability side of things.

Breaking one off I could confirm that the spoke nipples would not have fit on the new rim anyway. So hope I can get a set that does.

I was thinking, will i severely weaken or damage the rim if I drilled a hole for a rim lock? Or should I not chance it?

Ed