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In the end, it wasn't worth it! The chassis was sandblasted for the powder coat so it's not nearly as nice looking as I'd hoped. Clear coat just wouldn't look very good without a lot of effort to smooth everything out and torching the welds. I should have just sandblasted it from the start and saved some time... Oh well!
But I did get a weight before and after stripping. I was always skeptical about the 1 or 2 pounds I've heard powder coat would add and it turns out I was right - stripping the powder coat resulted in only a 95 gram weight reduction. That's only 0.21 lb!
Next steps are to take some measurements for suspension kinematic analysis, then weld on the HPSD mount and glide plate mounts, and finally have it blasted and coated.
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We already have a linkage designed for the KTM/Husky. It's been a collaborative effort with Brian at N2Dirt Suspension (https://www.n2dirt.net) over the last couple years. We worked out all the linkage kinematics, design, and manufacturing. Brian worked out all of the valving and setup. After lots of analysis, prototypes, and physical testing (myself, Brian, Sean Collier, and a handful of others), we arrived at our first linkage early in 2017. Now we've just released our second generation link (more info available at https://luxonmx.com/products-suspension.html).
Our linkage, in-part, was developed based on some rough measurements (tape measure, angle finder, etc.) of the chassis. All the linkage measures themselves were spot-on, but the chassis was potentially off a few mm here and there. This was fine for linkage-to-linkage comparisons, so it wasn't an issue and we were able to get a much better linkage from it than stock (verified though physical testing/rider feedback).
But now that we have the new chassis all apart, we can get some very accurate measurements. Our mill is equipped with a Renishaw probing system, so we can use it as a CMM of sorts. By fixturing up the chassis (and anything else really) we can measure each suspension pick-up point size and location accurate to within .0002" Once we have that data, we can stick it in the CAD system, adjust the previous model, and re-run the analysis to get some exact results numbers.
Here's some images of the chassis and swingarm on the machine for measuring:
Pit Row
So with all this done, it's a matter of altering the linkage geometry in the model, re-running the analysis, and evaluating the curves. Repeat this process until the desired result is achieved and that's the new geometry for the linkage. Cut a few out, take them to the track, and test them out. Of course that's all already been done, we just have more accurate analysis numbers now that we've measured the chassis on the CNC machine.
Next up, chassis mods in prep for coating. Which we still haven't decided which route to take...
First up is tires. We went with Michelin Starcross tires over the stock Dunlops. Having run the Michelin tires on the last 150, I know that they work rather well for a lot of the so-cal tracks. But when you look at the weight reduction, it's an easy decision. These are by far the most efficient weight reduction for the price; it's rotational and un-sprung weight too! Switching out the Dunlop tires for these saves 430 g (0.95 lb) on the front and 630 g (1.39 lb) on the rear. That's huge! The resulting cost per gram saved is about $0.18. In comparison, cost per gram for titanium bolts is on the order of $1 - $4.
Next up is pipe and silencer. FMF partners with KTM on their Powerparts line so they have a bit of an advantage over the other manufacturers in development and time to market. We used FMF on the last 150 with good results, so that's what we went with again here. The works pipe actually saves a lot more weight than the titanium silencer, which was surprising. The pipe saves 340 g (0.75 lb) while the silencer only saves 95 g (0.21 lb).
Thin pipes make more power btw.
We have the new T hose design in stock and the 125 & 250 SX hose kits.
I used spray on furniture stripper to take the paint off my 01 YZ frame and the welding colors and bare metal looked so good I was tempted to clear coat over it!
Next was the HPSD mount. We had one of these on our 2016 150 and it certainly made a difference in the corners. Back to back runs were done with and without, and I wouldn’t get a new bike without putting one of these on there. Not a big fan of the bolt-on upper mount as it’s kind of clunky, heavy, and one more thing to come loose. So I whipped up a weld-on spud on the lathe:
Our triple clamps come with the lower mount, so good to go there. From this point it was pretty straight forward to align things and weld up the upper mount with a fixture I made (92mm between hole centers if anyone wants to do this).
But for 2019, KTM moved to an unthreaded steel steering stop welded to the chassis. This is better than the old steel bolts (and cheaper to manufacture), but not better than the brass bolts. So we whipped up some drill and tap jigs, and drilled and tapped the steering stop to accept bolts. And cut it down some as it needs to be shortened the height of the bolt head as well. But with this all done we can run brass bolts like before and not beat up the triple clamps so much.
And finally, why carry around this steel ID plate that does nothing but add weight. Grind it off! This is free weight savings, not much, but a couple titanium bolts worth.
Here it is, all set for powder coat (or maybe Cerakote, still haven’t made up our mind!). Total weight added from these modifications is 70 g (0.15 lb), so not bad.
This build is awesome, I like cerakote magnesium
Just a thought.....
https://motocrossactionmag.com/mxa-team-tested-dirt-tricks-zirconium-st…
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