Myself and a few dutch friends have made our way to Loket, Czech Republic for some MXGP fun.
Here are some first photos from friday tech, maybe I will put up more later.
...number will change on this bike to 243 sometime...
Factory Footpegs and handmade shifter on Adamo's KTM 250 SX-F, nice.
KTM frame on Adamo's bike like I have not seen before.
The bottom of this downhill has no berm, so riders have to turn left and go up the hill off- camber
- I climbed this hill on foot , and is much steeper than it shows on TV
Start is ready
The hills here are quite steep, This track looks like a lot of fun once it is prepped.
I got a lot of time to look over the #80 KTM, it is just packed with special factory parts, It has more special stuff than any of the factory KTMs that I have seen so far.
Herlings bike is lonely...
3D printed footpegs?
It is hard to see here, but the Twin Air radiator mud screens on the 80 bike actually bolt to the radiator mounts - the standard mud screen goes over the entire radiator shroud - these are not production items from Twin AIr.
Very cool Transponder mount behind the front plate.
Special locking washers behind the TI engine mount bolts.
Kite is apparently making the caliper mounts now, the are significantly different from stock.
Special exhaust flange on the 250, this is just sick.
Lucas Coenen's bike has a really long linkage - it must be special, because his mehanic yelled at me when I took this pic.🤷
The radiator guards are quite special on Adamo's bike, they wrap around the bottom of the radiator, unlike the stock guards. This might be a 2027 item...
Lucas' mechanic was swapping out suspension on both his bikes prior to tech inspection, not sure why. Possible rain Saturday maybe requires suspension changes?
The Hoff getting new rubber.
Renaux is back, this is his kind of track I think.
Bonacorsi also getting different tires, IF it doesn't rain this guy should finish well.
Swede Isak Gifting has a very trick production-based YZ450.
...yeah, not your everyday clutch master cylinder for Andrea Adamo. Also note that the OEM start- stop handlebar cluster is replaced with the traditional start-stop buttons from the prior generation KTM's - Nihilo offers these for current gen KTM bikes.
That's some good stuff. Thanks for sharing. Keep it up.
I guess riders for the most part don't like Loket. It has always been my favorite as a fan. Love all the elevation.
The Shop
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DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
I know it's just my mind messing with me, but the fantic looks like a tank.
Love seeing the Euro bikes...thanks for taking and posting these!
Wtf?!
Thank you for sharing, super cool to get a closer look
That parts from the Bajaj side of things 🤫🤫🤫🤫
I wonder if the mechanic noticed that.
I like those KTM stands. Looked them up and can get one for only $1,384 plus shipping lol...
Thanks for the pics
like 👍
Makes it easier to dump red thread locker in there.
I mean... I am all about removing metal for weight reduction but this is pretty far. 😆
Thanks Brent. This thread really makes me miss the GP pit bits.
Pissing rain here- back to the hotel and hope for drier weather tomorrow. Lucas Coenen was just flying in timed practice, so much fun to watch this kid..
Thanks for posting great pics and content. Very envious of MXGP and the full schedule. We used to have a nice weekend for US Nationals, tons of practice and Saturday qualifiers for 11th on up in points. Lots of track time. It is so rushed here now and tticket prices are as high as ever
I love this shit. Thanks for posting.
Great pics!
That looks like they welded a stud in there, most stuff that is stripped and rebuilt often in Motorsports uses studs and nuts rather than bolts in ally with Inserts.
Factory needs to work, not look nice.
I’m not seeing that? I keep looking but can’t work it out, maybe it’s an optical illusion?
The angle caught my eye immediately in the initial photo, and you can see that angle is deliberate by the build up under the head of the bolt/ nut flange.
But what’s actually holding the bolt, or stud? There seems to be no cast material on the head for it to anchor into? To me it appears to go bolt head- exhaust flange- gasket- nothing.
Pit Row
Thanks for sgharing Brent! now go have a Pisner Urquell for us Vital guys enjoying your post.
I agree that it looks like a hex washer-head bolt and I'm assuming the total tapped depth into the head is enough to provide adequate engagement. It looks like there's a rib directly above the body of the fastener and we're seeing a "port" on the side of the bolt hole, exposing the threads.
Next opinion? 😁
What’s the admission price over there? How much is a beer?
It's early in the nominating process, but Brent is leading in the polls for vital member of the year.
Well done man! Detailed pics WITH captions.
The beer and food here in Loket is inexpensive- 100 krona for a beer which is roughly 4 euros.
No idea on the cost to get in, i have a full access pass and it was comped.
I had never been to Czech before this, but this place is awesome, the people and food are good, and the town and the track are really nice. 7 hour drive from Holland thru Germany.
JT$ is here somewhere, I think his review of Loket will be positive as well, his first trip here too I believe
Beer might be expensive, but Pilsner Urquell is good stuff.
Such a thing is not that unusual - a partially exposed Bolt / Stud. I was working on a 'special' engine last week that had several such 'open sided' thread routes. There was plenty of full thread engagement, deeper into the castings, with what I worked on.
In many cases, why, and, indeed, WTF? - at times, it's quite a head scratcher.
A section of a casting that, in some applications may need clearance to miss 'things', whatever those things may be.
Or, a casting that was only made for, say, a 2 bolt / stud application - I just checked parts lists for both the current 250 and 450 KTMs, and, it shows a 2 bolt retention for the exhaust manifold, and, my assumption is that they Are at 180* from each other. The pictures seemed to indicate such an orientation.
That picture shows 2 Bolts / Studs that are certainly NOT 180* from each other- perhaps it's a 3 Bolt / Stud retention system on that manifold?
I know relatively little about KTM / KTHusky / KTGGs, but, this may indicate a new Complete head to come, being a Works Bike (?) or, just a 3 or more bolt / stud manifold addition adapted to existing castings - I'm sure a shedload of people here will know much more about the Austrian bikes than I do.
The threaded part we're seeing in the photo is the bolt itself. It looks to be tapped deeper into the head where there's more metal surrounding it for the threads to actually engage. Seems this was an afterthought and the head was not intended for a bolt there, or just a poor design from the beginning that should have had material in that area.
Romain Febvre has a new airbox, one of many they have Been trying on the KX.
TM 250F ! I get to ride one this week, excited!
The Duc 450 bristles with exotic stuff, they tolld me ithe factory machine is very much a work in progress.
Triumph has some euros to spend on this 2-story fishbowl.
Privateer hero Jan Pancer had the ride of his life in the first MXGP moto, holding second place until the last 3 minutes.
I got to check out his bike at their modest rig after the first moto, and his KTM 450 SX-F appears to be almost completely stock, including the OEM wheels and clamps with only suspension and a Factory Akro pipe. Awesome!
That’s all for the MXGP of Loket,
I will be at the MXGP of Flanders at Lommel next week as well, so if anyone has photo requests, post them here and I will try to get them, but I am crewing for a couple riders next round so I may not get to take as many photos as I would like.
Cheers
Wicked pictures Brent. Can you see if you can get some pictures of the MJC 125 Yams next week please?
Nice pictures Brent! Should have been a fun weekend at Loket, Lommel is a total different animal though
. Do those Dutch friends happen to be Fobbe family? At Portugal I did have a conversation with Robert's dad for a while and he told me that they would maybe try to race Lommel.
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