Queen's 1990 Kawasaki KX125 minimal rebuild

Finally got my triple clamps and forks installed. 

Note worn down left frame bump stop: 

JHM Cycle in Athens GA did a knockout job with it: 

I feel bad I don't have more photos than my blue forks to show off. I hope to have the engine back in a week or so. 

If I haven't mentioned before I love 80s and early 90's bike aesthetics and am leaning heavy into that with this build. No blacked out anything, lots of neon green, pink and blue all over the bike. I only wish I'd held on to the pink plastic (fenders, shrouds and frame savers) I sold a few years ago. 

That out of the way, here are some early pics of the assembled engine.  

JHM in Athens GA builds bikes for several arenacross guys, and I only recently learned about them and their quality of work - and that they are literally a couple miles from my house. They aren't cheap.  Jordon does top-notch engine work and Jake (the owner) did the fork and shock rebuild as well as many other things like vapor blasting cases and bits, cerakoting a few things, and reworking my rear wheel with new spokes and nips. Very good attention to detail all around. 

I was prepared to do a lot of this myself, but knowing I have pro-level mechanics working on it, I couldn't pass it down. Gives me more time to work on other projects. 

For anyone just picking up this thread here, engine work includes:

• Crank rebuild by Millennium (Pro-X components)
• Big bore, light porting and replating by Millennium
• Every seal and bearing replaced - genuine Kawasaki bearings and seals only, no cheap knock-offs
• I had several of this generation KX125 transmissions in a box, so we went through all of them to get the best (least worn) shift forks and such
• The clutch hub, basket and plate were all in almost like new condition (no fingers) so I reused them
• Carb vapor blasted, then double cleaned inside and out. Genuine Keihin jet-block gasket installed as well
• Boysen RAD valve with new Pro-series reeds installed
• I have a like new ignition cover that is not painted, that I am holding back to sell with the bike later on

I wish TUF still made fun colors of plastic for these old bikes. They sold blue, pink, and orange sets for the Kawasakis.

JHM is doing some repair work to my swingarm, then it will be stripped and cerakoted as close to OEM silver as I can get. 

Once that's done I think I'll have most everything here to finally bring it back to life. 

Will I get this bike ready before the KX327 is released?   Which one will I get to ride first? 🤔🤔🤔

Ordered some replacement front axle pinch studs since one of mine is broken in half. Also waiting on some other random hardware tonight. I don't have an ETA on swingarm but adding sandblasting and cerakote to the bill will probably take another week or two. 

I plan to rebuild the front caliper, and that will be a good excuse to install the new steel braided front brake line (assuming the part I ordered is correct fitment) 

I'll get as much done ahead of time as I can. I need some of those stand/footpeg brackets....

Where can I buy a braided steel front brake line that actually fits the caliper setup for this 1990 KX 125? 

The stock brake line has it been to the metal banjo fitting that allows the brake line to snake around the caliper and then up in front of the fork leg. 

I ordered this GB brakes braided steel brake line which is listed for a 1990 through 1994 Kawasaki KX 125, but both ends are straight or the banjo fitting is. I'm unable to get a correct 90° bend and I'm running a front disc brake cover so this will not work for me 

Does anybody still make a properly fitting steel brake line for this bike?

This is from another set of forks I have off of the 92 kx500 it has the same kind of setup so you can see better when I'm talking about 

Hump-day update! 

Ordered a clean used 2015 CRF450 front master cylinder yesterday. Hear the 07+ Honda units are the absolute best you can get. Also ordered a couple other options for steel braided front brake hose.. will see which one routes best and use that. 

No update on the swingarm TIG repairs, hopefully I'll hear something back tomorrow or Friday. Got some fresh uni-trac decals ready to install. 

Also ordered a different set of aftermarket radiators. The first set I ordered were labeled for the 90 KX125 but the right side was way too big..  Pics for the second set I ordered looks correct if what they send matches the photos. That won't be here till first or second week in November. 

Needed some bench space so I loose fit the engine into the frame: 

My little KX patiently waiting for more love from its new owner

It was not. It's long enough to use the OEM routing.

For anyone wondering, CR-style routing is not easy to do on the 90 KX125. There is no stay for the steel brake hose clamp at the top of the fork, only a loose fitting slot through a flexible plastic fork guard. I would not chance trying to run with just that.. if the hose gets pulled out it could catch on the knobs and cause a serious crash. 

The hose stay is at the bottom of the fork leg on this generation KX. So I'll use OEM routing with the steel hose for hopefully improved performance over the mushy stock vinyl type hose. I'm going to try a KDX setup from when they had USD forks.. that setup had a steel pipe from the caliper on around to the bottom/front of the fork. Then steel braided on up to the master cylinder. If the steel pipe extension fits, that should be an improvement over running the extra 8" hose over to the caliper. 

That said I rode bikes with questionable/non-existing front brakes a lot when I was a teenager.. we're spoiled to no end today. 

The frame color has bothered me a little. 

This? https://www.denniskirk.com/pj1/factory-kawasaki-green-epoxy-paint-17-kg…

The KX500 braided hose has the right length and correct bend on the lower banjo.. not sure if banjo's mate up correctly. The KDX with steel under-fork pipe should be here tomorrow. Then I can figure which direction to go. 

I appreciate that.. I do have a week or so waiting on the radiators to come from across the globe. 

I picked up a couple cans of the PJ1.. if I were gonna do it, now would be the ideal time. Once I get the bike together it would be a harder ask.