2003 KTM 125SX: $400 Craigslist Special

So I picked up this bike for 400 bucks, missing some bits and low compression. Been heavily considering parting it out as opposed to rebuilding it as some guys recommended me on an orange forum, the argument being "if you part this out and get some more money together you can get something pretty nice." I've been looking.. and it seems the 3k-4k bikes out there are STILL going to need some work, and I'm not quite ready to drop so much down on the hobby, with my skill level the bike probably won't make a difference.

So my goal here is to (hopefully) keep everything under 2 grand including the cost of the bike, and have a nice, fresh, fully rebuilt bike. Won't be tricking it out with all the hard parts, but hopefully I can get it sorted and have it be a nice bike for the next year or 2 until I get a bit better riding and figure out what I really want before dropping a lot on a bike.






As you guys can see..Missing a few bits. Now into the engine! So when I got the bike, did a quick compression test and was low, holding 90 consistently. I got home and pulled the head off and..Brand new piston, never fired. cylinder completely dry, no oil. Which could contribute to the low PSI, but I noticed the power valve actuator arm was rusty, which had me a bit concerned. So I decided to split the cases and figure out what's what before I put the time and effort into sorting the top end. There was some rust on an aftermarket crank, and a circlip dropped in the cases. So at this point I'm already budgeting for a crank rebuild.











Opening up the right side of the engine we find...Water. A good amount of water. And a few pieces of hair! The inner clutch basket has one of the posts snapped off, it will have to be replaced. What's curious about this all is that everything looks brand new, the bearings, there is assembly lube on some of the components, etc. It'll all have to get replaced of course because it was sitting in water, but I'm just curious as to what the hell happened. Someone was in the process of rebuilding but never finished? and left it with the head off and it got moisture? internal leak? Rage quit the project when they were putting it all together and dropped a circlip inside? Next update I should have the tools to split the case and see what else is going on here.