Project: “Whiplash” 2003 KX250

Hello everyone, I am new to VitalMX but have been reading the forums for a while. With that said I’m starting to rebuild my 03 Kx250 and figured I’d share the process and build with everyone, not to mention I would love some feedback on the bike as I’m sure there is a LOT of knowledge or at least some do’s and don’t.

I will get some pictures uploaded of where the bike is and what I already have parts wise.

That being said here’s some history on the bike.

My dad bought the 03 Kx250 new back in late 2004 To add to our (my dad and 3 other brothers) collection of bikes. (1991 RM250, 1994 YZ125, 1985 YZ80, and the 2003 KX250) Dad bought the bike as Kawasaki had made a new bike for 03 and he absolutely loved it........ except for the power, he side the bike was to fast for him and didn’t enjoy riding it as much as his RM, so we could all work our way up to riding it. Well my brothers enjoyed the YZ125 the most as it was a fun nimble bike that had good power. But the Kx was on a whole new level, as all the bikes till then have been older this bike was the lastest and greatest!

With that being said as time went on I rode the Kx the most and became very comfortable on the bike and eventually the only one who ever rode it. As we racked up hours on the bike the time came to rebuild the top end, just to keep up on the maintenance, but once we tore it down we found the cylinder had some scratches and my dad had never dealt with a plated cylinder before, so he was under the impression that either you sleeve it or replace the whole jug!

The bike ended up sitting for 6 years, from 2007 to 2013!!!!

Till finally in 2013 as a “wedding present” my dad decided to give me the bike since he knew I loved it and always bugged him about fixing it. lol
Once I got the bike I torn it completely down and sent the cylinder off to California to have it replated. Since I was waiting on that I decided to replaced every bearing, cleaned every piece of dirt off the entire bike, sent the frame and swing arm off to be painted black, sent the suspension to RG3 and had them rebuild and revalve everything as well as anodized the forks and shock body black. I replaced the wore out factory graphics with some cheap graphics and a seat cover I had bought from eBay, and slapped a set of ProTaper 1/8 contour bars on it.

After that I rode the bike off and on since (19hrs total since The rebuild thanks to an hr meter).

So now here I am again wanting to rebuild it but this time not holding anything back. More power, better handling (I’ve gained some dad weight), and overall better looks.


If you pushed through all that hopefully you’ll enjoy this build as much as I do!