1995 KTM 250 SX Build

Going to be a great addition to the line up...

I would give a kidney for your Kato 125.

Love that 250! the other bikes are sweet too!!

Wow, that is beautiful. Nice find! What year KTM’s were the the dark yellow color? I thought it was 97 but I see yours is clearly not yellow.

JB500 wrote:

Wow, that is beautiful. Nice find! What year KTM’s were the the dark yellow color? I thought it was 97 but I see yours is clearly not yellow.

It was 96/97, maybe the bike was retrofitted with white?

93-97 share the same plastic. The 96 was the first year of the butterscotch orange color. I used white plastic as I liked the 94/95 look.

Love that era Katooms. Our local home boy Jeff Dement had the KTM ride in '95. Loved the ones Palmer raced as well. Bro has been going strong on the Cagiva from pics he sent me.

Yep, I remember Jeff riding them that year, mostly that he was up front at the Vegas SX for a while the night the lights went out. Also, the clip on Motoworld of him and his teammate Tony Amaradio getting into a fight at Red Bud.I actually got to know him and his wife a little in Italy back in 01/02.

Glad it all worked out, I had too many Cagiva 125's and that '83 was just sitting and I raced my '88. Your bro's money made this KTM possible that I'd been collecting parts and trying to find for the last 3-4 years.

You are bringing back a lot of memories of my late teens with these builds!

My first big bike was an 89 KTM 125 MX in 91. (I never really gelled with that thing so cant say they were good memories!)

In 93 i stepped up to a 250SX. I instantly loved that bike and started to grow into a decent rider. Had a 94 and 96 also. The 94 was my favorite.

moto804 wrote:

You are bringing back a lot of memories of my late teens with these builds!

My first big bike was an 89 KTM 125 MX in 91. (I never really gelled with that thing so cant say they were good memories!)

In 93 i stepped up to a 250SX. I instantly loved that bike and started to grow into a decent rider. Had a 94 and 96 also. The 94 was my favorite.

Thanks. I rode Suzuki’s most of my life but I drooled over the Euro bikes when I’d see them in the magazines or occasionally at the races back then. Now that it’s all for fun I really enjoy building and riding the bikes you don’t see all the time. My first KTMs were in 2000 I had a 125 and 250 SX but I always wanted a left kick white 125.

I spent 2 years in Northern Illinois and rode Byron, Mendota, Sunset, and Mt Carroll every week..probably saw you back in 05/06.

I read all the tests and the 94 was supposed to have a killer motor but the 96 was really mellow. I did ride a buddy’s 96 a few times but can’t remember much.

wpark89 wrote:

Thanks. I rode Suzuki’s most of my life but I drooled over the Euro bikes when I’d see them in the magazines or occasionally at the races back then. Now that it’s all for fun I really enjoy building and riding the bikes you don’t see all the time. My first KTMs were in 2000 I had a 125 and 250 SX but I always wanted a left kick white 125.

I spent 2 years in Northern Illinois and rode Byron, Mendota, Sunset, and Mt Carroll every week..probably saw you back in 05/06.

I read all the tests and the 94 was supposed to have a killer motor but the 96 was really mellow. I did ride a buddy’s 96 a few times but can’t remember much.

It would have had to be really early in 05. I broke my leg really bad (tibial plateau) May 1st at Byron and was out the rest of the year. Then got into Supermoto pretty heavy 06-10.

What classes were you running when you were out here? The few races I did that year were in +25 and 250A.

I remember I got there sometime mid April in 05 and races at Walnut that weekend. The next week or two I know I did the first Mendota on Saturday night and then went to Byron the next morning...might of been the day you got hurt. I rode an RMZ 250 in 125A and a RM 250 in 250A and +25. 05/06 I did some of the Nuclear series and all of the Megacross, most of the Racer X Vet Series. 06 I went to Loretta’s and rode Mt Carrol and Millville Qualifiers.

Wow! What a small world this moto community is! I did a little searching on the AMA Dist 17 site where they have all the results from every race in IL from 2000-2010. It looks like our paths crossed for exactly 1 moto and 3/4 of a lap! Byron May 1st 2005




I'm guessing I would have been pretty close to you in the 1st moto, but don't remember exactly where I placed. I remember the 2nd moto well though. I got a terrible start and was trying to make up for it all on the 1st lap. At the very back corner of the track there was a long sweeping semi-offcamber left hander that apexed at a tree then lead to a wall jump. I tried sweeping up the inside of Steve Fry, but realized at the last second that: 1 - I wasn't going to complete the pass, and 2 - our lines were coming together on the face of the jump. I slammed on the brakes to cut behind him, and thought I had plenty of room, but I think he realized he was going to fast for the jump and slammed on the brakes too. I didn't count on that. My front tire hit his back as we went in the air, and I got way off to the right side of the bike. Out of instinct, I stuck my leg out to save it. Which I did...

Then came the massive burning sensation in my leg. I looked down to see my foot pointing the wrong way. I rode the bike off to the side of the track and started asking people to get a medic since I had just broken my leg. They were confused. I am still amazed at the job that doctor did putting my leg back together at whatever hospital they took me to in Rockford.

The next year, we were helping a kid out of my dads shop that was getting really good in Supermoto, so I took the opportunity as well and followed the full AMA Pro series on the semi-official Husaberg team run out of our shop. The dream of "going pro" in moto had long since expired, but this was another opportunity to live the dream.

I had this poster in my old room at my parents house from '94 until about 2 months ago. Just rescued it to go on the wall in my garage.

Great looking bikes.
Just purchased a KTM 300 6 Days 1990. I see your 1990 125 has excellent condition graphics. Are those original or replacements?
I’m going to try and restore as much as the original graphics as I can. Can’t find a front headlight mask.
Any direction help on the graphics?

Another question, do you know what years are interchangeable with the 90 model as far as plastics go. UFO only goes back to 93 it seems for this series.

Thanks in advance..

Moto804....those are awesome. I forgot about them, but I know I had them on my bedroom wall in 94!

TooOld...graphics are by Evo-mx in the UK. I don’t think they have them on their website but you just need to email and ask them. Plastic is UFO...I worked for them for years and they do in fact have the 90-92 KTM plastic. 90-92 250/300 share plastic and also the 91-92 125 uses the same shrouds and fenders.

Nice '93 just came up locally

https://spokane.craigslist.org/mcy/d/93-ktm-250sx-excellent/6686788408.html

https://boise.craigslist.org/mcy/d/96-ktm-250-sx/6693641754.html

just popped up in boise $1200!

wpark89 wrote:

Nice '93 just came up locally

https://spokane.craigslist.org/mcy/d/93-ktm-250sx-excellent/6686788408.html

If this were closer to northern Indiana I’d go snag it. Your stories about Illinois MX are great. I lived in the Quad Cities for a few years and rode most of the tracks you guys are talking about, including some Iowa stuff as well. But I was there from 07-09. Still get to Walnut every so often as it’s only 3 hours from me now.

wpark89 wrote:

Most you guys have seen my Cagivas and 90 KTM 125. I’ve been collecting parts for a few years to build a 93-97 250 SX. I really wanted to work with a 97 since that’s the most refined of that model run and it has the 50mm forks and a more reliable Koukasan ignition. I’ve seen 96s come up, lots of EXCs, MXCs, 300s, 360s. Finally this summer a super clean 97 250 SX came up for sale in San Diego. It worked out and I got it shipped up to WA State and have been going through it the last few weeks.

I'm so jealous of this bike. I didn't pay attention to KTM until right about 1996 when a local dealer opened up and started selling them hard and by then they were always butterscotch and orange. I knew of the older white/red/teal bikes from obscure magazines, but in 1996 I was 18 years and pegged KTM as a novelty that didn't do anything better than the big 4. Consequently, I zoned out for several of their model years.

This 1995 is absolutely gorgeous! I'm really digging the early 90's KTM stuff and I may have to keep an eye out for something interesting. Kudos on a sweet ride.

Thanks Micahdogg...

Yeah...I’m just a year younger than you. Back in the early/mid 90s you didn’t see many. Usually a few Vet riders would have a 250 or 300. I remember in 91 there was a guy with a new KTM 125 that would always holeshot the C class and I thought it was bad ass. Definitely some challenges in building a old Katoom...but to me it’s fun and cool to have something different.

Wish I would NOT have sold my 97 360SX...one of my favs from all time. Excellent bike man!