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373
Joined
8/24/2022
Location
Woodhaven, MI, USA
Fantasy
Long story short, I am in the middle of restoring my uncle's 1990 KDX that he bought new in 91. The bike has a lot of sentimental value so I've gone off the proverbial deep end making it right.
Devol rad guards have been long discontinued for the 89-94 KDX. I found a bent set of radiators on eBay that came with a less-bent set of Devol guards.
My questions are as follows:
Is there anyone who has the capability to repair these? There's some stress cracks in corners and it appears as a tab is missing, as well as a bit of bending.
These braces have a set of blue aluminum louvers riveted to them. I've never seen a set of Devols with these louvers. I'm guessing this was an add-on from someone?
Pretty much anything can be repaired with regards to metal / aluminium.
Whether or not it's worth it is the question. I'm the sort of 'Loon' that would repair such a thing - for Myself. As, I have the equipment and time ( at times) to faff about with such a thing, between paying work.
As to paying someone - well, time is money.
I had a very cursory look for guards for the KDX200 - seemed to be plenty on E Bay, but I think they were for the later models.
Even Jeff Fredette Racing doesn't seem to have them nowadays.
The Aluminium Blue Radiator Louvres look just like the MSR ones I've had since around '89 - I used them first on my '89 Maico 320, then they've been on my CRE500 since 2002. Somehow, I've Never damaged them ( I guess I will now.... 😁) and they are pristine, still. They just cable tie, top and bottom, to my Radiator braces I made for the old Beast.
I daresay they were just a simple / cheap thing re-packaged for quite a few companies, and not just for MSR. The company I worked for way back then, imported MSR, Maico, Acerbis, UFO, ProX and a fair few other DB related products.
Thanks. Unfortunately, TIG work is outside of my skillset. I'm sure that I could find someone locally, but if there was someone within the moto community who does this work I would prefer giving them the money.
My plan is to straighten these and fab up some aluminum strapping/reinforcements to shore up the areas where the cracks were at the top and bottom.
Unfortunately, Devol has long discontinued the braces for the 90-94 KDX. While I didn't physically call FRP, I'm assuming that they don't have any old ones kicking around. This is the first set that I've come across in over a year.
For context, my uncle ran this bike at the Silverdome on amateur day and I have pictures of me sitting on it pretty much right out of the womb. It's also the first "big" bike that I ever rode. This is more or less a labor of love build with no real budget. I'm more or less building what I imagine a "factory" KDX would look like in 1990.
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