who ’ d built one hell of an awesome 450 race bike . As Sam was no longer with us [ Sam passed away prematurely in 2019 - Ed ] we had to try and go down some overseas paths for info to build the bike . In the end we ordered a lowering / spring kit for the forks and shock from Durelle Racing in the USA . We could have got this all done through Norm Cobb from Suspension Tech , but we went through Durelle just to double check we had the right numbers as they are the guys in the States who really know flat track . They sent the kit to us , and it then went on to Norm , who rebuilt everything internally . The shock wasn ’ t a major for Norm , with a quick turn-around . The forks though … they were a drama for us . The wrong length springs were ordered with the lowering kit , but we didn ’ t find out until the last minute . The lower tubes and axle clamps were sent overseas to be titanium-nitride coated . This was meant to take five weeks , but ended up taking three months . So , when we finally got them back to assemble , Norm found out the springs were the wrong length . Lucky for us Norm is the right man to have on
the job and was able to re machine the groove on the damper rod to achieve the spring preload we were after . Once we got it all back , we fitted some 19-`inch Haan wheels from Northern Accessories ; a 3.0-inch rear and a 2.5-inch front . Our Goldfren rear caliper made its way onto the sixth KTM it ’ s been on , along with a new oversize disc . We played around a little with Renthal sprockets and chains and settled for 13 / 48T gearing with an R1 race chain . Finally we covered it in RTech plastics and a new CFX seat cover . Workshop Graphics came up with an awesome kit that was based on an old plain idea I liked , but with its own flavour . Then we added a few more KTM Powerparts in the form of covers and a fuel tank cap . All-in-all , this bike could have been done significantly cheaper and quicker than we did , but when you ’ re building a tribute to a friend money and time is the last thing you worry about . All that matters is the final product . We ’ re really happy with the final bike . There ’ s still a lot of room to improve with set up , but we ’ re making good progress at every race .
64 KIWI RIDER