Hi from the Kruger Park in South Africa I am just freaked out with your site on the KT. Well done and keep it up. This KT was first bought by my "Rich Uncle" in 1975. At that stage I was 10 years old and was riding a Yamaha TY80. I was always liked his KT250, and wished that I could have one. He rode this bike for a few years that I know of, then we moved away. 25 years later my aunt was gunned down on there farm in Natal. I went down to help out and just to support my cousin and uncle who were also shot. Unfortunately my aunt died, anyway that is another story but this is how I came across the KT again. The 3rd day that I was down there, I stumbled upon an old scrap pile down at the farms' borderline. As I walked past I noticed something shining while everything else was rusted. I took a closer look and saw that it was the rear brake arm of the KT. I rummaged around and found most of the other parts in the massive junk pile. The whole bike had been stripped and just thrown on the junk pile. To cut a long story short, I loaded the whole bike in spares into my car's boot and drove back to my home 900km's away. 3 weeks later and R175 (Rand) spent and the bike fired up on the 3rd kick. I had an XR 500R Honda at the time. After 4 weekend rides on the old KT I decided to sell the Honda and I have never looked back. I would love to have built the bike up to it's original state but that was imposable. The front forks were very badly pitted from corrosion. There are no spares in South Africa for a KT250, people don't even know what it is when you ask them. So I had to substitute them with a set from a Honda XL125 (AAaaggghhh!! I hear you scream, sorry!!). The clutch plates were also shot. I remember that my uncle was always complaining about the clutch slipping. As you now know, no spares!! After many phone calls and faxed photocopies of the original plates to various bike shops I found that the Yamaha AG100 plates were identical but just .35 mm thicker. I used them and just fitted one less plate. I have never had a clutch slip yet and I have been using the bike all year around for 4 years now. I am starting to hear a bit of piston slap now, this is now going to be a big problem. I have a small home engineering shop, so I was thinking that I should try and find a piston that is almost identical, then build a sleeve. The biggest problem will be the ports. If anyone out there has any ideas please contact me. Remember, there are no KT spares in SA, the Rand/Dollar exchange rate would kill me if I were to import, and I live 560kms from the nearest big town. So form those of you who like a challenge, email me. Buy the way, I would like to write to any KT owner and trade stories. I have lots of pix of all our club rides in the area. I know you bikers would just love to come and ride here. Your KT Friend Rory Lawson Email:- roli@webmail.co.za
