Thread: dirt bike rebuild, are there any tell tail signs when its needed?

Just ride the f**ken thing hard and stop worrying about it. You'll never enjoy it if you worry too much. My KTM450 is rattly as hell, but everything's within spec and it starts well and pulls well constantly.

Keep the oil and filter changes up and valves in spec and you'll be sweet. The only issues I've had with my mx bike engines has been electrical stuff, never mechanical.

Thanks JoshC, I was thinking that there seams to be hell of a lot of engine work been done for SFA riding

At least check the valve clearances, and I'd probably do a set of rings at the minimum.

Modern 4 strokes that are poorly maintained are time bombs waiting to go off.

Remember that even if the valve clearances are within tolerance, the titanium valves stretch over time and can fail if not replaced.
One look at a 4 stroke piston, you will see how short the skirt is on the piston and if it gets excessively worn, will start to put a lot of extra pressure on the skirt as well as wear the bore out. You do not want the piston to let go, or the repair bill will cost more than the bike is worth.

If you are mechanically minded, it's not hard to do a piston or rings. I know I'd rather spend the time and money, than face a $3000 repair bill.

A mate of mine looked after his bike well, but still had it crap itself a few times costing thousands each time.

iv decided im gonna strip it down and do the top end check the valves etc, at least then ill know its good for a while. probably dosent need it but for the price of a kit vs a fucked engine in the middle of no where its cheap insurance.