^^ lol, agreed - but living vicariously through the post is the closest I will ever get so I am pretty safe
I don't think the $ is astronomical given the pricing on a decent setup 1000 these days, but I'd be more worried about the thought of yard sailing it, and never being able to fix it more than anything. It would be badass to own, and track day it.
I might if I have space in the trailer. I'm helping Kaleb this year since his STK1000 deal fell apart, we have a test Sunday, so the logistics are still in flux...... Right now I'm at about 45-50K all in- I have to go add up all of the invoices, I bought the rolling chassis for one price, then the engine, Magnetti Marelli and wiring harness was a separate deal. Then I bought alot of small parts like master cylinder, chain and sprockets, some radiator hoses, etc... I do have a mostly complete set of spare bodywork- minus the tail, which is a monocoque, so it's pretty sturdy. There are part numbers and I'm not sure if they are KTM or what. The ram air parts in particular look hard to find- I've had bikes from Ducati Corse before but this is a new level- some of the parts (rear sets for example) are probably just not going to be found and if I break them, they'll have to be made. The Kalex bikes have more parts available, you can buy swingarms, frames, tanks, bodywork from Kalex so the thought of destroying the KTM is a little more frightening. Regarding crashing, I have the same feelings as you, because that's my nature, but then I remind myself that I bought the R6 8 years ago so I could have a bike to beat the crap out of- I've ridden that thing as hard as I can at every track day and tons of races, with only one minor low side. So I'll try not to worry about it!
It's still a few months till the start of the STK 1000 season, so nothing is set in stone yet. But he's not going to be able to raise the funds required as of today.
It's ALIVE! Finally got the forks back, got the brakes bled and the bike all together and ready for start. Got some VP C-9 fuel and headed over to MotoCorse Performance. They have a dyno and several "start carts", plus my mechanic Larry Zullo works there. We made several attempts, and it would not fire. Took the bike apart and removed the injectors (which involved cutting a buggered Phillips head screw, typical motorcycle project) and spark plugs. Plugs looked ok and not fouled, had some fuel on them. Put the injectors into the flow tester and got them pumping real good. Put it all back together. Second attempt, it started and idled, but massive fuel leak. When I put one of the injectors back into the rail I sandwiched the O-ring. So this was quickly corrected. Back together again and it starts right up and idles. Sounds kind of funny.... I rev it and they see flames coming out of the head behind the radiator. Turns out the exhaust was only on with 2 bolts, and no gaskets. Just enough to get through customs, apparently. So it was back to the house and order some new exhaust gaskets. Also, since this was the state of assembly, I double checked everything- motor mount and suspension bolts, etc. that I had I already checked. But I hadn't had the radiator off so never noticed the missing exhaust bolts (the end ones that you can see from the side were there). I'm beyond happy that it started and idled- that lets us know there's a map in the ECU. We didn't get to do a dyno run because of the exhaust "leak", but you can read the lambda right on the dash, as well as all of the other sensors (most of which aren't hooked up yet- suspension pots, etc.) so the electronics are working. This was the biggest question mark in the project so I'm grateful it's resolved. So the next step is to get it to a track day and spin some laps! Probably not for a month or so, Road Atlanta is coming and no track days between now and then. Sorry for the crummy video quality, one of the techs just happened to walk by and filmed us. Will get some good quality go pro video for the next update. https://youtube.com/shorts/-NodA976tKM?si=b6ksztg-xyuJQjdJ
Haha that start cart idle.... thought it was the bike at first and was like, that thing sounds like shit!
Of course we spent the same amount of time trying to get that piece of shit start cart to rev out as we did getting the bike started.
Beyond cool. Been following this thread since the start, and have always enjoyed the updates. Congrats on finally getting to the point where you can ride it. What an awesome bike, with a lot of cool components.
I purchased some 675 parts from a MOTO 2 wrench that lives in Sarasota, if need be I can dig up his contact info....
