MotoHead’s chief tester Dave Willet’s KTM 65 has been in bits for around six years now. It’s been sitting in parts so we are going to put it back together not to sell it but to lend it to some lucky kids aged 6-11 which deserve it.

Prime candidates are kids that have been good at school and deserves a treat or a kid who absolutely loves bikes but unfortunately can’t get one or maybe he can but his parents don’t know if he’ll like the sport. It’s up to the MX public to nominate a worthy individual.

Anyway we’ve come up with a new Project which is called Dirt Intro. The concept is very simple we are going to select a new kid every month to join me and my boys on a day at Sellindge Mx or the private Willet Compound to help get them started in their riding or to just get an adrenaline kick. Because of the British winter weather it will be impossible at the minute and no fun at all to ride around Sellindge. So you will be invited to a private track to have some tutoring with my two boys.

The bike (re)build
It seems I’ve invested more time in searching for parts around the garage then reassembling the bike. To date I’ve managed to misplace a crankshaft and a swingarm. Well to
be honest, I think I know who has them but it’s just not worth going there. Some things are best left unsaid between mates.

So I managed to source replacments after a social media post on the 2-Stroke Festival Facebook group page. Two smoke Mx breaker Mikey supplied me with a re-conditioned crank which came in a few days.

I decided to remove all the engine bearings so I can get the engine cases Cerakoted by McNearly. I’m pretty sure now I’ve started the bling train rolling it’s not going to stop until the KTM 65 no longer looks like a normal 65.

I’ve sourced a stock, genuine KTM clutch which is perfect because these parts are significantly more durable than some aftermarket parts.

I’ve always found a new KTM powervalve which I’m happy about. I remember having a few problems of them breaking in the past so avoiding use of the old one ticks another reliability box.

While I was looking for the crank I also came across a WP fork service kit so I’ve decided to freshen up the forks too. If you are wondering why I’ve got so many parts it’s because I used to have a shop and we even ran a youth motocross team for a number of years. So having parts to run 65s and 85s was a must.

I’m getting excited about this project build and massively motivated due to the response. We’ve had some ideal candidates already, bit if you know a deserving kid please email us why at XBladezdover@gmail.com