KMX-X needing road mods. Any ideas?

Tdr1nka

I bought a virtually unused KMX-X this summer, having a ball!

Next spring I intend to put on skinny slicks and I need to change the ring set for a more designed for road riding.
Also, I want to buy a chain of the right length, anywere I can buy it in specific length?


Any suggestions?

T x

Airfriday

If you want to put really skinny slicks on it, you'll probably have to change the wheels. Primo Comets 16 X 1 3/8" should fit OK and are about the fastest tyres that are practical for your existing rims:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Primo-Comet-16-x1 ... 0066896307

However, they will not be so good on the wet. Schwalbe do a few 16" with a slight thread and you'll probably notice very little difference in speed:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pair-of-Schwalbe- ... 0203674495

Need to run them at the highest pressure if you want speed.

I don't know if/where you can get a single length chain from for your KMX. I never changed mine before going for a Trice QNT! (My Trice has 2 1/2 chains)

Have fun

Cunobelin

The answer to the chains is to buy more than one, but standarise. All my bikes take just over 2 so I use the same chain across all 4, buying two new chains and using the "odd loinks" for he final fit.

The fitting of the chain is like any other bike or trike, either match length to the previous one or google and choose the method you find easeiest with.

Tdr1nka

Thank you for the tips.
The chain is an easy job then. The gent I bought the KMX from is a full foot shorter than me so I had to extend the chain from where he had shortened it.

My LBS (Brixton Cycles) fished me out some spare links from the workshop and I extended the chain which helped no end but gave me some irritating moments of chain skip and crunch while the links settled in.

The previous owner had also taken a right good spill off road on the trike losing the chain ring a few teeth, putting a nice scratch in the underside of the frame and a very slightly bent left hand steering rod.

I aim to replace the drive train in the spring, any ideas of what cogs and rings I should go with for road use?

Also I want to try very gently bend the steering rod back into shape. It is about 3 degrees out, right at the rod end of the tread, I imagine I'll just lock two nuts at the end of the thread, put the rod in a vice(held by the locking nuts) and then either pull or possibly hammer the bend out.

Does this sound, er, sound?

Thanks again for your invaluable help and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

T x

Tdr1nka

Thank you for the tips.
The chain is an easy job then. The gent I bought the KMX from is a full foot shorter than me so I had to extend the chain from where he had shortened it.

My LBS (Brixton Cycles) fished me out some spare links from the workshop and I extended the chain which helped no end but gave me some irritating moments of chain skip and crunch while the links settled in.

The previous owner had also taken a right good spill off road on the trike losing the chain ring a few teeth, putting a nice scratch in the underside of the frame and a very slightly bent left hand steering rod.

I aim to replace the drive train in the spring, any ideas of what cogs and rings I should go with for road use?

Also I want to try very gently bend the steering rod back into shape. It is about 3 degrees out, right at the rod end of the tread, I imagine I'll just lock two nuts at the end of the thread, put the rod in a vice(held by the locking nuts) and then either pull or possibly hammer the bend out.

Does this sound, er, sound?

Thanks again for your invaluable help and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

T x

Airfriday

I think it's worth spending a bit of money on your KMX especially if you got it fairy cheaply. Having been crashed and what you say about the missing teeth, I'd replace the chain ring(s), the rear cassette and the chain by the spring.

As far as I remember, the chain set should be a triple > 22 to 42. The cassette 8 speed > 11 to 28t (I sold mine some time ago, so the spec may be different). Your max "gear inches" is 90" in top gear. The average MB is 100 (or slightly less). Even now, it must seem underpowered on smooth tarmac?

I think I'd change the largest front ring to something like a 52t, maybe increase the other two as well. This will give you a maximum of 113 gear inches. Which is a bit less than a road bike gearing (120) but more than a mountain bike. With your new nice smooth highly inflated tyres, your KMX-X should fly! You'll find that you will spend more time in the middle gears on the back. Got to be better than running out of gears as I do on my Trice!

Do you have clip-less pedals or some means of keeping your feet attached to them? You might want to fit some SPD's like:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Shimano-PD-M520-S ... 0181114285

If your feet fall of the pedals at speed on tarmac, your heal(s) could trap under your trike and break an ankle or even worse!

Cunobelin

REcumbnt gearing can be strange!

You can push bigger gears and achieve better speeds.

My Hurricane came with a standard 48 T front ring, and a SRAM 3x7 hub on the rear.

I sourced a 64T chainring and fitted it with a manual gear change ( lift the chain with fingers! ) so I now have a 42 speed bike!

Basically if you have to change the front ring then it will be guess work, however I would make all the other changes, and then try the bike out. If you start "spinning out" then raise the gearing, if not go for a standard chainset.

Don't worry about road groupsets though, MTB ones work just as well, and can be better as they are more robust and cope better with tha additional stress

LeeW

DO NOT BUY THE TIRES ON EBAY ABOVE, THEY WILL NOT FIT!

The standard KMX wheels are 16", ISO 305. Brompton bikes and several others also use a wheel size described as 16" but are actually ISO 349 which means the actual rim diameter is 44mm larger and thus will not fir the KMX. If you are to buy new tyres for the standard wheels then you need to look for something marked ISO 305.

I used 32-305 Primo comet tyres on my KMX from hostelshoppe. http://www.hostelshoppe.com/cgi-bin/rea ... =983918945 They lasted about 2,000 miles

See http://www.leew.co.uk/kmx1.html for pictures.

Airfriday

DO NOT BUY THE TIRES ON EBAY ABOVE, THEY WILL NOT FIT!

The standard KMX wheels are 16", ISO 305. Brompton bikes and several others also use a wheel size described as 16" but are actually ISO 349 which means the actual rim diameter is 44mm larger and thus will not fir the KMX. If you are to buy new tyres for the standard wheels then you need to look for something marked ISO 305.

I used 32-305 Primo comet tyres on my KMX from hostelshoppe. http://www.hostelshoppe.com/cgi-bin/rea ... =983918945 They lasted about 2,000 miles

See http://www.leew.co.uk/kmx1.html for pictures.

. . . . arrrrh, sorry about that. I never checked. Yes I remember now

PS: Did you get your Trice, Lee?

LeeW

I have two trices, a Trice S and a Trice Micro. The S is currently up for sale due to lack of use to make room for some more bikes.