Bucket of the Month - February 2015 - Ken's Mudbug.

[NZ Moto4 Racing]

Bucket of the Month - February 2015 - Ken's Mudbug.

Ken's Mudbug has seen a long and sometimes painful development path.
It started in an RG250 frame, once he out-ran this he rehoused it in an NSR MC18 Frame.
Good thing he's an engineer and all-round whizz-kid on the tools as he adapted VFR front forks and an R6 Rear shock to run in the frame that came without such essential components.

The design of the TF125 engine is considered 'dated' by many and ancient by others, however it still proves to be one of the most competitive engines in bucket racing today. It still comes with a sweet little six speed and can be modified to produce some competitive, if not class leading, grunt.

Ken has converted this one to full case read with a genius system that dispenses with the old-fashioned piston-port/case reed system.
It runs an ignitech on total loss and a pipe designed with some help from the knowledge that oozes from the ESE thread and a program called MOTA.

The exhaust port is a very well crafted triple port job, quite difficult considering the proximity of the engine studs.

It had a very painful development with so many bad luck moments despite solid engineering and great race prep however it finally seems the hard work is paying off.

It's good to see this mudbug showing it's got the business with really good finishes at Taumaranui, if Ken has a luckier year it's in the hunt for a good North Island Finish!

[kel]

You forgot the EGT and ATAC setups in the exhaust header.
This is one of my favourite true buckets, lovely workmanship throughout and not an off the shelf performance part to be seen,
and that great Kawasaki colour scheme

[chrisc]

The old boys pretty damn crafty at the helm too, Jesus I'm having a hard time battling him at Tok on the FXR. Solid bike Ken the ex farmer, love the craftsmanship.

[TZ350]

Great bike, in the true spirit of Bucket racing, very impressive.

[husaberg]

Whats the ignition rotor, I cant pick it?
But the whole bike is pretty tasty

[Henk]

Whats the ignition rotor, I cant pick it?
But the whole bike is pretty tasty

Harley Davidson fxd

[speedpro]

Very hard to tell but that crankcase looks like my old case reed conversion but with an air cooled cylinder. It looks like the oil pump area has been opened up like I did to install the water pump and the big spacer plate under the cylinder

[F5 Dave]

S'funny I was thinking the same thing.

[husaberg]

Very hard to tell but that crankcase looks like my old case reed conversion but with an air cooled cylinder. It looks like the oil pump area has been opened up like I did to install the water pump and the big spacer plate under the cylinder

I think there was another pic of yours maybe rob posted on ESE?
oh no it was you.......

[mr bucketracer]

i had a ride on mikes bike at the gp down south , real nice torquey engine

[Farmaken]

Just the same but different, my version uses a smaller reed cage to match the 24mm carb.Oil pump area was opened up as a by product of making room for the carb bowl.
Flywheel is a homemade special with timing marks and ignition trigger

[mr bucketracer]

this one i built in around 97

[Bert]

this one i built in around 97

96 maybe? I remember seeing it along with speedpros (in the RG50 frame) and collected all the parts to try it myself - then reality hit... No engineering skills..

[F5 Dave]

That RG50 frame is Rangi'd'munta Trudes bike.