Some of you apparently have a problem with context, or are too young to remember the garbage coming out of Japan in the 60's and 70's.

 

For motorcycles you are off by 20 years there... Honda CB/CL/CA 72 and 77, very reliable. Yamaha too with the two strokes, Even Bridgestone. All in the 60s. All the Japanese cars started hitting in the 70s.

But I do remember all the cheap stamped steel toys and junk from my childhood in the 50s and early 60s.

 

Watch it now... someone's gonna come along and tell you Genie openers will do it quicker and from further away! We'll have anarchy!

 

I don't know what garbages you are talking about but obviously it's not motorcycles...

 

None of the Jap bikes were ever bad. They were of very good quality right from the beginning post WWII. The only ones that might have been of dubious quality may have been some of the Marushos. Like you say by the 1960s, Jap bikes were of world class quality and kicking serious butts at the races. And as we know, Honda released the CB750K0 in 1969 which raised the bar to heights never seen before at that time.

Thoses were during the occupations and was stamped "Made in Occupied Japan". Those toys were slated to the US as cheap alternatives and did not represent the actual quality of what Japan could produce. Japan was never a third world country like China was (and in many ways still is). Even during WWII, the Japanese Mitsubishi Zero was the best fighter plane in the world until Locheed introduced the P-38 a couple of years into the war.

 

Apart from debating the metallurgical ramifications and international politics surrounding patents in the country of manufacture etc. I looked again and 6 of these have been sold.

Anyone on here take the punt and buy one?

I've tried looking online for info about the Loncin chain tensioner with no success. If it's only a matter of adapting something to suit, an oil line shouldn't hold up progress. Get some suitable banjos, extra tube and have at it. IMHO if you've got the smarts to fabricate the tensioner, a new oil pipe would be easy.

 

This one is even cheaper, and appears to have the correct middle tensioner location: http://m.aliexpress.com/item/2030030341.html

 

Looking through a couple of old threads on these Chinese top ends I've seen various conflicting comments on the timing tensioners. Whether they fit and whether people are talking about the main tensioner in the head or the lower one in the cylinder is ambiguous when I look at different threads on different forums.

I have a 2009 KLX250 with the original Kawasaki top end. I need to replace the main timing chain tensioner (the spring loaded one in the head). I'm looking at this one for the LoncinYF300.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005...d=jBKSVMqY2vof

Can anyone confirm whether it fits my standard KLX250 engine? I guess in the years since this thread began a few must have tried these Loncin parts.

Thanks

 

I will tell you right off, another automatic one may or may not fail again. I went through two OEM units on my KLX650. Having to make my own for the 650 and then a 550 Zephyr got me in the business of making manual tensioners. If you look it up here you will find virtually every rider who's bought one finds they do the job, period. Manual tensioners are not hard to live with, they will start clicking if there is any slack in the cam drive, kind of an audible message to adjust the slack out. You'll likely check valves more often than adjusting the cam drive. I also find the clicking usually happens with only .010" slack, when the automatic tensioners fail they usually have more like around .250"-.275" slack by the time it is noticed. I also find with seated in cam drives adjustment usually is over 10,000 miles, with some riders going over 20,000 miles without adjustment.

So what I'm telling you is skip the auto adjust and go to a manual tensioner, you will never have to buy another.. I am the person that designed the correct tensioner for the 250 most ebay specials do not fit. My kit is only $39.00 plus shipping. The shipping in the U.S. is $10.40, to Canada is $30.70, and $43.80 for the rest of the world. I sell direct or on ebay. I add to the ebay price due to fees. The kit is sent by USPS flat rate priority, which has insurance and is tracked in most countries. I use PayPal because it protects the buyer, no card numbers are shared and it is fast. You can PM me or email me at kriegercct@clems-garage.com if you are interested. My web site is www.clems-garage.com/CCT to get more information. Here is one of the threads here, click here, if you do a google search you can find more, plus Youtube video on installation a rider did.

 

I have a complete Kustom Kraft 330 big bore kit minus head and base gaskets for $500. I could not get fuel injection to work and it has 400 miles on it.