Dobb's KX500

The same year as we built the KX 500 for Jeff Emig we built a sister bike for former World Champion, Jamie Dobb.

Again we go way back (so far I can't even remember when we first met, it seems like we've been friends for ever). So, it was a 'no brainer' for us to build the bike for him.

The bike is essentially the same as the Fro bike with the full Pro Circuit pipe/silencer,aluminium tank KHI factory Kawasaki forks, Pro Circuit clamps but the big difference on this one was the livery.

James rode for the Pro Circuit squad in 1993 and his number was the iconic 100. The biggest issue is that you can only buy the blue rear fender & sidepanels with white rad panels needed to get the right look for the 125 & 250. They were never made for the mighty 500. Jamie had never ridden a KX500 until the day of the race but on the old school GP track at Farleigh you are at a disadvantage on anything else and he wanted to say he'd raced one in his career.

So the XFun plastics and aluminium tank we use had to go to Tom Fuller at Image Design Custom to be painted with the same paint they use on the helmet visors, they looked awesome but we feared for the longevity. So, we got 2 sets done, just incase.

The next challenge was the graphics. Frank at Evo-MX had the designs done for the longer, thinner 125 and 250 rad panel but the short, fat KX 500 tank/rad panel combo meant the long "Hotwheels" logo had to be changed considerably for it to fit on. We think it all came out really well and we fitted a new set of gold Excel rims to finish the look.

I have to say I think this is the prettiest KX 500 we've ever done as there isn't a huge selection of options on graphics for them.

Jamie gave me the one of helmet painted again by Tom for the event to replicate his 1993 team issue one. This is now firmly in my personal helmet collection.

The bike was featured in Motohead Worldwide and keeps cropping up on vintage and 2 stroke sites every couple of months.