How I Restored This Swingarm | 1996 RM250

This swingarm restoration took many hours of grinding, sanding, welding, and multiple trips to the anodizing place, but in the end I'm happy with how it turned out.
Thank you again to Evo-Mx for making the beautiful replica graphics! Please check out their awesome catalog and website for cool retro graphics and seat covers:
www.evo-mx-brochure.com/evo-m...
www.evo-mx.com/
See IG for photos and teasers from this 1996 RM250 restoration: / madmarcmoto
And see more videos of this project in my playlist: • 1996 RM250 Restoration

[@Adamdub612]

holy shit thats always amazes me when someone can remember where every nut and bolt goes. i could watch these kind of videos for days. great work

[@SgtPepperDayZ]

Even your stickering ability is worth a mention. Swing arm looks wicked

[@madmarc]

😂 Thank you!

[@TheSlim93gt]

Your making me want a 96 RM250, and I'm a Honda guy!

[@zardportugal]

Perfect videos! What a joy to watch. Thanks Mad Marc.

[@BagasSatriaJr4777]

Sangat sabar dan teliti pengerjaannya 👍

[@lachlanlofts6754]

I love to watch your videos. No talking, no bullshit just a craftsman doing excellent work.

[@MitchDaRealist]

Cool sticker trick. I will be trying that on the next one. 👍👍👍

[@madmarc]

I'm glad it was useful!

[@ilyaivanov2283]

Прям смотреть приятно за отличной работой.

[@raonialbues]

Amazing work, brother !! Watching from Brazil here. Congratulations.

[@erikeberstein6460]

The bike goddess

[@grubbm4927]

Wow! Nice job as usual!

[@RichardKronawetter-yk1qz]

Amazing job

[@davemckillit]

Wow this is brilliant!!!

[@mickgadsby761]

Great job. It looks like you used a silicon based welding wire. Great job correcting it. I got a Yamaha TDR250 one to do.

[@madmarc]

4043 was the original (poor anodizing reaction), and 5356 was what I used later.

[@cj-ef1rp]

You might opt for 4943 whenever you choose to anodize. It takes anodizing extremely well and can be used on cast alloys or modern 6000 series with equal results

[@01AceAlpha]

Beautiful!

[@EricBanner571]

The master at work.

[@tomatoknuckles]

Awesome work as always man. Wish i could get this far on my own, dealing with a stuck swing arm bolt that just won't budge 🙄

[@madmarc]

Haha! Some bikes are notorious for that. Good luck !

[@tomatoknuckles]

@madmarc The grinder be coming out soon 😅

[@jered1940]

You are incredibly talented

[@madmarc]

Thanks Jered, you're always very kind!

[@banane8066]

Wow, it's amazing...grettings from germany🙋‍♂️

[@madmarc]

Thank you my friend!

[@Cliff_Booth-wd3nm]

Awesome

[@manow4011]

Most satisfying videos on KZbin.

[@madmarc]

Thanks man!

[@averens]

Respect

[@adamsbikebuilds4265]

This RM is gonna look good next to your KX

[@madmarc]

It's going to be a fun photo shoot!

[@lucalivraghi9081]

Sei un artista....

[@user-alexkzn]

👍👍👍

[@fadlieputra639]

👍👍👍👍

[@glenkirwan5262]

Unbelievable work👌🏼 was it a wire wheel you used to remove the old anodising?

[@madmarc]

Thanks man, it was a polycarbide wheels. I think those are the best for swingarms.

[@bigbeaer4906]

Toujours ce travail magnifique....Et ce bruit de fond original qui ne fait que refléter l'énorme travail réalisé. Tu as quand même eu une petite frayeur pour la vis récalcitrante ???? 😉😉😃

[@madmarc]

Et ca c'etait apres deux semaines cette vis reste dans une huile penetrante (liquid wrench). Je trouve qu'elle a rien fait. Merci pour les commentaires!

[@bigbeaer4906]

@@madmarc En tous cas ...ça marche 😉

[@nickvandernet]

What did you coat it with so that it doesn't rust?

[@nigebake]

Is this a steel swingarm? And if so how is it not going to rust when left bare?

[@gudcudahudydewgarage8328]

It’s aluminum and he anodized it so there will be zero oxidation

[@dimametis5239]

👍👍👍👍🤔

[@joshuaoliver2619]

Would you be willing to restore a swingarm if I sent one to you? I have 3 bikes I'm looking to restore and I have never seen such outstanding work, and attention to detail actually fill welding in defects on aluminum parts. Also you dont just refinish the aluminum, you actually take the additional time to restore the factory anodizing that would come originally. I would be willing to pay for shipping + your labor aswell. You could also get some content out of it?

[@madmarc]

Thanks Josh but I barely have time to work on my own stuff. And swingarms are really miserable to work on.

[@raonialbues]

Brothers, what is this silver grease ?

[@madmarc]

It's anti-seize.

[@MrDogtown22]

Was the anodizing expensive??

[@madmarc]

The place I took my stuff too charges per color -- for clear it was $100 for everything I anodized, that included swingarm, sub frame, and a bunch of smaller parts.

[@MrDogtown22]

@madmarc thanks Marc. I've got a swing arm off to be clear anodised tomorrow. Sanded all the scratches out and finished with red scotch. Did the place that done yours expect you to sand off ALL the old anodising? Or do they dip it in a tank before hand that strips it?

[@madmarc]

@@MrDogtown22 they dunked it in their special chemical to remove the anodizing. From now on I'm going to have them do that to all my parts before I work on them

[@MrDogtown22]

@madmarc yeah will save a lot of time! Do you think the yokes are clear anodised?

[@madmarc]

@@MrDogtown22 What do you mean by yokes? You mean the cast portion of the swingarm where you install the bearings? The whole thing is anodized. BTW in case you were wondering, the anodizing doesn't significantly affect the tolerance for bearing installation. I measured them before and after the anodizing, and compared them to another swingarm I had that used the same bearings. So there's no need to mask them off.