mXrevival is in what Dirt Bike called their “OEM era” — builds that look the part of the era they’re paying tribute to, executed at a level that doesn’t show up in most YouTube workshop content. The KX250 is the clearest example yet. Pro Circuit livery from Decal Works. HGS Factory pipe cut to Bud Racing’s specs. All Balls internals, Boyesen Rad Valve, Phathead, Botl hardware throughout.
We got the suspension.
What we did
Complete teardown of the KYB front fork and the rear shock. Every internal surface cleaned and inspected. Wear items replaced. Both ends rebuilt to spec, then taken a step further with specialty coatings on the hard parts before reassembly.
The bike that left here wasn’t running 2003 suspension anymore. It was running suspension that looked the part and worked the way a Pro Circuit-inspired build is supposed to work.
Why this one matters
The 2003 KX250 is one of the last great air-cooled-era two-stroke 250s before the four-stroke wave fully took over the 250 class. The Pro Circuit Kawasaki team that decade put riders like James Stewart, Mike Brown, and Ivan Tedesco on the box. The graphics are recognizable to anyone who watched outdoor nationals in that window. Building a tribute bike to that era means the bike has to ride like the memory of it, not just look like it.
Suspension is where that gets decided. Stock 2003 KYB hardware, even rebuilt, isn’t going to feel the way Charles wanted this bike to feel. So we didn’t stop at a rebuild. We took it to spec for the rider and the era.
The Dirt Bike feature
Dirt Bike Magazine featured the build on their 2-Stroke Tuesday column on March 10, 2026. The full writeup credits the team across the build — Decal Works on graphics, HGS on the pipe with Bud Racing’s specs, All Balls on internals, Boyesen and Phathead on top-end performance, Botl Motorcycle Hardware on fasteners. RG3 Factory on suspension.
If you’re building a tribute bike — 1990s, early-2000s, doesn’t matter the era — the suspension is what separates a bike that looks right in the photo from a bike that rides the way you remember. We do this work off-bike, ship in and ship out. Get in touch.
- Bike
- 2003 Kawasaki KX250 — mXrevival build for Charles
- Service
- Off-bike fork + shock service, complete rebuild front and rear, specialty coatings
- Front fork
- KYB — rebuilt to RG3 spec
- Rear shock
- KYB — rebuilt to RG3 spec
- Fork oil
- KYB 5W
- Shock oil
- KYB 3W
- Coatings
- [TK — specialty coatings as run, e.g., DLC inner tubes / shock shaft, anodize on uppers / shock body]
- Featured in
- Dirt Bike Magazine · 2-Stroke Tuesday · March 10, 2026
- Service Advisor
- Weston Peick
- Tech
- [TK]
Charles runs mXrevival, a build channel and shop focused on bringing classic two-strokes back to a higher standard than they left the showroom. The current run of OEM-era builds — tribute liveries executed with current-spec internals — has put the channel in front of audiences far beyond the usual two-stroke faithful. The 2003 KX250 in Pro Circuit livery is the most ambitious of the era so far.