I got the japanese bearings in Kyrgyzstan. I'm sure there are plenty of non-chinese bearings on taobao. I didn't lengthen the axel tube myself. I think the guy just welded a bit of metal to the end of it.

The motorcycle is now in Istanbul and on the last day of my trip a new problem emerged. At the moment I'm unable to start the bike with the electric starter after it's been sitting around for a while. Push starting works fine and after it's been running for a while it will start again without issue.

My theory is that there is some problem with the battery. While replacing the wheel bearings once, I lost a lot of some mysterious odorless fluid which I now think was battery fluid. I don't have the money at the moment to test my theory but once i do i'll let you know the results.