KTM

This thread is in no way to bash KTMs. Hell if I weren't so vertically challenged and had 10K I'd have my happy ass on one.


My brother got a smoking deal on an 07 450EXC with 300 miles from a friend of ours. Only problem was the logistics of getting the bike here(it was in Texas) so everybody was happy. Once an agreement was reached, a speed bump appeared, one of the fork seals was blown. Our friend doesn't jump or do wheelies so I don't think it was from abuse. He took it to the dealer and had it repaired. When my brother finally got it and brought it over, I gotta say I was impressed. The forks are massive, the rear shock is massive. Makes my X look puny. I couldn't help but notice a strong smell of coolant. We let it cool and checked the rad. Everything seemed ok. So off we went.

Having twice the hp, I was really curious to see X try and keep up. It didn't...at least in a straight line. On the twisties I'd do cirlces around him. (He's on knobbies) Anything above 50mph on the streets was scary. The DOT knobbies shook the bike violenltly. On the trails he didnt get very far, it overheated on him. On the way back to the house we ran into some traffic. The bike overheated again. After letting cool we rode back to the house. All of sudden the bike shut off. He was low on fuel so he switched to res. Fired right up and rode home. Almost. It shut off again. Swithced back to main. Fired right up and made home, finally. Upon further inspection, the bike does not have a rad fan. WTF???? We traced the motor shutting off to emissions evap crap. It runs perfect without the breather tube on the gas cap,so we removed everything connected to it. He bought a rad fan kit. Oddly enough it was a plug play. All brackets and plugs were nicely tucked away on the bike. Why wouldn't the factory install it to begin with? How do fork seals go at 300 miles? The emissions crap causing a running problem?

I dunno all these small annoyances leave me a little weary of bigger things to come.....

thats pretty typical KTM. great bikes once you sort out all the issues. you will need a higher out put ignition now with that fan. it doesn't have enough juice to run the fan and head light at the same time when going slow. goto www.ktmtalk.com to sort out the issues.

Now that you mention that....we were going slow through some rocky trails, stopped for a water break. Wouldn't even turn over,dead battery. Good thing it has a kick start too.

A funny thing happened to me at the motard track the other night. A KTM guy I know from there walks up to me (I was on my KLR last year) and want's to try my WRX. Sure, if I can try his KTM. He's a good rider and has a well sorted KTM 450 motard. We both head out for a session.

My impressions of the KTM:
The brakes feel mushy, but stop great with good confidence and feedback through the mush.
Monster torque coming outa the corners. Grab the throttle at nearly any rpm and it growls hard. No WR250 will ever have that!!!
While the suspension felt great (yes, HUGE forks and shock) the handling felt more like my wife's XT225 than my WRX.

His impressions of the WR250X:
Fun bike.
Maybe not a racer but quite enough power for a play bike even on the track. (keep in mind my bike has NO power mods yet, totally stock other than rubber and gearing).
The WRX handles Great! How much are they? Wanna trade?

I ended up low-siding the KTM on the corner that many had already had stuffed it in. I wasn't going what I felt to be that hard compared with my WRX and that wasn't likely the bike. It may have been that I came off of fresh Conti SM tires on my WRX to a worn out Pirelli. It also could have been that I was still nursing a couple of cracked ribs from a little mishap two days prior. The funny thing is that the little get-off on the track was a 'nothing' get up, start and go again, while the upset two days prior was a sub 5mph tip over in traffic that also toasted a helmet.

Oh, and I had to kick-start the KTM too, even though it had electric start. Normally I would be OK about that as it was well tuned and started first try, but the ribs were not amused!

P.S. If the as yet un-named KTM guy comes across this thread, Thanks for the ride, You'll get a WRX one day. Meanwhile we can swap you bikes for a session at the track again.

Send him Steve's way...his bike needs a home.