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KTM 500 Thread

I've been thinking about getting something like the 500. 450 maybe. I need a street legal dual sport that can do short freeway bursts, hours at 55 mph, and light enough for singletrack.

My 450 lb Aprilia adv bike is great on the highway, but too heavy off road. My Suzuki RL250 trials bike climbs like a goat, but the 25 mph top speed is a bit limiting. :lol3
 
I've got an 18 500 and it is my favorite bike for off roading for everything short of tight twisty's. It is capable of running down the freeway also. That being said it's not really made for long hauls on asphalt.
 
Oh, I forgot to mention that I'd want to have 2 sets of wheels for it.

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I have two sets, but they're both knobbies. (They came that way)
 
I think I could even let my Aprilia go if I had that supermoto above. I generally reach about 100-110 mph on the straightaway during track days. I think I could get close to that on the 500, and probably be faster in the curves. I remember one track day where a skilled rider on a CRF450 supermoto was passing me and a bunch of 600 sport bikes. They (we?) would reign him in on the straight, but he was fast in the curves!

I'd have to give up longer rides across, or out of, state. I don't do much of that now anyway, because my wife rides her own DR350 with a top speed of about 75 mph. When we want to ride somewhere far away, we have to truck her bike, so we load them both up and travel to our riding areas such as Utah. Loading 2 dual sports would be a bit easier than 1 Adv and 1 dual sport.
 
I've been thinking about getting something like the 500. 450 maybe. I need a street legal dual sport that can do short freeway bursts, hours at 55 mph, and light enough for singletrack.

My 450 lb Aprilia adv bike is great on the highway, but too heavy off road. My Suzuki RL250 trials bike climbs like a goat, but the 25 mph top speed is a bit limiting. :lol3

500EXC or Husky501 variant is the way to go, especially out here in the wide open spaces of the west.
 
I've been thinking about getting something like the 500. 450 maybe. I need a street legal dual sport that can do short freeway bursts, hours at 55 mph, and light enough for singletrack.

My 450 lb Aprilia adv bike is great on the highway, but too heavy off road. My Suzuki RL250 trials bike climbs like a goat, but the 25 mph top speed is a bit limiting. :lol3
Don't count out a 12-16 model. They hold a little more oil and are super reliable. That is if you can find one at a reasonable price. I found a '15 500XCW last summer with 800 miles, but I still paid a pandemic premium of $8000, it had about $1500 worth of crap thrown on it. I bought a 15 450XCW with 250 miles on it in 2016 for $7500 with about $3000 worth of stuff bolted on. I took the 450 on an 8 day trip with no issues and am now building the 500 to be my lightweight ADV bike.
 
Don't count out a 12-16 model. They hold a little more oil and are super reliable. That is if you can find one at a reasonable price. I found a '15 500XCW last summer with 800 miles, but I still paid a pandemic premium of $8000, it had about $1500 worth of crap thrown on it. I bought a 15 450XCW with 250 miles on it in 2016 for $7500 with about $3000 worth of stuff bolted on. I took the 450 on an 8 day trip with no issues and am now building the 500 to be my lightweight ADV bike.
I think I read that they changed the gear ratios after 2014, creating a gap between 4th and 5th. Does it just act like a separation between off road and highway gears.
 
I think I read that they changed the gear ratios after 2014, creating a gap between 4th and 5th. Does it just act like a separation between off road and highway gears.
I don't notice it, maybe it's a newer model issue. It seems like every bike I've ever owned people complain about the gearbox, it's either "too tall" (my 701 for example), "too close" (my old TE510), or "needs another gear" (my old DRZ).
 
Anyone on here had trouble with an oil jet blocking with debris.

last year I lost compression and upon teardown, the jet that is under the piston had what looked like oil filter media jammed in it.

luckily the bore was passable, but new piston and rings required.
IMG_20210211_205200.jpg


This was at 75 hours, 2019 model.


IMG_20210211_205208.jpg


I used some acid to remove the aluminum that had scuffed up the bore, it seemed to work good.

 
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