2012 KTM 500 EXC as a Lightweight Dual Sport

KTM.....another one?

have a friend with a 500 xc-w converted, will be watching closely for him.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

Yup, that's a valid concern. I normally use steel. Long term plan is composite. I consider this to be an "interim" rack.

Maybe. I plan to acquire the 13 L KTM tank soon. We shall see.

<http://www.aluminumrepair.com/more_info.asp> I guess he could some of these and at 700 degrees could make a repair. I have not tried the product, but it seems interesting and pricey.

Harcus - Great thread, thanks a bunch for getting it started and your efforts so far.

I've been adventure riding a KTM 525 through Southeast Asia for a few years now and looking at the 500 as a replacement if it can withstand the vigors. So I'm subscribed to your thread with baited breath.

One thing I noticed with luggage brackets is they always would end up breaking and usually not in convenient locations. I ended up fabbing these brackets up for the 525.




All the times I broke prior brackets it was where the top left portion of the bracket (in the pic) connected to the chassis. I made some minimal brackets to see if I could reduce the leverage that crashes put on the brackets. Once I fabbed these things up I never cracked or broke a bracket again. The idea is that the bracket only keeps the saddlebag out of the wheel and not used for load carrying. Also when crashed the weight of the bike laying on its side puts a lot of load and stress on brackets causing failures. These small brackets I believe, when crashed had very little leverage placed on them in comparison to standard brackets as they were flush up against the sidepanels, muffler and airbox.



I used the brackets with DirtBagz and sadly this bike is on its side a lot, luckily 3 years and no bracket issues. You may be looking for something completely different for all I know but thought I'd throw it out there for you to peruse.

Best of luck with the 500 and curious with what you and others come up with on this bike.

FTB

This is good feedback. That looks to be an "adverse environment".

About your rack mod... It appears that you made your mini pannier supports our of flat stock...maybe 25 mm x 3 mm ? Also look like you attached to the muffler can bolt on the RH side. What on the LH? Are the other subframe attach points stock or did you add your own?

Your pannier bracket mod eliminated the lower end of the DBz bracket. That reduces the bending moment on the bracket thus ruducing failures. I see n repair quite a few DBz brackets with cracks at the end points . So this makes sense. This does allow the bag to be unsupported at the lower end but apparently this is not an issue.

I see you have a large tank, a steering damper, a bash plate, handguards (probend?). More?

Tell us more about your setup & how you use the bike. Many people wonder how well a street legal race bike will stand up in everyday use. Like...
1. How has the bike done reliability wise?
2. What maintenance do you do, when?
3. How much load do you carry in the bags?
4. How many km / week?
5. Any problems with the subframe?
6. What is your biggest problem w/ this bike in this environment?
7. Year of bike n kms?
8. What is on your wish list for the replacement bike?

Thanks for the input! Tell us more!

Answers to your questions in contrasting font Harcus.

Fantastic questions Harcus. In looking at the 500 it looks like it will have to be transformed very similiar to my 525 to make it what suits my style of riding. The lightweight steering will be appreciated in the singletrack and the weight drop is nice (though a far cry from the 30 pounds that I'd love) though realistically other than a lighter handling machine it will not be a revolutionary change from the 525. They're still 260 pound big bore singles with much the same suspension components. I've been throwing my GL bag on my Yamaha YZF 250 (that has a WR250 gearbox) for a real change in multiday riding enjoyment. the YZF is about 30 pounds lighter than the KTM and loads more entertaining to ride in the tight stuff. I'd really love to ride lightweight bikes but sadly not much progress has been made over the last 20 years in terms of weight of the bikes. I'm returning to the states to pick up a KTM 2 stroke to bring back over and will try multiday rides on that and see how it fares. This is where packing light for multiday rides really pays dividends as the bike feel is so much more enhanced the more weight you can shed.

I often say there is nothing rarer than an original thought. I knew if I looked long enough I would find someone on the net thinking as I am. I want a truly light weight adventure touring bike. I have narrowed my search down to the 500 EXC. I was thinking about putting soft bags on it and I found this thread. I read the 500 exc? Thread and Harcus and a few others seems to have a lot of great ideas and I am happy to think we are like minded. Thanks for your input. I do have a few questions.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
My KTM dealer has two 500 EXC's on the floor. Is the price negotiable or does everyone pay MSRP? What is a good deal? What should I ask for?<o></o>
Second, does anyone make an integrated, hand gaurd, front turn signal mirror or is this my invention? Back of hand guard is LED turn signal like modern sports bikes have on the back sides of the mirrors. Make the inside of the hand guards out of reflective convex plastic to act as a mirror. My F 150 has a convex plastic mirror on the bottom portion of the side mirrors that work well. Not concerned about how effective the mirror is just trying to check the box for two mirrors for the police man. I am a minimalist at heart. This would clean up the DS parts hanging off my “dirt bike”. I think one part doing three things is better and saves weight. IMHO Nothing looks worse than turn signals and mirrors hanging off any bike. <o></o>

Check out Highway Dirtbikes for the integrated turn signal handguards.

http://www.highwaydirtbikes.com/HDB_Shop/index.php?app=ccp0&ns=catshow&ref=turn_signals

ktm950se

http://www.ht-racing.com/htrbilletoilcoolerkitr.aspx

good product below average customer service IMHO

Pricing

Pricing on a new bike is tricky. Tricky because there are several element to the price of the bike...

a. the price the dealer pays - Only the dealer & KTM know. KTM will negotiate w/ a dealer depending on what quty they move.

b. the list price - Not always clear what this includes.

c. shipping - Add $200-400 - Highly variable since most dealers ship more than one bike at a time, truck rates vary, fuel costs, etc

4. dealer prep - Another $200 - 400

e. parts discount - my dealer provides a 10 -20% percen discount on parts to hose who buy from them

f. And then there are farkles - what can you get your dealer to throw in for no cost or lo cost.

Bottom line - Have your dealer break it all down for you so you know.

Additionally, the market impacts price. A dealer here in Salt Lake may not be willing to drop his price much but a dealer in Rigby, ID may drop his price simply because Salt Lake has more traffic. That is happening right now around here. It appears that the northern dealers are hurting more because of the economy. History show there are always bargains out there but how far are you willing to go & who do you want to irritate.

But if you buy from the out of town dealer, you won't get the parts discount...or whatever.

There is something to be said for supporting your local dealer....and he may support you.



Handguard / mirror

There is nothing exactly as you requested. There is... http://www.highwaydirtbikes.com/HDB_Shop/

They are close to what you mentioned but pricey.

$8,800 is a great price for the 500 exc. $300 bucks less for the three fiddy.

Priced this last weekend from prominent Ktm dealer.

Good luck.

I saw on the net that the MSRP for a 500exc was $9,599? I think that was close to the off the cuff rough est. the sales guy gave me. I am doing my homework as I always do, then go into purchase with as much knowledge as I can. $8,800 sounds a lot better. Anyone willing to share what they paid? It is so much easier buying a truck. Dealer invoice is all over the net. Start there and go up a few hundred, done deal.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
I do want to support my local dealer but that doesn't mean they have to hit a home run on the bike deal as I will be spending money in their shop on all the gear required to go from street ridding to off road. I am very grateful I found this site and this thread.<o></o>
I live in Washington and the state law on off road motorcycles being plated changed and goes into effect 1/1/12. It is not clear to my dealer just how the details work out but it sounds like it will be possible to plate a 500 XC W in January. If that is the case would it be better to go with the XC W and add the lights and horn as opposed to desmogging and regearing the exc? My plans are to replace the mirrors, turn signals and hand guards anyway so this might be a less expensive route to the same bike in the end. I read a few comments on the 500 EXC ?, thread on this very subject but it died out. Seems WA state riders might now have a choice?<o></o>

Harcus - just a note, the 13 liter KTM hardparts tank with wings that I tried (on the 525) will still allow the radiators to be shoved backwards a couple inches by branches and such, however it does protect them from being crushed quite well from crashes.


Ridetosea - Thats the beauty of this website, no matter what your pervesion (land yacht BMW GS's to trials bikes), there's people on here suffering the same disease. A great place for insight and opinions for biking across the board. Best of luck wiht your 500 search.

I was going to get some radiator guards, but I think I'm going to wait until I get a larger tank to see what kind of room I have for the guards. I don't need the radiator guard rubbing a hole into the tank...... That would be real surprise out in the middle of nowhere.... :huh

That is my suspicion. Mine has not yet arrived to confirm. But that is why I built the radiator braces in the manner I did. They are "anti sweep" as much as I could manage. Also should fit the 13 L. If the braces interfere they will be modified.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oAbRmAxrv8 love this thing, so much power, can someone tell me what steering damper to buy, never have one but i think this is the bike to have one....very fast.:eek1