How many miles is a KTM 520/525 good 4 ?

[twowheels]

looking to buy a new 525,just wondering what the maintance like as i will be commuting 100 odd ks a day?

:whocares:

herd need to do piston+rings every 10 000? .dont sound right it? :weird:
Any KTM no it alls out there?

[XTC]

Cary bought a KTM520EXC brand new owned it for a year and had the motor apart twice for gearbox probs. First was under warranty (I think) the second cost him big. That was only trail use not full on commuting etc. Better bet may be the LC4 for road use.

[Oscar]

The 400/450/525 series are really competition motors, no balancers, small oil capacity and no cush drive. Don't do it.

LC4's carry more oil, but even an LC4 will drive you nuts if you commute with it - they vibrate like crazy.

[Cary]

Cary bought a KTM520EXC brand new owned it for a year and had the motor apart twice for gearbox probs. First was under warranty (I think) the second cost him big.

He's right but the first time cost me to :mad:

I also agree with Oscar, you don't want a EXC for that many road miles.

Other than the gearbox prob they are a very nice bike (for dirt) just got unlucky.

Service periods are as per any competition dirt bike and in the KTM blurb they say 'This is a competition motorcycle, do not use on the road'

Go for LC4 or similar.

[twowheels]

Sweet cheers guys :drinkup:

tryin to get the best of both worlds,commuting mostly gravel roads plus a ford i have to cross,like to ride firebreaks on the weekend as well.So i thought less weight+ more ground clearance would be nicer.

So yer I will take yas advice,Seems that the LC4 are a bit cheaper too,I guess i have to buy a 250 4t or something for the weekends.

[twowheels]

LC4's carry more oil, but even an LC4 will drive you nuts if you commute with it - they vibrate like crazy.[/QUOTE]


Should get the Girls approval then :ride: :rofl:

[Mr Skid]

..
commuting mostly gravel roads plus a ford i have to cross
..Sounds like you've got the best job on earth with a commute like that.

[Danger]

Check out KTMtalk.com for all your KTM questions.
http://ktmtalk.com/index.php?act=idx :Punk:

[Cary]

LC4's carry more oil, but even an LC4 will drive you nuts if you commute with it - they vibrate like crazy.

Won't worry him if most of his commute is on gravel tho :niceone:

If you have the dosh F650GS or 950 Adventurer would be my pick :ride:

[XTC]

XT's a good bike! They Fly!!!

[Mr Skid]

XT's a good bike! They Fly!!!
You haven't gone and taken it round the MX track have you?

[FlangMasterJ]

I had a KTM350EXC motard on the road for about 5 months before it was fucken stolen. :oi-grr:

The amount of maintenance I was doing was pretty high especially the oil changes. As mentioned earlier without a cush drive hub I was having to adjust my chain because of the amount of stretch.

But all in all I didn't experience any major problems. A hell of a lot of fun (surprised I wasn't pulled over half the time :Punk: )

Your best bet is and LC4 or an XR650R or something similar.

[Oscar]

Won't worry him if most of his commute is on gravel tho :niceone:

If you have the dosh F650GS or 950 Adventurer would be my pick :ride:


I wouldnae have a F650GS fer a wart on me arse. The most disappointing motorcycle I ever owned.... :puke:

[Motu]

The F650 is overweight and slow - I'd a thought you were made for each other?....

[Oscar]

The F650 is overweight and slow - I'd a thought you were made for each other?....

Half right.
Next time we're just gonna leave you in the bush, you lippy shit...

[Cary]

I wouldnae have a F650GS fer a wart on me arse. The most disappointing motorcycle I ever owned.... :puke:

What were you using it for? Woulda got one if the XT wasn't such a bargin.

[Cary]

You haven't gone and taken it round the MX track have you?

Wouldn't even go near one although XTC got some good air down the beach on Tuesday, thought I was going to have to pick up the pieces on landing but flew quite well :rofl:

[Mr Skid]

Wouldn't even go near one although XTC got some good air down the beach on Tuesday, thought I was going to have to pick up the pieces on landing but flew quite well :rofl:
Good to hear :niceone:

I was going to take the CBR around a motocross track, and see how many laps I could get in before the forks bent/engine seized/subframe collapsed/rider collapsed, but was offered a reasonable price for it, so didn't see the point destroying the bike.

I'm still working on getting a chook chaser to come out with you guys, but it's been a long and slow process..

[Oscar]

What were you using it for? Woulda got one if the XT wasn't such a bargin.


I made the mistake of doing an Adventure Ride on it.
It was a great road bike, not bad on the gravel (although an XT is better) and crap off road.

Too heavy, too many geegaws, too peaky.
Think about a dirt bike that idles about 2000rpm, then think about trying to ride UP a steep farm track with long wet grass (hint - it just won't hook up). Now think about trying to ride DOWN it - the GS will not idle down (cause it don't idle), so you have to ride down on the brakes...ouch.

[Cary]

Bit of a supprise to me that, thought they were supposed to be good at it. So far with the right tyres the XT's been good but only tried the gravel back roads so far.

[Oscar]

Bit of a supprise to me that, thought they were supposed to be good at it. So far with the right tyres the XT's been good but only tried the gravel back roads so far.


Nuthin' wrong with XT's - good all round adventure bike. :niceone:

[clint640]

Bit of a supprise to me that, thought they were supposed to be good at it. So far with the right tyres the XT's been good but only tried the gravel back roads so far.

The F650 is the least dirtworthy of all the big bore dual purpose thumpers, though as Oscar said, nice on the road, comfy seat (& pillion seat), good range & other luxuries make them the perfect bike for some. My mate loves his 650GS Dakar, but he has a 300EXC in the shed for the serious stuff. (& a TLR thou the lucky bastard)

Cheers
Clint

[crazyxr250rider]

i agree lc4`s vibrate like a sex toy BUT nothing abit of silicon cant fix and
bmw f650 dakies are fn light and much better for comuting

:weird: hell im a know all

[laRIKin]

Well if I may chime in and put my 2-cents worth.

I had owned a 00 520 EXC for the best part of 2 years, at least 18 months.
That was about 6 months ago, so it had about 4 years of riding on it.
It was the 3rd owner and it had done some work.
I normally did about 4 hours on it most week ends.
And I put over 70 hours that I know off, that is after a put a meter on it.
I would have put a lot more on it but I could only be a guess.
And in that time I had no problems with.
Ok I did have one, a freak one.
The bearing in the shift locating drum, locking arm, broke.
No damage as the filters and the magnet on the sump plug did there job.

And I did up grade the cam gear to 03 to be safe.
Just before I sold it. (I did not expected to trade up so soon)

So a newer one's will be a lot more sorted out than my old 00 model.
So they will be better in a lot of ways.

I change the oil between 7 and 15 hours and change the filters every 30.
And check the tappets every 15 to 30 hours. (they were normally OK)
And cleaned the air filter after every ride, until I got some filter skins.
Then I change them after every ride and cleaned every thing every 4 ride.

The new owner either broke or inherited a broken the rear hud from me.
As I rode it hard, as if there is any other way to ride a trail bike.
He may have over tighten the chain as he was not use to KTM's and there
loose chains.

I only sold it because I was going to do some street work.
And is was a up hill battle to get the 520 on the road because I was missing
some paper work.

I RFS motor (Racing Four Stroke) is a race type motor not a commuter,
so I would not use one for a lot of fast road work.
As they do not have a lot of oil and they do not have a no cush drive.
If you are riding on gravel road you will be OK IMHO.

And I now have a 640LC4 and have always like the LC4 motor's.
Other wise I may be still be riding it.

If I was going to buy another more racing trail bike I would buy any of the
RFS motors over any others that are out there at the moment.
In a heart beat with out any worries or any extra or other concerns that
you would have buying any other bike.

But now I am very happy with my LC4 and can give other trail riders a
scare and a big surprise on how good these things go off road.
And they aren't to bad on the road (apart from top speed maybe)
But in the hills they are a hoot.

All singles vibrate some a bit some more some less and at different rev
rangers, even some times in the same model model of bike and year.
Compared to multi's they vibrate, so get over it, it just the down side to a
big single.
You do learn to ride around it, by gearing up or down so you are not riding
on the vibrating bit on a long trip.

Hope this helps
I love riding a big single and twin cylinder bikes over multi's.
I like the raw feeling and find modern multi's to smooth and boring.
At street legal speeds anyway.
Maybe thats why I like my old Guzzi's so much.