Bad day for KTM's

[Fryin Finn]

Totara Park trail ride 13th July (13th unlucky for some)
I spent the day as travelling marshall and spent a fair time helping others out on the slippery slopes of moral decline. Well actually the slippery slopes around Upper Hutt. I helped one kid out of a stream and he stalled and fell off a few times in the next Km or so but I was pleased to see him still riding at the end of the day.
Not so lucky was a KTM EXC 250 rider whose sprocket decided to detach itself from the rear hub at speed. We managed to get the wheel off and remove the offending item and then a long wait for Steve on his Kawasaki 700 quad to tow him out. Steve was busy all day towing stranded bikes.
On my next lap came across another KTM 250 which would not start at the bottom of a long hill - in all directions. As it turned out he was the brother of the guy with the sheared sprocket - is this a genetic condition.
My friend Mikey has a KTM and was a little more than worried about how things were turning against this particular brand of motorcycle.
Mind you my day wasn't that flash - the riding was great but discovered a knackered wheel bearing on the trailer so I offloaded my bike onto a mates ute and gingerly drove the trailer home - praying for no bad luck.

[sels1]

Thats funny, on the Capital Coast Adv ride it seemed to be that brand featured in a few misadventures as well (tho to be fair they were mostly rider initiated) The big ones are heavy suckers to push thats for sure.

[Jimmy]

Well, time to add some balance. I had a great ride. 65 kms, all the A loops, and never missed a beat. Only had to stop to help someone with a flat tyre who had no tools!! Well marked out circuit and a credit to KMMC. Don't know how some of those little bikes got through those really deep sections though.

[Danger]

I've seen a guy do the same in Riverhead. Having a good bike is no excuse for not checking that your sprocket bolts are tight occasionally.

[cheese]

LOL similar comments were made at tarawera about which brand had the highest failure rate on the track.

[merv]

Yeah mate that doesn't make a pretty picture.

[camchain]

Danger Quote: Having a good bike is no excuse for not checking that your sprocket bolts are tight occasionally.

Heh Heh. Nicely put Danger. I thinking the 'offending item' here may actually be the part that attaches to the handlebar, seat and footpegs (re: Fryin Finn quote: is this a genetic condition?)

Above photo: On sprocket carrier on hub. Poss diagnosis: 1 hole no damage = missing bolt, 1 hole flogged out = loose bolt (I think you're s'posed to loctite those things?). I can't talk though. Couple of rides ago the whole muffler blew right off bike, forgot to tighten after a re-pack. 'Doh!

[notch]

The older ktm thumpers had a habbit of destroying hubs after the sproket bolts come loose. Saw it happen to 3 riders in one enduro a few years back.