500 EXC

[yzedf]

Oh man I am in love!

Started with this in the morning



This in the afternoon



Went to Pachaug for the first time and found this



Awesome bike so far. Even with crazy tall 15/45 gearing this bike rips on top and good grunt down low.

[Rambunctous]

That thing is sweet.

[gregp]

Nice! I am loving my 350 as well. The forks are a bit harsh over the big, sharp edges, but other than that, it rips pretty well. I broke a radiator shroud in half in the first hour, though. A log kicked up and whacked it. That was disappointing.

[typeone]

sweet ride, congrats!

still want to plate my WR so i can check out Pachaug.

[Chippertheripper]

:jealous:

[Rambunctous]

Is that electric start? Does it have a large fuel tank?

[yzedf]

Electric start. 2.2 gallon tank. Supposedly can get 80 miles on a tank. We shall see.

[Rambunctous]

I am gonna do some Maine trail riding this upcoming season. I have been searching for a KTM for a while. Right now I have a YZF 250 but I want a two stroke.
Your bike being is very nice. It inspires me more to keep searching. KTM's are sought after so its hard to get a good hardly used one.

[slowkermit]

nice!

[R7]

Enjoy it! It won't look like that after 1 full loop of Pachaug Awesome bike, congrats

[maxim_X]

Nice get! I had a 520. It was crazy the power it out down. I can only imagine the new 500.

[typeone]

I am gonna do some Maine trail riding this upcoming season. I have been searching for a KTM for a while. Right now I have a YZF 250 but I want a two stroke.
Your bike being is very nice. It inspires me more to keep searching. KTM's are sought after so its hard to get a good hardly used one.

did you see this?

http://worcester.craigslist.org/mcy/3713990513.html

[ZX-12R]

Oh man I am in love!

I finally got mine home this past Friday and I'm in love too! It's scary how fast the front end goes airborne on this thing!

I did some rail trail riding on Saturday and come serious class VI roads today. Even managed to find some belly pan deep water and mud holes and it just rips right through.

I also just did my first oil change and the filter is a pain in the ass to get out. I ended up using a strong magnet to lock on to the end of the filter cartridge so I could grab it to pull it out. Other than that it's a piece of cake. My chain stretched pretty significantly after riding today so keep an eye on it.

[R7]

A peice of safty wire bent like a fish hook works perfectly for pulling out the KTM oil filters.
Great looking bike!

I did a few miles on my KTM yesterday and i'm feeling it today in the upper body!

[ZX-12R]

Not a bad idea with the safety wire. I'll try that next time.

You aren't the only one that's sore. I hurt all over, but in a good way! I can't wait to get out next weekend.

[gregp]

I had the little EU "driving light" bulb fall out of its rubber socket on my new 350 over the weekend. It will then flap around inside of the headlight lens and possibly damage the main bulb. I took the headlight apart to put the little bulb back in its socket, but it does not fit very tightly, so I may end up removing it permanently.
To me, the chain slap on these bikes is very annoying. The standard for chain tension is to allow enough slack to be able to pull the upper run up to just touch the leading edge of the chain guard. The noise seems to be coming from the chain guide, but I have a larger sprocket coming, so I will see if the noise is any better with a different rear sprocket.
I changed my oil for the first time this weekend. It was very clean, with almost no debris on the magnet, or the screen. I was happy to see that, as there have been several posts on KTMTalk with folks with *lots* of junk on both.

[yzedf]

They make different chain guides for different sprocket sizing I was told when I bought my 500.

Oil change and first valve inspection is due already!

[gregp]

The rear chain guide bolt has a rectangular, reverse-able nut that can re-positioned to raise or drop the tail end of the guide. My bike came with the super tall 14/45 gearing, and the guide was in the "low" position. I tried raising it, but it seemed like it would just wear the bottom of the guide out faster. I am still waiting for my 48t sprocket to show up. I hope that I do not have to go any lower, as that will require buying a new (longer) chain. 13/45 is still too tall for the riding I do.
Also, FWIW, I had originally set my bike's suspension up to the "comfort" settings, and I just did not like it at all. I have since adjusted everything to the "Race" settings (jumping right over the middle "standard" settings), and the suspension is really nice now. Maybe it is because I am a bit heavier than the stock springs are set for, or maybe it is because I am faster than I think I am. Naw. Never mind...

[gregp]

Also - My dealer was nice enough to apply some insulated heat reflective tape to the underside of the right, rear directional. They must be melting off...

[Rambunctous]

Thumbing through Cycle World buyers guide and this bike tops the list in its catagory.

[ZX-12R]

I had the little EU "driving light" bulb fall out of its rubber socket on my new 350 over the weekend.

I haven't figured out the purpose of that bulb yet since you can't shut off the headlight with the factory controls. You could always secure it in place with some RTV. It will help keep water out of the light as well.

To me, the chain slap on these bikes is very annoying.

When I'm at low RPMs with a light engine load, I keep hearing an occasional tick noise coming from the engine area. Since everything is so close together, it's hard to tell if it's internal to the clutch or if it's chain related. I was starting to suspect it was more likely the chain hitting something when not under full tension so I'm curious about the noise you are hearing. The noise I hear goes away if you pull in the clutch or increase the engine load.

I changed my oil for the first time this weekend. It was very clean, with almost no debris on the magnet, or the screen. I was happy to see that, as there have been several posts on KTMTalk with folks with *lots* of junk on both.

My oil looked pretty good too with some insignificantly small debris on the magnet. It was so small it was hard to clean off. The secondary screen had some extra crap on it including some small rubber bits, a thin plastic thread (like a paint brush hair), and a couple very tiny metal flakes that were caught in the rubber. I'll be curious to see what it looks like after the second oil change.

[ZX-12R]

My bike came with the super tall 14/45 gearing... I am still waiting for my 48t sprocket to show up. I hope that I do not have to go any lower, as that will require buying a new (longer) chain.

The 500 comes stock with 15/45 which is definitely way too tall for serious single track. I'll probably be picking up a 14/48 sprocket set which is as low as you can go without replacing the chain.

Maybe it is because I am a bit heavier than the stock springs are set for...

I was way over the intended weight for the factory springs so my dealer installed a proper set for me. I haven't played with the suspension settings yet because it feels pretty good the way it came from the shop.

[yzedf]

The only chain slap I'm getting is rider induced. Gearing wise I will go down only for the sake of lower speeds in 2nd gear for downhill. I was better in the mud and on the longer climbs than any of the other bikes I was riding with (6 of us total). I had never been there and was being led around by a guy trying to show of his trails and how awesome he is and how my new street bike sucks. lol it was a fun trail and I just ignored the guy. I guess I shouldn't believe everything I read online about how dot tires and stock suspension and stock gearing is horrible and I have to change it all ASAP. I'm no racer and this bike makes me better. That's what I wanted.

[gregp]

I diagnosed the chain slap while I was checking my chain tension. As I mentioned, the manual indicates that, with the bike on a stand, you should be able to pull the upper run of the chain up to just tough the leading edge of the chain guard. If I did this quickly, I could hear a loud "knock" coming from the hard plastic chain guide. The chains have to run very loosely on these PDS bikes.
The small EU bulb will either be siliconed back in, or removed entirely, if it falls out again. While removing/replacing the headlight, I found that the brown ground connector on the main headlight socket did not want to stay on. It took me 2 tries to get it put back together without it unclipping from the spade. KTM definitely took a minimalistic approach to all of the street hardware on these bikes. They are *amazing* in the woods, though.

[MysteriousR1]

Snap ring pliers are great for getting the oil filters out, on my 03 and 09 atleast..