#offroad #motocross #dirtbike
The KTM 500EXC is the poster child of today’s serious dual-sport bikes. Since 2007, KTM has been making dual-sport bikes that were very similar to its full-time dirt bikes, but over the years, both the regulations and KTM’s adherence to them have become tighter.One obvious change is the fact that the case on the left side of the motor no longer has a plugged-up hole where the kickstarter used to be. The kickstarter itself has been gone for a number of years, but KTM did offer a kit to retrofit one if you really didn’t trust the electric starter. Now, that’s gone. The basic layout of the motor is still the same. It’s still a single overhead cam design with a six-speed gearbox. The dual-sport version is, of course, super quiet and complies with emissions regulations in all 50 states. The EFI system is supposed to be tamper proof, but it seems that garage tuners have taken that challenge seriously, and we have heard of a variety of ways to deal with that if you feel the need, ranging from piggyback modifiers like the one from JD Jetting, to brown market Euro black boxes. One of the most interesting of the restrictions is the reed valve in the air boot. This is mainly a measure to reduce intake noise. Riders often remove them with somewhat dubious results.In truth, the bike runs amazingly well in stock form. It’s super clean without any popping, backfiring or any of that nonsense. It almost never coughs and dies. It isn’t especially powerful, though. The newly offered dirt version of the bike (the 500XC-W) is more powerful in the middle and down low. And the 450XC-F closed-course race bike is far, far more powerful. If you’re a big hill-climber, I can understand that the dual-sport bike might not be enough. But for normal trail riding, I love it. If someone on a 450 race bike like the XC-W or a Honda RX is trying to keep up with the KTM dual-sport 500 on a tight trail, he’s going to stall it, boil over and curse like Richard Nixon. The 500EXC is excellent on tight trails and extreme obstacles.
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