this is the first and last ktm ill ever have in my garage. its a big 2stroke so i couldnt pass it up. some dude down the street was selling it for pretty cheap so i snagged it. carb is way out of tune but its still a torquey mofo, and surprisingly the left hand kicker wasnt that big of an issue like i thought it would be. the boingers seem super stiff but might be ok if i mess with the clickers
one question. i decoded the VIN, it comes back as "motocross" model. was the MXC a motocross model ? i assumed it meant cross country or something. anybody know ?
heres some interesting literature. ive read alot of old shootout mags but ive never seen this one before. sounds like the KTM 550 sucked in every category..... except one .
i like this quote from the magazine... "for the record, in every drag race, motocross start or roll-on we did, the KTM plain walked away from the other three bikes". im hopeing mine makes for a killer dune machine.
When I raced mx, my arch rival rode one of those. We raced at a track called Hanagan raceway near Bellingham, and it had some long ass straights then broke into 1st gear type switches and S turns. I had his ass in the corners, but in the straights he would leave me like nothing. Put that engine in a Aluminium frame and you'd have that fatest best handling bike around.
xtremeslide wrote:That's a good point,why anybody did an AF conversion with this engine?
because the kick starter and chain are opposite of honda, it would be impossible for me. just from looking at the motor im sure there would be many more obstacles as well.....its a cool thought though
hey EXTREMESLIDE, do you have a suggestion where i can get a OEM service manual ? do the older KTM manuals have all the torque specs and parts diagrams like the honda manuals, or do i need more than one manual ??
JBaze wrote:If you did it, you'd be the only one with it. Where ther's a mill theres a way!
i havent set it side by side next to my cr500, but the 550 appears to be a very robust motor, clutch uses 10 plates and the cylinder is fawkin HUGE, it would be a challenge to make it fit in a honda chassis. and like i said, everything is ass backwards (carb goes out the opposite side also). i dont have the capabilities or correct tools/machines to do something this complicated
actually alot of the parts are really cheap, but some are expensive....bikebandit has a micro phise i been looking at it alot last couple days. the piston, cylinder and crankcases are very expensive. most of the other parts are about the same as cr500 parts. one good thing, the cylinder is plated so it should theoretically never wear out if it has normal service intervals. it may need to be replated eventually but thats pretty cheap. i might pull mine apart and have a look to make sure everything is up to par
$700 for a new cylinder . hope mine never blows up . most the bearins, seals, and tranny gears etc are seem to be similiar to honda. honestly i think honda is ripping us off on their prices also
Last edited by 100hp honda on May 8th, 2009, 9:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
100hp honda wrote:hey EXTREMESLIDE, do you have a suggestion where i can get a OEM service manual ? do the older KTM manuals have all the torque specs and parts diagrams like the honda manuals, or do i need more than one manual ??
All the torque specs are in the manual ,but my KTM is a 99
model,parts diagrams,etc.. i don't know if 93-94 models are the same,check out in
alittle mouse kept telling me to take it apart to see how everything worked. so i did . as i dissasemble the whole bike, i found the euro engineering is strange, and in some areas it was down right stupid . but i do like the port layout of this ktm cylinder, im wondering if it may have a good deal more power potential than the cr5 ? tomorow ill check port timing