BannedCR500Riders.com

anybody know about the 540 2stroke ? was it only made '90-'91 ? what was the different between it and the 550 ? was the 540 a hunk of shit or good runner ?

It had a better motor than the CR. Transmission is said to have shifted poorly...but they didn't strike me as shifting too badly. As far as the rest of the bike I don't have much else to say? My impressions were never great. But I wouldn't have high regards for a 90-91 CR either. I know the 540 motor ran better, with some TLC I'm sure the rest of the bike would be just as good or better at some point. The 550 was the boss ride

I give KTM a lot of credit back in the early 90s. They tried many different combinations to come up with a seriously potent open classer. They started with a 500, and with the mindset an even larger, power valved motor could be linear and user friendly they just got bigger, bigger and bigger. Until ultimately they decided it wasn't the size of the motor and how much power it could produce. Rather they could build a leathal open class machine if they built a bike that just handled better than the 500s...well that was an all too easy job.

The 540's were fast as hell on the straits, but in the corners CR will own em. Until you get back to a long straight stretch.

i found one pretty cheap for sale and thought it would be cool bike to mess with but i dont know. wiseco doesnt make a piston for it according to their website, im thinking most of the engine parts are impossible to find or expensive as hell if something wears out. maybe ill pass on this idea

I think it would be wise to pass...

MICK wrote:I think it would be wise to pass...

ya ill pass . tranny on ebay is $500, not including forks or drum

Well you have to figure if it was something really good they probly would have built them for more than just a year or two. There is a guy up here trying to sell an 87 500MX, he can't even give the thing away! They were expensive back then think how much they'd be now.

100hp honda wrote:

MICK wrote:I think it would be wise to pass...

ya ill pass . tranny on ebay is $500, not including forks or drum

Good idea,there's no spares for that bikes or expensive and very hard to find,i saw a couple of years ago a 300 two stroke 91 very cheap almost a gift,to restore it and was unable to find the half of the pieces that it need,so i didn't buy it

I should bought it and sell by parts

Here's a 1985 M-STAR on eBay.... (no, it isnt mine)





Now THAT is RARE....

this isnt the exact bike i found for sale but its the same year and model i think. unfortunatly the bike i seen was in worse condition. them big ktm probly have alot power

How much can you pick it up for? If it's cheap enough why not go for it. If nothing else it's something more to play around with.

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Yes,it's exactly as the bike i found,but mines was 300 enduro(gs or exc don't remember well)

It's up to you,people are crazy looking for pieces and you can get your money back or maybe you could restore it if you search well

The 540 made 68hp. The 550 gained 500 rpm and produced another 4 horsepower. I can't remember if that was stock or piped? I grew up with the owners of my town's only KTM dealership. They were really into big bores. They used to have competitions that would give prizes to anybody who could build a naturally aspirated straight fuel dirt bike to produce more power than a KTM. I don't think KTM ever lost?

JBaze wrote:How much can you pick it up for? If it's cheap enough why not go for it. If nothing else it's something more to play around with.

$700obo is what the dude wants but it looks that it sat in a shed for alot of years so im sure he would settle for $400 just to get rid of it. he said it used to run decent but that was almosy a year ago. i was kicking around the idea, even if it was a pile of shit i could always sell the parts on ebay but i dont know if i want to hassle with it. it would be a fun as hell to mess around with

Hell I'd grab it. Like you say you could part it on fleabay for 400 easy if nothing else.

i dont know . you forget my garage is 10'x10' and i have 1 bike in there now and ive got another one on the way, so 3 bikes in a closet size garage might not work

I thought you were going on the big ride?

dude, get it, go through it and find a newer blown up ktm 4 stroke and do a ktm540 conversion

Danny, I've got THEE ktm guys in Canada tryin to hook me up with such a chassis, aint happening. Closest i got was a chance to part a new bike with the KTM Canada team that wanted a spare engine for the trailer, before the deal was done by the campfire the wheels, suspension, seat and engine were gone, and i would have had to pay 600 for the rest, NFL! We just got another 450 bike tho 2 weeks ago, it was new, never run but "used" cuz it had been assembled for magazine photo shoots and a dammn nice deal. Its just the home/practice bike.
theres a palletbox of new plastics, bars, "shipping tires" and shit in the garage waiting to be plundered

I almost bought that '06 ktm 450sx with a messed up crank for $1500 but after I thought about it for a week it was been taken earlier in the day when I finally called him
I just think it would be cool to do a ktm550 conversion, kx500a/f and have my cr500a/fs it would make a sweet collection

that would be a nice fleet

of coarse, I'd pick the one I liek to ride the best and the others would collect dust

dannygraves wrote:of coarse, I'd pick the one I liek to ride the best and the others would collect dust

You ride your Gen 4 in AZ?

What does your Gen 3 lack from being done?

yeah, rode the gen-4. My ass still hurts from that seat and 13/48 gearing on the close ratio trans gets me a shitty top speed, I was in 5th A LOT, which I wasn't expecting.
the gen-3 needs a pile of new OEM stuff for the motor, I'm not half assing this one. I need 1 trans gear, a new crank, all the bearings and seals and some other goodies, but the chassis is ready to go and just waiting for that bailey kit to go on Still need a desert tank and handle bars, but have old bars and the stock tank it could roll with for a while.

the gen-1 is stricktly a dunes bike now. the gen-4 did well in the dunes, but I got a pinch flat early one and kept wondering why it was turning like shit
I do think the gen-3 will become my all the time bike even in the dunes and the gen-1 will probably just be for hill shooting. if thats the case then the gen-4 will be sold to pay for swingarm extensions and nitrous for the gen-1 and other goodies for the gen-3.