[knockout]

I've been looking for the perfect combo of power/reliability with the least amount of having to spend hours of installing aftermarket parts in a bike. The KTM seems to fit this bill.

I plan on riding about 500-700 miles a month, thats what I seem to average. So my question is, is the 08 KTM 530 exc up to the task? Whats the maintanence like on these? I've been searching around and they seem to be about even with the new huskys (oil change every 500 miles/filters every other/valve checks at 1000). Changing the oil once a month and checking the valves every other month doesnt seem to be a problem to me, I'm somewhat handy with a wrench.

Whats the horsepower like on these? I found figures in the 45 area with weight in the 250lb dry range. That seems to be about even with the huskys as well. The only reason i havent gotten a husky is because of the FI problems and the difficulty of finding parts while BMW is moving everything.

I'm in California so I'm restricted to street legal bikes from the factory sadly. Opinions/suggestions welcome, thanks.

Oh and I posted in the KTM specific forum but there doesnt seem to be much activity =P

 

[GDAVIS2265]

I think its a good choice - very dependable - I actually like doing the maintenence.

I rode a 525 on the street for a while and it's a great ride - finally went to a 690 so I could do a bit longer distance.

Glenn

 

[Deadend]

tbch


I kinda wish i had the exc 530 - its a little cheaper then my smr, but you save yourself a headache in the FI dep as well as its lighter and im really bummed about the mental block i have on the SMR on fire roads - you just find yourself having a hard time having fun when you're thing about "dumping it over because u fucked up a roost on that ledge".



You live you learn.

 

[DaveTheYank]

Hi Knockout

I'm here too!

Buy it. Thrash it. Wrench it. Love it!

DTY

 

[knockout]

Hahaha Hi there dave, as you can see I like to do extensive research before I buy a bike, especially one that costs about $10,000!

 

[airboy808]

The exc530 would be I think a little too labor intensive to do 700 miles a month. Especially freeway droning.

I think a nice 690 or drz would be more ideal. And way more fun since maint will be low.

 

[pwpwnage]

Here is what the KTM manual calls for on the 530 EXC for "hobby" use, obviously very STRICT guidelines, but straight from the manufacturer


Every 15 hours:
Oil Change
Valve Check
Every 30 hours:
Spark plug change
Check wear clutch
Every 90 hours
Basically go over the whole engine
Change the piston/camshaft bearing/conrod bearing/crank bearing

As for the new 690's:
Every 3,000 miles:
Oil Change
Every 6,000 miles
Valve check
Change spark plug

There are no specifics in the manual for engine teardown and major parts inspection/replacement.

You decide which bike is better for you.

 

[Skully25]

this may sound very contrary by don't go by the manual guidelines for maintenance or rebuilds. it all depends on how you use and treat the bike.

I already noticed that keeping the engine oil in the 530 for more 15 hours doesn't work. you need to change it sooner since it only carries 700 cc's of oil.

here's what I do on my 530:

engine oil: every 5 to 10 hours
tranny oil: every 15 to 20 hours
valve checks: so far every 30 hours but since the new exc's work with shims I'm expecting the 530 to need less valve adjustments than the previous models. on my '05 450 exc I checked the valve every 30 hours, on my 530 I need to put a little more hours on it before I can determine how often the valves actually need work, only got 36 hours on my bike so far but so far I'm upholding the same 30 hour interval like on my previous bike.
rebuilds: at the rate I'm going (which is about 75% hard street riding, no commuting, and about 25% trackriding) I'm looking at tearing down the motor at about 250 hours. my previous 450 saw the same punishment and revved even more and the motor was still in great shape when I tore it down at 225 hours.

if you're just using the bike for commuting I think you can easily go to 300 hours before you need to tear down the motor if you stay on top of your other maintenance and nothing else goes wrong. there are some issues that might pop up, one is the camchain tensioner issue and the other is an oil seal that likes to give way on some bikes. it varies from bike to bike, some have gone a 100 hours or more and haven't had any issues while others might have 50 hours and allready replaced the seal or tensioner twice. so far I'm still good.

 

[knockout]

I very much appreciate the replys....but I have no idea how to translate hours into miles, its been about 5 years since I last swung my leg over a dirtbike.

 

[Skully25]

it varies. the faster you ride the more the distance you'll have travelled in an hour.

on average 15 hours equals to about 600 miles in my case.

going by miles always seems sketchy to me, if you ride really technical stuff you won't travel a lot of distance eventhough the motor will have been running for a long time, therefor I always go by operating hours to schedule maintenance.

 

[knockout]

Ah ok I see, I'd say I'd probably do between 300-500 miles every 15 hours then. Thanks a ton, I may just have to buy one now. After pwpwnage's post I was seriously doubting buying one. But after yours I feel much more comfortable.

 

[HDgasser]

Ive got 1513mi and 41.8hrs on my 08 450exc, so far ive done 4 full oil changes and checked valves 2 times..... Still good!!! (Prolly overkill with the oil but oh well)

I ride this thing every day, work/hooligan'ism.... I switch up different routes to work to keep it interesting but its awesome!!!

I wouldnt hesitate to do it again!!!!

 

[rimesy]

I have the 08 EXC450 sumo'd and I've done 20 hours on it, which works out about 800 miles... Couple of oil changes, one oil filter change (dealer advised do the filter every other oil change which suits me). Oil change is easy and doesn't take long what-so-ever. Have checked the valves at 15 hours and they we're still in spec didn't need adjusting at all I use the bike for commuting to work (12 miles daily) and weekend blasts. Have yet to get it on the track!

So all in all at this current moment in time its no more maintenance intensive than anything else i've owned (mostly VFR400's). Although they didn't require the 'maintenance' like oil changes, they were always coming into problems with the carb's, cooling, [insert any other problem here] etc. So yeah i probaby spent more time in the garage wrenching them than this thing!

I'm happy with my purchase

 

[montibank]

rebuilds: at the rate I'm going (which is about 75% hard street riding, no commuting, and about 25% trackriding) I'm looking at tearing down the motor at about 250 hours. my previous 450 saw the same punishment and revved even more and the motor was still in great shape when I tore it down at 225 hours.

How is this estimated tear down schedule treating you? My crank let go with religious oil/valve checks at 180 hours. At 6482 miles the rod bearing wore out - of that figure 70% of those miles are on pavement and 30% are offroad. I don't race, and rarely ever tac it out.

~

Michael

 

[Surg]

Out of curiosity do you run a kush drive?

 

[montibank]

Er I think my sumo kit came with a rubber mounted wheel - is that what you mean? I am really new to the SUMO thing, and I don't race. Mostly dualsported and my knobbie kit does not have a cush drive.

~

Michael

 

[Skully25]

How is this estimated tear down schedule treating you? My crank let go with religious oil/valve checks at 180 hours. At 6482 miles the rod bearing wore out - of that figure 70% of those miles are on pavement and 30% are offroad. I don't race, and rarely ever tac it out.

~

Michael

my crank gave at 125 hours, did just under 5000 miles, 80% street riding, 20 % trackdays. buddy of mine experienced the same failure at 4500 miles.

how long these bikes hold up is just as random as it gets, me and buddy's bike failed, while another one of my friends rode his '08 530 for 6250 miles pretty much trashing it, popping wheelies with a cold engine and when we opened up his motor everything looked brand spanking new, no abnormal wear on the conrod and even the piston looked like new :headscrat

 

[montibank]

my crank gave at 125 hours, did just under 5000 miles, 80% street riding, 20 % trackdays. buddy of mine experienced the same failure at 4500 miles.

how long these bikes hold up is just as random as it gets, me and buddy's bike failed, while another one of my friends rode his '08 530 for 6250 miles pretty much trashing it, popping wheelies with a cold engine and when we opened up his motor everything looked brand spanking new, no abnormal wear on the conrod and even the piston looked like new :headscrat

Well like I said I only lost the crank bearing. Acutally the crank is in good shape, I was going to either sell it on ebay or rebuild it now and stow it in a box when I tear it down next year. Aside from one of the oil pumps going out, I bought a complete crank, a complete gasket kit and a piston. The sleeve was clean as a whistle and the piston had very little wear on it. I did hone the sleeve, and put the #2 piston back in it (I was still in spec for the #1 piston, but I would have wore out of that under 6000 miles, the #2 I will wear into and likely stay in tollerance through 6000 miles).

Really appreciate your response though. I am disappointed to hear that the 530 motor is just not holding up anywhere near what the 525 motors are capable of. Have any of you brought your cases to KTM's attention? It is worth it or just a waste of time? I like pissing into the wind about as much as anyone else, but if KTM is offering some compensation or advise I would like my piece of the pie.

For your 80% road miles - I suspect that is on a sumo kit, do you have the rubber mounted or non-rubber mounted rear wheel (hub)? What about your buddy that ran 6250 miles with no sign of wear on it?

~

Michael

 

[Suns_PSD]

I am disappointed to hear that the 530 motor is just not holding up anywhere near what the 525 motors are capable of. Have any of you brought your cases to KTM's attention? It is worth it or just a waste of time? I like pissing into the wind about as much as anyone else, but if KTM is offering some compensation or advise I would like my piece of the pie.
Michael

Are you kidding me? It's a race bike. Look at the intervals for replacing parts on it and you will find that going 5K+ miles is WAYYYYY over recomendations and is an absolute testament to how well KTM builds their engines.

Try this on a CRF450 and I'd be surprised if you made it 1500 miles before a complete failure.

 

[Skully25]

Are you kidding me? It's a race bike. Look at the intervals for replacing parts on it and you will find that going 5K+ miles is WAYYYYY over recomendations and is an absolute testament to how well KTM builds their engines.

Try this on a CRF450 and I'd be surprised if you made it 1500 miles before a complete failure.

depends which bike you're comparing it to. compared to the 525 the new 530 is a clear step backwards reliability wise. the old RFS motor was pretty much bulletproof for a lightweight race motor. my old 450 ran 250+ hours before I finally rebuilt it and there was still nothing wrong with it. 125 hours on my 530 and it broke down, as did other bikes while the failure rate of the old 450 and 525's was a lot less. a crf doesn't really belong in the same category as the exc, since the honda is even more high end and a crf piston simply wasn't designed to last. a crf should be compared to a sx, which probably will last only about as long as a crf.

Really appreciate your response though. I am disappointed to hear that the 530 motor is just not holding up anywhere near what the 525 motors are capable of. Have any of you brought your cases to KTM's attention? It is worth it or just a waste of time? I like pissing into the wind about as much as anyone else, but if KTM is offering some compensation or advise I would like my piece of the pie.

For your 80% road miles - I suspect that is on a sumo kit, do you have the rubber mounted or non-rubber mounted rear wheel (hub)? What about your buddy that ran 6250 miles with no sign of wear on it?

~

Michael

my bike only saw supermoto miles, don't have a damped wheel at the rear but I used the same wheels on my old 450 and that never gave me any trouble. not having a damped wheel is probably gonne have more effect on the tranny then the actual piston and crank. nearly all of us guys riding converted exc's have non damped wheels, even the guy who's motor lasted. the new exc's actually have a damped clutch basket that takes away some of the stress put on the motor.

haven't tried filing a claim with ktm, don't think it would matter. they can easily deny it since technically I'm not using the bike the way it was supposed to be used. the rebuild cost me 800 bucks in parts (did all the work myself) and right now my gut is telling me something's wrong with the ignition. I found resin fragments in my engine oil that probably came of the coils of the stator. waiting on a set of gaskets before I pull the cover and have a look in there.