Adventure in Ohio?

Hey Luke, I know why my gopro filled up the SD. When I got the camera back from gopro they updated the firmware and enabled a feature called protune. Well I didn't know what it was so I left it turned on and that caused the camera to shoot with less compression but with more detail. So the 2 hours of video I shot today at Hidden Springs filled up a 32 GB SD card. :eek1

I guess I won't be doing that again. A two minute youtube video will be something like a 256MB upload...:huh

Dam, I shoot at 780DPI and todays ride about 9 GB. Stopped at the car wash and got the bike "clean". Made it home to start laundry and make dinner. Maybe get the video up tonight.

Do you believe in curses? Have you pissed off any coworkers that are into black magic? Holy shit you have had a rough year. Im sending positive thoughts your way and a coupon for 15 minutes free with Chloe. Hopefully she can turn your luck around like the commercials.

Can't wait, been awhile since I saw the great pumpkin in action!

I don't know if you'll call my riding today "action". It was very slick round the bottom area and the big bike was fishtailing as much as it was going forward. I got some good stuff of Mike and Roger fighting an up hill or two.

Here's the great pumpkin playing in the mud.

Yup, VERY slick early. Still a good time.

Every time I look at this Austrian whore funny, she dons a strap-on and gives it to me.

While in the garage, noticed that the CS sprocket is leaking. Cha ching. So, let's get to that leaking water pump seal I just replaced. Oh, lookee there, didn't notice how bad the shaft is grooved so no way to fix that unless I replace the entire cam. Cha ching. Let's see about the decompression lever that felt spongy down at Wayne. Oh, the cable's separating. Cha ching. Well hell, let's just clean the chain. Hmmm....one of the chain rollers is gone, exposing a sprocket-eating pin. Cha ching.

BTW, terrible design on the EXC water pump seals, and the water pump placement in general...no wonder the thread about them is 20 pages long on KTMtalk.

So, yeah you WRR owners you got me today. The pumpkin is lighter, faster, suspended better and will not be running for a while.

What's that old saying, ' Speed costs money, how fast do you want to go?'
That old TTR ran pretty cheap, didn't it?

Funny, the only reason I'm here is because you suggested I get a WRR over on arfcom.

Why yes, yes it did. If they'd have put a 400cc jug into an aluminum frame, and left all else as is, it would be an incredible do-all bike. Light enough, still ultra reliable, but enough top end and torque to do it all....without a radiator and water pump to take a dump on ya.

This 520 is an absolute grin-machine when it's running...but I knew full well for its age and the type of bike I'd be nickle-diming it, so I'm not really mad. It's a KTM, and they are demanding machines....don't care what anyone else's experience says, I know what my experience is and it's that they're demanding machines.

Do as I say, not as I do.

Now come on, countershaft seal is cheap and look into the Synergy Seals version. Chain is a normal wear item and as far as the cam and cable, how many hard miles is on that old girl.

Thanks for coming out for the Stand for Jon event. I know there might have been others I didn't have a chance to talk to I saw Carl & Flagger.

Thanks everyone.

The seal is relatively cheap, but it's a crap design and the 20 page thread on KTMtalk with hundreds of people having the same issue details why...the seals wear too quickly into the cam shaft and from that point on you're applying a band aid that doesn't last. Some guys get very little miles before the cam shaft is worn. The cam is going to have to come out, which is a $170 part + the seal kit.

A better coating might have prevented this from being a recurring issue, or a sleeved design that could be re-fit without removing the cam. I don't know how many miles are on the bike, so that's a legitimate point it might be long past due on the cam, but from what I've read they can wear the groove prematurely.

There are bikes whose WP design is such that shaft replacement is almost unheard of, with the EXC's it's a problem. It's not an indictment of anyone's bike, but it's a weakness and I'm experiencing it.

As for the chain, rollers falling off isn't normal wear IMHO, unless the chain is old and this one appears to be fairly new.

I'm not cheesed that stuff goes wrong, I knew it would and like I said for its age that's fine...stuff happens, it just happens more often on KTM's. If there are statistical outliers that ride 25,000 miles without problems, that's great but they're not the norm...KTM's are fussier than Yamahas. I'm fine knowing that.

I have it. It's pretty cool.

Video up.
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Cool, nice job. I really need to learn how to jump cause that looked awful!

Yes it did, I was like, "oh crap, he's going front end over".:eek1 I'm no expert but I've learned stay on the gas even. Let off and you nose down, add throttle and you'll wheelie off the top and land ass first. Goal "usually" is to land nice and even.

That was only my second time there and both times have been pretty muddy. At least this time the conditions improved as the day went on instead of getting worse. It must stay pretty muddy most of the time...of course quads love that. Of course being muddy had nothing to do with me not knowing how to jump. Plus it was dry on that jump anyway. I jump chickened out and let off the gas. :eek1

He's got a point. Sorry that all these issues popped up on you at once, but these are all normal maintenance items, except maybe the excessive WP shaft wear. These things need replaced on any other bike that gets ridden in the dirt often. A seal is made to keep dirt out, and they do a decent job for a while, but eventually they need replaced no matter what bike: fork seals, wheel bearing seals, waterpump seals, countershaft sprocket seals- I've seen them all go bad on every type of bike that was ridden often in the dirt. Same for the drive chain and a cable wearing out (whether it's a throttle cable, clutch cable, or decompression cable), they are normal maintenance items, regardless if the bike is orange, blue, yellow, or red.

Keep in mind that almost every orange thumper sees a lot of time offroad. Conversely, there are a shit ton of Jap dual sports out there that rarely, if ever, see any time offroad. IMO, that's why these issues seem more common with KTMs. But a Jap bike would see the same issues just as often if ridden the same way. I know because I've had several of both. One of my closest riding buds who always torments the guys with KTMs just dropped a couple valves on his KLX250s. Guess what, that bike was well maintained, but saw a lot of hard offroad miles.