I spoke to Brian Fullertonn @ Acerbis USA and they were itnerested to see how much interest there was as well for a 4- 4.5 gallon tank. I pointed him out to my local shop that as several enduro riders that can fiish the race and the 13L ktm or clock works models. Remember the squeeky wheel gets the grease. Send Brian a email and lets see what we can get done. Brian.F@acerbis.com
I spoke to Brian on December 16 last year he told me about the 5.3 gallon and are also going to make one that was 3 gallon, which is kind of worthless considering the stock points 2 1/2 clockworks is 3.2 and KTM has a 13 L which comes out to 3 1/2 gallons. I explained to him that several enduro racers that I know can't make the race on one tank of gas with the clockworks3.2 gal or the KTM 3.5 gallon. I don't understand why all aftermarket fuel tank guys can't even pay attention to what people were saying out there. A factory tank is 2.5 gallons and they have always made 6 gallons why not make something more in between like 4 or 4.5 gallon tank for those of us that don't want to be considered the Exxon Valdez.
yup, I hear ya. I'm definitely jonesen for the 5.3 gallon. Based on my past travel, I was able to get about 50mpg on the 500EXC. Now, if I was really getting on the throttle, and spinning the wheel in the sand, I would knock that down to a conservative 30mpg. With a 5.3 gallon tank, and 30mpg, reaching out to 150 miles shouldn't be a problem. If the next fuel stop is 170 miles, another 1.5L bottle should do the trick.....I hope...
After doing a little more looking, I think the numbers may mean the following: M12 = width (Diameter) M18 = Length 1.5 = Thread pitch most bolts you see will be labeled M12 x 1.5. They usually don't give the length, because this varies quite a bit. Since 25.4mm is equal to 1 inch, the width (12mm) is just a hair under 1/2" in width, which is about right. 18mm is equal to nearly 3/4" of an inch, which is about right for the length of a needed bolt. Which leaves only the pitch, 1.5 Great site for conversion between metric and inch http://mdmetric.com/tech/cvtcht.htm
Picked up my bike again today from the local dealer complete with new motor supplied by Mr KTM and flown in from Austria. All under warranty. Three weeks no arguements , I was kept up to date of progress etc . Good to see some companies still believe in customer service and are prepared to stand by their product. Top Effort! Original motor that had metal parts on the magnet at the one hour service , appears to have an extra roller floating around which caused the issues, the oil pump which eventually would have failed has two rollers but nobody knows where the third came from, possibly during assembly ? Tomorrow the smile should well and truely be back on my face.
Great news...a happy ending to a scary story. I have been axiously awaiting word from you on the outcome/diagnoses but didn't want to ask, rubbing salt in an open wound kinda thing. I was also hoping a new motor instead of repairs would be their answer. Hopefully it was a fluke and it won't rear it's head in other bikes. Thanks for the update.
That is the only scenario I would have accepted. Very good to know they stood behind it, especially since I am considering this steed in the future. This is the first EXC that I have really liked since the 07 RFS dissappeared. I hope the evolution process has ironed out the bugs and the 500 is a rock.
Tomorrow I'm taking my bike down to ABQ to get the Fuel Filter replaced under the KTM Technical Bulletin. The guy at the ABQ shop was anticipating these calls and and pre-ordered the replacements parts - Excellent customer service. The shop in Santa Fe, well....they just suck! They had to order the part, and when I talked to them about it, they stated it would take pretty much all day to get it done. I stated I had already removed the tank and seat....should be a no-brainer 5 minute deal......but, ohhh-no....They gotta have the bike there. FYI, the Santa Fe Motorsport shop has a bunch of slack-jawed knuckle dragging socket jockey who don't care about customer service.....don't take your bike there. edit: well, not all of them, but certainly the management....
Some 500 tom foolary <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hD3p6DIE9T4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Great video. the music was pretty funny too. I took my bike down to Albuquerque and to the Team R & S shop located on Lomas. These guys are on the ball, and their customer service is 1st rate. I rolled my bike off the trailer, they took it in and 10 minutes later they rolled it out to me. They also provided me with a couple of extra filters, just in case. Great service. This is where i'll be taking my bike in the future, even though it's over 50 mile away.
Yea Oliver and I, he's the camera man in both clips. Yes that's Munster/Bulcher/Red River, whatever you wanna call it We're up there most weekends. We've been talking about camping up there all weekend sometime and inviting any and all ADVers that wanna ride. Are you in DFW or are we that famous?
Met up with the big bike drop-o-rama crowd in the NE region on Sunday. We had a great time. Lots of mud, ice, water and rocks. Just hosed off the 500 so I can put a skid plate on. Also went with the RAM mount mirrors. Just loosen and fold in. A great bike!
Finally got around to testing the parts bag that I got from KTM. I rooted through the parts bag to see what I had available.... One of the plugs matched up to the Auxiliary Air Circuit plug. I matched up the threads just to make sure it would work.... Added a provided copper washer to the plug.... And, using a 6mm Allen wrench, the plug installed with no drama..... Happy camper....