KTM 500 - Less is more?

[Tarheel Wheeler]

I tend to agree with you both, but simply wanted to gets Ned's insight.

I will say that the 12 lbs or so difference in weight between the 2 is definitely noticed in the woods. The 350 weight is getting close to the KTM 300 2T.

[Foot dragger]

Originally Posted by Tarheel Wheeler

I tend to agree with you both, but simply wanted to gets Ned's insight.

I will say that the 12 lbs or so difference in weight between the 2 is definitely noticed in the woods. The 350 weight is getting close to the KTM 300 2T.

The new 300's can be taken to about 216 lbs or less by removing the E starter/battery,with a recluse clutch stalling doesnt happen. Hard to easily get a 4 stroke dirt bike in that neighborhood.
Im still kind of a 2 stroke weenie for tight trails.

[c.vestal]

Progress on the Rally Moto Kit for the 500...

[neduro]

What are others out there seeing for fuel economy?

Mine is stone stock, right down to the pipe, and my most recent ride was in deep sand. I expected bad mileage, but it got barely 15 mpg, which doesn't seem right. I'm mystified that it seems to get substantially worse mileage than my carbed bike, especially when the 450 I demoed was so far on the other end of the spectrum.

[wizz]

According to the fellas on this thread:
http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=746534
numbers should be much higher. My 350 seems to be drinking more gas than what people generally experience as well. Just got a recall notice in the mail regarding a fuel line issue. Gonna have the shop take a look while they're fixing the recall since the bike is still under warranty.

[SRG]

Not the same bike - but as a point of reference - I have a 2010 Husaberg FX450 that gets right at 50mpg in an equal mix of pavement/gravel/2 track jeep trail. I believe the Berg shares much of it's injection system w/ the KTM's (and much of rest of the motors internals).

Some of the mileage figures in this thread seem very low.

[bmgyver]

2013 500 exc with best dualsportbikes magic mod desmogged with 15/51 gearing
46mpg average on LAb2v ride with lots of sandwashes

[crankshaft]

Originally Posted by neduro

What are others out there seeing for fuel economy?

Mine is stone stock, right down to the pipe, and my most recent ride was in deep sand. I expected bad mileage, but it got barely 15 mpg, which doesn't seem right. I'm mystified that it seems to get substantially worse mileage than my carbed bike, especially when the 450 I demoed was so far on the other end of the spectrum.

Lay off the Burritos

[CamelBill]

Originally Posted by neduro

What are others out there seeing for fuel economy?

Mine is stone stock, right down to the pipe, and my most recent ride was in deep sand. I expected bad mileage, but it got barely 15 mpg, which doesn't seem right. I'm mystified that it seems to get substantially worse mileage than my carbed bike, especially when the 450 I demoed was so far on the other end of the spectrum.

About 35 mpg running pretty hard on a mix of atv trails and single track has been my experience so far on a '13 XC-W. Santa is bringing a new 3.2 gal Acerbis so I can hopefully get close to 100 miles on a tank. This is similar to the mileage I got on my '03 450 RFS.

[crankshaft]

Originally Posted by CamelBill

About 35 mpg running pretty hard on a mix of atv trails and single track has been my experience so far on a '13 XC-W. Santa is bringing a new 3.2 gal Acerbis so I can hopefully get close to 100 miles on a tank. This is similar to the mileage I got on my '03 450 RFS.

I'm getting about the same in snow/ice covered single track, with lots of wheel spin.

[Foot dragger]

Originally Posted by neduro

What are others out there seeing for fuel economy?

Mine is stone stock, right down to the pipe, and my most recent ride was in deep sand. I expected bad mileage, but it got barely 15 mpg, which doesn't seem right. I'm mystified that it seems to get substantially worse mileage than my carbed bike, especially when the 450 I demoed was so far on the other end of the spectrum.

My 200 KTM's always get over 23 mpg when jetted right,even at full chat in the woods.
15mpg is a little freakish I would think. Some were claiming 63mpg with their FI 500's but that has faded into the realm of fantasy.

[Honkey Cat]

Originally Posted by c.vestal

Progress on the Rally Moto Kit for the 500...

looks like a mean wood pecker!

[RAZR]

[Duken4evr]

A bit jealous of you 500 owners - sweet bikes they are!

I get about 40 mpg on my '10 'Berg 450 in normal trail riding. It would probably easily do 50 cruising on the street. I have gone 100 miles off road on it's 3 gallon capacity. The 500 has a similar FI system, so 35 on the trail and near 50 in smooth dirt road/street riding sounds right. They are reasonably efficient, feels like every molecule of fuel is being injected and burned correctly. The FI really does feel different and better than a carb.

[neduro]

A brief update on my 500.

As a starting point, I love the chassis and the power. From a performance standpoint, it works really well out of the box, I haven't changed a thing, the only thing I can see myself doing is adding a bit of oil to the forks to help hold them up deep in the stroke. They are great on trail chop but a little soft when whoops come around.

However, I'm still getting lousy mileage. Out dry at 53 miles last week. So, I called KTM of Aspen (best shop in the world) and their analysis, based on extensive experimentation, is as follows.

1) None of the sensors can cause bad mileage. They will throw lights, but the bike will run just the same or not at all.

2) The TPS is the only one that can create a strange running condition- if it is way far out of whack, the bike will hesitate and stumble. But, that's at one extreme of the range- with it anywhere in the middle the bikes seem to run fine.

3) The fuel injectors are inconsistent. To get the smaller bikes to start easily at elevation, they have to mess with the mapping, and they found they required different settings on different specimens of the same model. They started swapping parts and found that the fuel injector is the cause.

So, the operating theory is that my fuel injector was sticking open, dribbling fuel when it should not have been, and thus giving me terrible mileage. I swapped it for the one I'd had in the airbox, but weather and work have prevented me riding it.

I think the useful takeaway point for anyone out there trying to tune one of these, is that the sensors are not likely the culprit.

News to follow when I get to ride it.