2012 KTM 500 EXC as a Lightweight Dual Sport

I've got the mini rack and his bags on a '13 XC-W. Good setup for my purposes. Into my second season with it. Here's a recent ride where you can see it in use: http://www.trailimage.com/owyhee-snow-and-sand

Awesome stuff I'll read the report as soon as I have a spare minute, thank you .
I see you have Paul's Guards and Ian's Fairing as well Very nice!

well, i had and rode both bikes simultaneously, and i personally chose the 500 for all the reasons everyone has listed, lighter weight, suspension etc. one thing that i noticed was that the 690 engine is a loper, long stroke slow reving, smoother on the hwy but the bike itself didn't feel a whole lot better cruising on the pavement then the 500. It still wandered around a little, not as bad as the 500 (which is really light and twitchy). And I'm not referring to twitchy in the bad sense, i would say just ultra responsive to input. Which for the length of pavement stretches I'll do is just fine. I've got the bike all prepped for the UTBDR in 4 weeks and we'll see how it goes.... but i think i made the right choice? BTW - thanks to everyone for the feedback. Harcuss's racks are a thing of beauty and worth every penny, but I must admit the muffler heat shield is a BIG disappointment, especially for the $50 it costs. Maybe time to put a little R&D into that one or review the costing?

i am curious for the peeps who have the large globetrottin rack how well a giant loop mounts up to it... i know the mini rack is tailored around the giant loop but i like how the larger rack offers more clearance from the exhaustand extenders a little further back on the fender... but my main concern is the larrge rack being more square will it wear out the giant loop coyote where the bag meets the rack? harcus have any input? and also i seen a post or two about the rear tire hitting the rear rack cross bar under compression? i will be running dunlop 606 120 90 18 any update on that ?

The small rack is not designed for the Coyote. I asked him to add some loops to tie a coyote on as an experiment. After I put the rack on my bike, I decided it was a bad idea since the rack is do much wider than the bike. The coyote does not fit on it properly. I just did another 1000 miles with my coyote tied onto the back fender with no trouble.

I use the rack when my son or wife may want to ride 2 up or to haul the extra batteries for his OSET.

To get back to the original topic of this thread, Yes. A 500 exc makes an excellent dual sport. Over 4000 miles on mine and it is still working great!

I couldn't see spending money on a heat shield when an old license plate would do just as well.

That's a shame. Is there a way to strengthen the subframe without adding a rack or is it beefy enough to carry 40 pounds in a GL/Rollie/Kriega system over rough terrain as is?

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It is beefy enough to carry everything you need to camp for 8 days while riding over rough terrain. Have a look at the last RR in my signature. I am not so sure about 40 pounds as I never weighed my GL when loaded.

I just got home last night from another 1000 miles of riding gnarly rough trails in NV, UT, and ID with the GL Coyote on the back of my 500 EXC without problems.

Beautiful scenery man, I truly envy you!

Just did this trip on my 500 EXC
Left from Damascus VA on Monday about 10:00 am
Did 120 miles Monday, 200 Tues, 220 Wed with about 50 % trails and forest roads.
Did 330 Thurs on Blue Ridge parkway and other pavement back to Damascus - tough day. (math not quite right but not the point).
I have a Seat Concepts on the bike - better but not really enough for my 240 lbs, 6 ft 60 year old ass. I packed a gel seat on the way up, and used that on the way back - better still, but not as good as I'd like.
Had Harcus rack and large side bags (30 litre each I think). They were OK but a nuisance to get on and off the bike. Tent one side and tee shirts, undies and socks on the other. By the way, don't pack your wash bag on the muffler side; the heat will melt you deodorant, and screw up your tooth brush....
Had a Walmart $30 80 litre drybag (Attwood brand) on the rack for sleeping bag, pad, tools, tube, dry meals, cups and so on.
Total gear including bags was about 23 lb.
In hindsight should have taken a rear tube as well as a front, more stuff for trail fixes, like wire, hose clamps, duct tape and so on.
It was a great ride with some tough single track (for me anyway) right through to 50+ mph forest roads.
The bike was excellent ! My selection of gear worked well
all in all, the 500 EXC worked great as a high performance DS bike.
The other guys in the group rode a 450 Berg, 650 Husky Terra and a 350DR.
There will be a ride report up soon, and I'll post a link. Hopefully someone will find this interesting and useful.
Bob

SCBob,

Interesting! Thanks! I look forward to a longer report with pix.

What made the return trip so difficult? The racing suspension? Did you reset rebound / compression for softer riding on road?

I have Harcus's rack as well and find it excellent, tough and the bags annoying to get on and off. However, they stay on well even in crashes. Hard to beat overall. His new large rack accepts his hard luggage and that pops on and off with ease. And it is waterproof. It seconds as two camp stools when off.

Stu

Stu,
330 miles in a single day on a dirt bike is plain tough !
My ass was very sore !
I'm glad I packed my wife's gel pad to make it a bit easier
The suspension on the bike was not the issue - it was the seat, a realistic 60 mph top speed on knobbies on twisty roads

I dropped the bike 4 times, twice at speed, and twice slow. The soft bags held up fine, not sure if the hard bags would do so well
The buckles on the bags don't open easily when they're full of grit after a fall and slide !! took me a while to figure out why they wouldn't open.
Bob

Also looking forward to the R/R SCBOB... nice overview! Thanx.
Have about 750mi on my new2me exc now and am slowly gearing up Harcus's racks. Will be talking to Eric at Wolfman tomorrow.

congrats!



You'll love it in UT. Report back after you're done!


C

Guys,
This is a report on a four day ride we did in VA on the BRT (Blue Ridge Trail)
Hope y'all enjoy,
Bob

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?p=24520814#post24520814

Anybody having troubles with the rear tire spinning on the rim? I've got the OEM rim lock tightened hard on it but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I recently changed the rear tire for a hare scramble and installed a new tube as well. This is the second time I have to remove the tire, break the bead to re-position the tube on the rim.

The new tube MAY have been slightly smaller than the OEM unit I replaced, I vaguely recall thinking it looked smaller and thought "meh" and just installed it...I'll need to pull it off to compare. I only had this problem with the original tube when I had ice studs on the bike playing on a frozen lake. It REALLY hooks up on the ice with the studs, never had any problems before running the summer set up.

I'm thinking about going to a Tubliss to run lower pressures but just wondering if anyone else has had similar problems.

Garrett

First off what class are you running in AMA district races becAuse if your spinning the tire quickly then obviously a better aftermarket rimock and maybe a second one. When I go racing I always re set the bead before a race because the tube Always spins some because I ride hard not putting around






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Sportsman class so I'm mostly in "survival mode" and not hunting during the race . I'm finding the rim spinning more when I ride rocky sections, climbs, ledges etc. Taking little jumps, that kind of thing. Any idea what a better quality rim lock might be? I'm thinking I may have to go with 2 but I really couldn't differentiate between a high quality or low quality unit.

To be completely honest anything is better than stock motion pro makes a nice one that most racers I know run because it is light and strong and has a broader grip on the bead


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Ok thanks, you're probably right, I'll check it out. The stock unit is probably worn out as it's tight and still slipping.