2007 KTM 450XC

This has was by far the newest and best dirt bike I have ever owned.  It was electric start, had the amazing RFS motor, great suspension (once setup correctly.  spring rate is vital on PDS systems), and just rode great!  Did not make a great dual sporter though.  I got this bike for a great deal from a military friend of mine.  He mentioned he was looking to sell, and I immediately put my 97 ATK up for sale.  This bike is the last and arguably the best year of the RFS motored bikes, and it is a great looking bike. 

 I went through the process of getting this bike plated and street legal.  Yes, you can still get a plate for some bikes in California!  The XC model for this year had the short stroke motor from the SX models, and a haybrid transmission from the SX and EXC/XCW models.  It was a great snappy bike that I made work in everything.  I took it to the track, street use, single track, desert, and even got a taste for supermoto on it.

Lets just say I put some miles on this bike.  With the supermoto setup, I rode this bike almost daily.  To this day, still the most fun bike at any speed below 50 MPH.  I did the typical mods, GUTS racing seat foam, IMS tank, EXC silencer, 100W DC stator, etc.  I soon found out that street use and abuse on a true dirt bike came with a toll.  Stock valves where the first to go, eh it happens.  But it happens relatively quick when you put several thousand miles on a short stroke motor that's meant to rev.  Eventually I had a stock style oil ring shatter and started burning a LOT of oil.  Luckily I caught it on a short ride.  Then I believe between the insane amount of traction of street tires on supermoto wheels, along with possibly the counter shaft bolt coming loose, there was soon a noticeable amount of wear on the counter shaft.  This led to a full rebuild of the motor.

 So this whole series of events led me to the same conclusion many before me have come to, and even mentioned to me before I got this bike.  450 MX bikes, don't make the best dual sport/daily riders.  They will eventually pay the price.  I got to say it was a blast, but it all haunted me later on in the maintenance department.  Ive seen many claims that the long stroke EXC motors can take the abuse and 20,000 miles is not unheard of, and if I had the cash I would have turned this into a long stroke motor, but it just wasn't an option at the time.

 Between a 600 and this particular 450, I felt more comfortable on the slow, lugging, tractor power of the prior 600s I have owned.  But this KTM was incredibly smooth and user friendly to work on.  It was snappy and it really felt good in the desert and tight trails.

The take away I took from this experience is that high revving 450s make terrible dual sport/commuters.  I am never going to find one bike to do it all.  I was looking at doing long bike camping trips, and a 600 series bike was probably going to do much better then a 450 will.  (Honestly, if it wasn't for the me trying to do camping off a bike, I would prbably still have this bike to this day.)  And I confirmed I can still plate a green sticker bike.  I started doing more solo riding and getting comfortable with navigation and riding/preparing for long rides by myself.  As far as prepping for Vegas to Reno, a 600 will need less attention prior to the race.