| Motorcycle rides and riders in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia | |||||||
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10-12-2012, 05:56 AM
| #21 |
| Chicken Strips  Joined: May 2009 From: Lake Stevens, WA I Ride: 450EXC, SXV550 | For me the KTM was an eye opener, I haven't ridden their street machines but on dirt the thing almost rides itself. The suspension and braking are excellent out of the box, and the balance is great too. It s really hard to put my finger on what's sooo much better about it. I would almost say no single thing is way way better but lots of stuff is a little better and thought seems to have been put into everything. For SM it's going to be hard to beat the performance of the APE but I won't try to sell reliablility there so lets move on. Switching from a Honda 450 to a KTM 450 was like night and day. I loved my CRF but since the KTM entered the picture the Honda has been collecting dust so to speak (you know I keep it clean still). If you want to try them side by side send me a PM we can hit the trails. |
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10-12-2012, 07:15 AM
| #22 | |
| Retired  Joined: Feb 2005 From: s. greenlake bitch I Ride: KTM 625 smc | TL1000S/R | wr450 | CB350 | CRF50/88 | TTR50 | your mom | 
Fred.. your funny and all, but this is fucktarded. It's the same bullshit everywhere else on PNW. Someone asks for an opinion and you come up with some obscure shit. How much do they spend on Hondas, Yamahas, Ktms and kawis when they go race? The race bikes have NOTHING to do with production bikes? This guy asks a simple question.. and you fuck it up. Congrats. Back on topic. I have ridden all of them.. and I believe out of the box KTM's are the best bikes you can get.. ( for dirt ) Their street bikes are pretty solid and VERY well equipped as well. I've had my 625 for 8 years and it's never skipped a beat. I've also had my yamaha 450 for 9 years.. and have put a ton of money into it (brakes, suspension, levers, wheels, carbs, exhaust, etc etc) I also love it. If I'd have gotten a KTM instead of my wr, I would have payed more up front.. and now many years later they would be about break even.. So my opinion is they're pretty fucking awesome out of the box. I've seen a few snap in half.. but it's usually doing something honda/yami/kawi riders are scared to do!!! ha ha that was a joke. | |
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10-12-2012, 08:54 AM
| #26 |
| Captain Pubic   Joined: Aug 2012 From: Seattle I Ride: Ninja 650 or somebody elses. |  690 Enduro R, She sure is perty. I see what you mean about the price, but the components are spot on out of the box like you guys have been saying. |
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10-12-2012, 09:27 AM
| #27 |
 Joined: Oct 2005 From: Renton I Ride: At the track. | My 690SMC is one of the funnest bikes I've ever owned. I wish they still had 'em around and I'd probably end up buying another one. More money up front but had Brembos, Stainless lines, good suspension, handguards, EFI, all the stuff you have to pay extra for elsewhere. Had a unique character and was a BLAST to ride. Only bike I've ever regretted selling. |
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10-12-2012, 09:58 AM
| #29 |
   | I like orange, but never owned a KTM, but that may change. I really like the 200 for dirt and if they make the 1200 Superduke, I may have to get it. P.S. Deb, that Camaro is "Hugger Orange"!  |
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10-12-2012, 10:04 AM
| #30 |
 Joined: May 2011 From: LaCenter, WA I Ride: 2003 Copper SV1K | I still kick my own ass on occasion for selling my 125SX. Nasty, nasty little motor in that thing and the whole bike weighted about 175 lbs. Great woods weapon and was agile enough to keep up with larger bore bikes in the woods. Great MX bike...although in the wide open it sucked ass and ran out of gears way too quick. I'd hop all over a dual sport KTM and sumo the crap out of it. |
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10-12-2012, 10:10 AM
| #31 | |
| Peg Dragger  Joined: Mar 2012 From: Gig Harbor, WA I Ride: 2002 Honda VFR800 |
Guess its funny to me cause...the femur is like the hardest bone to break in your body... On Topic Q. I always wondered, are those 690 SM's two cylinders or are they single cylinder thumpers? I had an xr650l and had SM tires on it but it was not very smooth... | |
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10-12-2012, 10:10 AM
| #32 | |
 Joined: Jun 2007 From: Portland, Oregon I Ride: naked |
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10-12-2012, 10:10 AM
| #33 | |
| Joined: May 2011 From: LaCenter, WA I Ride: 2003 Copper SV1K |
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10-12-2012, 10:13 AM
| #34 |
| Peg Dragger Joined: Mar 2012 From: Gig Harbor, WA I Ride: 2002 Honda VFR800 | I want a dirt bike/SM with a v4 or I4 (maybe a Vtwin but still kinda rough power delivery). Closest thing i seen is the ducati hypermotard... |
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10-12-2012, 10:20 AM
| #35 |
| Chicken Strips  Joined: Sep 2007 From: Oak Grove, Oregon I Ride: Wheelies ;-) | I think the talk about unreliability stems from the older bikes. I've read the mid-late 90's bikes had some electrical problems. The older bikes also had left side kickstarters(as did other euro dirtbikes) which made the big bores a bit difficult to start if you were use to right side kickstarters. I had a mid 90's KTM 540 and I could never get the starting routine down so I sold the bike. The newest KTM dirtbike(actually a SM) I've road was a early 2000's 640. There's a reason why they're nicknamed "paint shakers"  . The vibrations through the foot pegs/handlebars were enough to cross a 640 off my shopping list. It sounds like KTM has refined their newer bikes and I'd consider a newer one if I was in the market. I've ridden a friends 990 Super Duke and it was a nice bike. |
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10-12-2012, 10:52 AM
| #36 | |
| Joined: Oct 2005 From: Renton I Ride: At the track. |
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10-12-2012, 10:53 AM
| #37 | |
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 http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/news...uke-spy-photo/  | |
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10-12-2012, 11:34 AM
| #38 | ||
   Joined: Jul 2005 From: Tri-Cities Blog Entries: 1 I Ride: '05 Busa, '03 KLR 650, '81 Seca 550, '78 Hawk, '71 SL 350, '69 Z50A |
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