Greetings everyone, first post on this forum. I just recently purchased a 2016 KTM 500 EXC to do some adventure/recreational riding with. I have owned a wide variety of bikes in the past (zuki DR650, Buell 1125CR, Aprilia Tuono V4R, Etc.) and used to pit pat around on dirtbikes as a kid, but never really got into any kind of adventure style riding until recently. I have done a fair amount of offroad traveling and expeditions via 4x4's and was always tempted to get into the 2-wheel side of offroading and finally pulled the trigger!
So anyway, I thought I would commence my first post with my very first trip on the bike that occurred this past weekend near Mio, Michigan and what I thought about the KTM.
I'm originally from Pennsylvania, and just moved to Michigan early this year. I was amazed at the opportunity to ride in Michigan compared to PA, you almost feel like a criminal finding places to ride in PA whereas Michigan kindly maps out most of the trails for you and encourages riding in all variations. ATV, UTV, snowmobile, you name it! They have trails designated specifically for motorcycles as well that 4 wheeled vehicles are not allowed on. This trip, we just did about 70 miles of general ORV trails to test out the bike. My buddy that made the drive up from PA to join me was riding a classic '82 YZ250 2-stroke that he actually ended up purchasing from me and hauling home, so he was in test mode too.
We headed out on Saturday morning to Mio from Northville which was about a 2.5 hour super easy drive. We quickly found a spot to camp in the Huron-Manistee forest on the west side of M-33 and got to riding.
*The KTM had literally 40 miles on it before this trip, i rode it back and forth to work twice to show it off a bit. I'll note that while it is of course street legal, its not very street friendly. Me, I dont mind that too much because I'm young and dumb and think its just an awesome bike to ride around
But if anyone is looking at this bike for a lot of road riding, it will need some basic modifications to be SEMI-comfortable. New seat and new tires at a minimum. Also, I believe the suspension is only tunable up to around 190 pounds, so you may require a new rear shock too to get the most out of the ride. It's also pretty tall, and they do have seat options out there to lower the height a bit.
First impression of the KTM in the dirt....WOW! Power for days. Its very very well suited on the trail, and definitely not a beginner bike. It doesn't feel heavy or awkward, its feels like riding a dirtbike for the most part. As mentioned before, it does feel a bit tall though, im about 6'2 and I was fine, but I would imagine anyone really under 6' may want to look at a lowered seat. The terrain was pretty level, a few short hill climbs but nothing crazy. Mostly was a loomy sort of sandy terrain that was really difficult to ride it at some spots, I had 2 bails because of it that I remember. Going into some of those corners with loose sand like that its tough at first, you pretty much have to lay on the throttle a bit more than you normally would which hurts your brain a bit at first....less traction, bike wobbly, more throttle? okay! We ran an average speed of 29 MPH on these trails and I had the bike in 2nd gear virtually all of the time. The gearing was....a little off, but 2nd gear worked for these trails generally pretty well.
All in all in was a great trip, no real hiccups. The bike performed better than I could have imagined. I can tell you that I will be making two immediate purchases for it: a steering stabilizer and and barkbusters. The bike felt a little light in the front end, mostly because of the type of terrain im sure. But I feel that it would be nice to have an adjustable steering stabilizer to level that out a bit. And the barkbusters because....well, why not? Thats about all I have for now, I always get in the moment and forget to take more pictures! Ill sift through my GoPro footage and maybe post some videos of the ride up here.
Kyle
So anyway, I thought I would commence my first post with my very first trip on the bike that occurred this past weekend near Mio, Michigan and what I thought about the KTM.
I'm originally from Pennsylvania, and just moved to Michigan early this year. I was amazed at the opportunity to ride in Michigan compared to PA, you almost feel like a criminal finding places to ride in PA whereas Michigan kindly maps out most of the trails for you and encourages riding in all variations. ATV, UTV, snowmobile, you name it! They have trails designated specifically for motorcycles as well that 4 wheeled vehicles are not allowed on. This trip, we just did about 70 miles of general ORV trails to test out the bike. My buddy that made the drive up from PA to join me was riding a classic '82 YZ250 2-stroke that he actually ended up purchasing from me and hauling home, so he was in test mode too.
We headed out on Saturday morning to Mio from Northville which was about a 2.5 hour super easy drive. We quickly found a spot to camp in the Huron-Manistee forest on the west side of M-33 and got to riding.
*The KTM had literally 40 miles on it before this trip, i rode it back and forth to work twice to show it off a bit. I'll note that while it is of course street legal, its not very street friendly. Me, I dont mind that too much because I'm young and dumb and think its just an awesome bike to ride around
But if anyone is looking at this bike for a lot of road riding, it will need some basic modifications to be SEMI-comfortable. New seat and new tires at a minimum. Also, I believe the suspension is only tunable up to around 190 pounds, so you may require a new rear shock too to get the most out of the ride. It's also pretty tall, and they do have seat options out there to lower the height a bit. First impression of the KTM in the dirt....WOW! Power for days. Its very very well suited on the trail, and definitely not a beginner bike. It doesn't feel heavy or awkward, its feels like riding a dirtbike for the most part. As mentioned before, it does feel a bit tall though, im about 6'2 and I was fine, but I would imagine anyone really under 6' may want to look at a lowered seat. The terrain was pretty level, a few short hill climbs but nothing crazy. Mostly was a loomy sort of sandy terrain that was really difficult to ride it at some spots, I had 2 bails because of it that I remember. Going into some of those corners with loose sand like that its tough at first, you pretty much have to lay on the throttle a bit more than you normally would which hurts your brain a bit at first....less traction, bike wobbly, more throttle? okay! We ran an average speed of 29 MPH on these trails and I had the bike in 2nd gear virtually all of the time. The gearing was....a little off, but 2nd gear worked for these trails generally pretty well.
All in all in was a great trip, no real hiccups. The bike performed better than I could have imagined. I can tell you that I will be making two immediate purchases for it: a steering stabilizer and and barkbusters. The bike felt a little light in the front end, mostly because of the type of terrain im sure. But I feel that it would be nice to have an adjustable steering stabilizer to level that out a bit. And the barkbusters because....well, why not?
Thats about all I have for now, I always get in the moment and forget to take more pictures! Ill sift through my GoPro footage and maybe post some videos of the ride up here.Kyle
