My son and I share bikes. One day he's off on my '83 Suzuki GS1100E or another day on the '66 Norton N15CS, and so on. Today I grabbed our recently acquired '03 KTM 450 EXC, got it with current street-legal registration and no funny title business. Just had my first decent dirt ride on it, about 2 hours up Saddleback in OC. I'm 64 and still able to get along OK but I'll be sore tomorrow. The bike gave me a good workout; the suspension is just right for bombing along at crazy speed. Steering with the throttle is fun.
What a super purchase, dirt cheap at 2K, low (75) hours, runs fantastic, and is street legal. Oooh, this pic reminds me to put the skid plate on. I think I'm in love with this bike, it runs perfectly and has gobs of power, great brakes etc. I will probably put a Seat Concepts seat onto my seat base soon, but that's about it.
A local guy with a new KTM is selling me a pair of Continental TKC80 take-offs for $50 total; they are 3 years old and are basically new. The bike's OK now with its pure dirt Dunlops but 50/50 will suit me better; it gets squirrely leaned way over. Not that bad, but best to have street-legal tires on it, and you can't beat the price.
My son went from his first dual-sport, a Honda CRF250L, like-new, 1400 miles. A good starter, but where we live, traffic goes 65 in 45, and the bike was being overtaken, not fun when you're learning, or really any time. Traded up for Yamaha Tenere 700, which was awesome, but due to the deal we got, when a $11K pristine '23 Ducati DesertX came along, we couldn't resist with a nearly straight-across trade. Ducati - a great rich dude's bike, but if you drop it, it's hell to pay. Made 3K off it, and paid for the KTM ($2K). Now he rides my Suzuki or Norton for 'free' on the street, and has a bona-fide dirt bike, basically free.
Going through electrics, it was kitted out and lots of relays and trickery hiding behind the fairing. Have mapped it so I have a guide. The headlight and speedo/trip meter runs off the alternator, other stuff off the 12V system. Has a Li battery, Electric and kick start, fires up on the button every time.
Here's a pic and a video of the bike and then a vid of my cheesy zip tie mod for the Keihin 39 FCR choke. This bike runs absolutely perfectly. Losing weight by getting the jelly-belly jiggled, haha.
What a super purchase, dirt cheap at 2K, low (75) hours, runs fantastic, and is street legal. Oooh, this pic reminds me to put the skid plate on. I think I'm in love with this bike, it runs perfectly and has gobs of power, great brakes etc. I will probably put a Seat Concepts seat onto my seat base soon, but that's about it.
A local guy with a new KTM is selling me a pair of Continental TKC80 take-offs for $50 total; they are 3 years old and are basically new. The bike's OK now with its pure dirt Dunlops but 50/50 will suit me better; it gets squirrely leaned way over. Not that bad, but best to have street-legal tires on it, and you can't beat the price.
My son went from his first dual-sport, a Honda CRF250L, like-new, 1400 miles. A good starter, but where we live, traffic goes 65 in 45, and the bike was being overtaken, not fun when you're learning, or really any time. Traded up for Yamaha Tenere 700, which was awesome, but due to the deal we got, when a $11K pristine '23 Ducati DesertX came along, we couldn't resist with a nearly straight-across trade. Ducati - a great rich dude's bike, but if you drop it, it's hell to pay. Made 3K off it, and paid for the KTM ($2K). Now he rides my Suzuki or Norton for 'free' on the street, and has a bona-fide dirt bike, basically free.
Going through electrics, it was kitted out and lots of relays and trickery hiding behind the fairing. Have mapped it so I have a guide. The headlight and speedo/trip meter runs off the alternator, other stuff off the 12V system. Has a Li battery, Electric and kick start, fires up on the button every time.
Here's a pic and a video of the bike and then a vid of my cheesy zip tie mod for the Keihin 39 FCR choke. This bike runs absolutely perfectly. Losing weight by getting the jelly-belly jiggled, haha.
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