KTM530 poorly designed license plate holder

M

marty

Guest
I have a 2008 KTM 530excr that is plated (of course) . I am amazed that the designers of this podium winning bike would allow for such a poorly designed licence plate holder. If you are riding aggressively off road (and you should be) and using the full extent of the rear suspension, the plate will eventually catch the rear meat and whadayaknow? it gets ripped off along with the supportive bracket, tail light and turn signals! Well, I understand that KTM is mostly made for the dirt, but if they are making a stand in the dual sport world, they really should design the plate holder to clear the rear tire when fully working the monoshock.....don't you think?:mad3:
 
T

Tom63

Guest
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Sicass Racing has a cure for that.They make an underfender with a LED brake light that mounts your plate up higher.I bought one for my 530 but haven't got it on yet.It should solve the problem though.
 
F

fridgyis

New member
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KTM has not got this right yet. I have an 07 525 and lost the turn signals on the first ride. I use sicass lights flush mount and made a bracket for the plate. I mount the plate sidways so it does not prtrude to far.

Pretty poor factory set up for a $10,000.00 bike . The final insult was no warranty on the lights.

Happy trails.
 
M

Mountain Man

New member
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I just put on the Euro tail light and DRC586 Flush mount turn signals on my KTM and it is workingwell so far. I had a similar set up on my WR and never had any problemsin 3 years. The KTM set up is a little more expensive but it fits great andI ordered it from Spunky's.
 
VET-1

VET-1

New member
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I just put a sicass setup on my 530 , make sure you order the KTM connectors for the tail light and signals. The directions dont say to but you're gonna want to seal every thing up with silicone where the wires go into the housings. I didnt and ended up with muddy water in the tail light as well as both signals.
 
C

claw

New member
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burnt my rear signal light off on the first ride i cut off the lower mount half on the lis brkt seems to be working so far.
 
Z

zoo

Member
Same as the others; melted my turn signal and ripped off my plate holder. Put on a DRC and worked for about 20 hrs till I mounted a fresh knobby tire and ripped that off within 1/2 hr of riding today.
My tire didnt actually grab my plate but the actual plastic DRC part up under my fender.
Nothing will work it seems so today I am making an aluminum plate that will be flush along the underside of the fender. So at least now when it bottoms out it'll just rub on the 4" plate Ive secured.
It still amazes me the complete lack of thought and testing that has gone into the EXC models.
 
North

North

Active member
I put flush mount turn signals on my 08 530 and my plate has come off too.

The plate is one thing, but why they put the right turn signal where the exhaust gas can melt it is beyond me. But as we all know, the Bike kicks ass. :clap:
 
Bora20

Bora20

Administrator
There is no complete lack of testing. It is a dirt bike with street legal gear, not a KLR or DRZ400. Use a heat gun and use it to lift up the license plate holder or put on the OEM euro tailight assembly like all the European bikes have from the factory.

The North American version is based on our crappy DOT standards. KTM Austria could care less about them other than how to give us a street legal dirt bike. My OEM euro tail went on at 0.1 hrs and works perfectly. Flush mount signals as well.
 
C

cactusreid

Active member
some of you boy's may be in need of a set of "big guy" springs! I know it worked for me. I haven't bottomed out either end of my 525 since i beefed up the springs. I'm 195 before gear and luggage,and i put a set of 50's in the forks and a 10.0 progressive ( same spring they use in a ford 1/2 ton). she rides very plush and super stable/predictable in the high speed nasty baja buldozer rock stuff. strong springs=smooth ride. and no bottoming out problems. but bending up or moving the plate out of the way is a great idea as well.
 
Z

zoo

Member
Lets not fall for the "oh, its a race dirt bike and therefore you should expect nothing more"
Its very poor of KTM not to have designed "very easy to do" plate holder that works.
Husky did it. My ninja is a race bike but has no flaws on the rd.
Ferrari's are race cars and sold in canada and you dont have to rebuild a part of it cause they just did it to get it accepted for sale in north america.
Its a joke and embrassing for them not to have taking the time to deal with it.
How about this, Build a license plate holder that doesnt get ripped off. That simple.
dont sell us the "its a race bike" line anymore.
 
Bora20

Bora20

Administrator
Like I said, buy the properly designed Euro version and there are no problems at all. Mine hasn't failed me in 76 hrs.
 
O

old trials guy

Guest
here is my solution:



three seasons and plate is perfect. i can make more if you want them,,,otg
 
Z

zoo

Member
Not again

Not again

I installed a drc plate holder and a new rear tire. It also got ripped off. Seems the bike is just able to actually bottom out enough to grab it. I moved the mounting back two inches and it did it again. I've got the shock set up to almost max. Does anyone know is it more a bottoming out issue or just a poor angle on the plate holder.
 
SouthPoint

SouthPoint

Member
zoo said:
I installed a drc plate holder and a new rear tire. It also got ripped off. Seems the bike is just able to actually bottom out enough to grab it. I moved the mounting back two inches and it did it again. I've got the shock set up to almost max. Does anyone know is it more a bottoming out issue or just a poor angle on the plate holder.
Click to expand...

Neither. The problem is there is too much flex in the back fender. I have the same plate holder and had the same problem. I formed a piece of 1/4" x 1 1/2" aluminum flat bar to follow the contour of the fender and bolted it underneath. This solved the problem. I have since removed that because I installed a ProMoto Billet cargo rack. The fender is now supported by the rack and has zero flex.
 
Bora20

Bora20

Administrator
zoo said:
I installed a drc plate holder and a new rear tire. It also got ripped off. Seems the bike is just able to actually bottom out enough to grab it. I moved the mounting back two inches and it did it again. I've got the shock set up to almost max. Does anyone know is it more a bottoming out issue or just a poor angle on the plate holder.
Click to expand...


...like I said before, install the euro part...
 
broxy

broxy

Member
zoo said:
I installed a drc plate holder and a new rear tire. It also got ripped off. Seems the bike is just able to actually bottom out enough to grab it. I moved the mounting back two inches and it did it again. I've got the shock set up to almost max. Does anyone know is it more a bottoming out issue or just a poor angle on the plate holder.
Click to expand...

By DRC, do you have the Sicass plate holder? If so, it lacks the support that the Euro units have. My friend's 530 has a crappy Sicass plate holder, and it flops all over the place, and he is a super aggressive rider. He has never hooked the plate. I think you have two thinks you need to look at

1. You really should just get the Euro part and be done with it.
2. I don't know what you weigh or what spring you have, but if you are bottoming out, yo need to consider a heavier spring.
 
Z

zoo

Member
Thanks for the above guys. Your right on. And yep, the tail light is the DRC and the Sicass plate holder. The guys I was riding with noticed that my fender actually flexed up and down as I hit big bumps. At that point the rear meat just grab the whole license plate holder, plate, fender and took it under.
What a pain in the &*##!#*.
So is this euro part really gonna fix the issue?


got it, the xcw bikes.
thanks
 
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