400EXC or 525EXC ?

[pacificboy]

I have '05 640 Adventure and I loveit.I do 70:30 road and off-road andit satisfies my needs very well except it isbecoming too heavy. Iride into woods withmy gas tank half full but I feel itstilltoo heavy sometimes (I think I am gettingold).

Because of this reason I am considering to sell my 640 and get either 400EXC or 525EXC and install a larger tank if necessary. I would like to have your experiences forfollowing:

1. How does it handle on road ? I heard that these models are not very good for on road because of oerheating (small oil holding capacity). I would like to ride off-road as much as I can but I must ride more than 1 hr to get to mountains.

2. How is vibration comparing to 640 ? Mine does not vibrate very much (I got used to this).

3. HP is not my first priority, a lighter and all-round player that I can take to both freeway and single track is what I am looking for. Which one would you choose ?

4. If anyone has ridden both EXC and Yamaha WR450F which one do you like ?

Thank you in advance.

pacificboy

 

[Hooligan]

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Hi,

I had that exact same experience/dilema.:tup:

I ended up buying a 450EXC, first because it could be upgraded to a 570 without much effort.Second KTM sells a whole buch of stuff for these bikes, simply bolt on. Iadded a 13L KTM tank, a Joe Racer Oil cooler that added 100% more oil and I Dual Sported it, KTM sells a complete DS kit, oh and the KTM electric fan.

Hold on till 07, all EXC's will be DS off the shelf, and also the prices are dropping for 07. I dropped my rear sprocket to a 48 from the 50, it now does 140 easily, I thenadded about another $2000 worth of stuff, I get 140km/h and it goes really well offroad compared to the 640.

I am not going to comment on the WRF.:wi:

Paul did a very good build up on his 525, look under KTM.

http://www.dualsportbc.com/forums/forum5/1364.html

You can also have a look here:

http://www.dsadventures.com/ds525.htm

Have fun it ceratinly is a great bike to DS and run both on and offroad.

My bike is actually on way to Africa for a 5000km ride though desert and dirt. I will be doing about 1000km on sealed roads, for that it will do well enough.

:hb:

 

[pacificboy]

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Thank you, Hooligan

Both links are very informative. Have a safe ride in Africa.

 

[blocker]

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I have both bikes, a 2006-KTM 640 now in a container with Willies on the way to Africa) and 2005 KTM 400EXC.

I dual sported the 400, has a Clark tank (purchased from DSBC), oil cooler, fan, Scotts damper, Probillet rack and Corban seat. It does not vibrate nearly as much as the 640.

The 400 has a linear power band compared to the 450, so is great for technical single track. Is stable at speed on and off road. Great in the sand.

Not great for packing a lot of gear for camping but can be done with the rack.

cheers blocker

 

[pacificboy]

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Thank you, blocker

400 sounds good to me. I will wait for 2007 model to test ride in Nov.

pacificboy

 

[Orange Crush]

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From what I heard, and I could be wrong, the exc's are not called exc's anymore and only the 450 and 525 will come street legal, not the 400. That was exactly what I was looking for. I'm sure some one will correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[caribootom]

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You are mostly correct. The bikes will still be called EXC's however they will be a different bike than the 2006's. The "Old EXC's", I believe will be the new XC-W's. KTM only plans to dualsport the 450 & the 525.

 

[ElChupacabra]

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525EXC, lighter, way more power. My 2c

Paul

 

[Mac525]

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I love my 05 525 but then i am a big guy and it takes alot to handle the power .... I f you like insane fast the 525 is the bike for you

:dude: