| EJ's |
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| How do you spell RELIEF? Booking it across the Majove Desert WFO on the ultimate open-class Air Cooler! |
| This is a journal of my '83 KTM-495mxc purchased May 2002. The purpose is to share inside info and facts on this rare but special motorcycle. After looking long and hard for another one, it was by accident I found this beauty. I had received a video from a fellow who had a 1984 for sale.Through emailing him he gave me a link to H&H KTM as a source in finding replacement parts for his '84. Well, the minute I browsed H&H's site, there she was. Little did my contact on the '84 realize, he just killed his deal with me. I had to have the ultra-clean monster without a doubt. So after some corespondence with Patti & Barry Higgins, and the owner Mr Gary Depetrio it was decided to go for it! |
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| As discovered on the Internet - May, 2002 |
| Q: What's the fastest dirt bike ever made? A: The fastest real dirt bike ever was the KTM-495. When I was the editor of Dirt Bike Magazine, we geared one to the moon and had Rod Bush do 123.75 miles per hour on El Mirage Dry Lake with that particular bike. I believe the year was 1981. I have not heard of any other true stock dirt bike go faster under verifiable conditions. Rick "Super Hunky" Seiman |
| 495 Fact: Assuming a rider weighs 180 pounds, the 1983 KTM-495 produces 1-hp to every 7 pounds of weight. Thats a gallon of beer per pony! |
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| click on Rick |
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| When I opened the crate my heart began thumping like a little kid on christmas morning! Here he is just taken out of the box ready to have the handlebar's installed. The bike arrived 2 days early on Yellow Freight (3000 miles, 4 days @ $297.00) much to my relief without damage. One thing I noticed right away though was a collection of oil inside the plastic wrapping. After inspection I noticed a small wet area under the countershaft sprocket on the side case. All in all this was a great find being in such great shape for 20 years old. It has new tires on both ends, a nickle plated near mint expansion chamber, all original plastic and that seat is the most impresive piece on the bike. It is original without as much as a mark on it! The frame has the original paint finish and look at those lower front fork sliders. Not a single ding or scratch on them! Incredible. They told me at H&H this was an awesome 495 and they were absolutly right. I have purchased many items on the internet through online-auctions with great success and without any hiccups. I was a bit leary when I did this deal but after talking to Barry Higgins at H&H, he helped me feel assured of the purchase. |
| 'The Katoom' arrives - |
| The inspection begins - |
| Loaded up the bike, took it home and completely tore it down except the engine, transmission and front forks. I want to run it as it is then make an assesment of it's handling and running condition first before tearing down further. More on that later. Items of interest: That wicked engine..........................................................................>>> Considered the most powerful (60hp) box stock air-cooled 500cc engine ever! |
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| This one has the "2-plug" head with a dual Motoplat coil. The bike came with an extra single coil for those of the faint of heart. All you need to do is install an old or fouled plug to fill the extra hole. |
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| One very nice touch the previous owner did was have the expansion chamber nickle plated. This is much better than chrome as it is more resistant to rust and scratching. This pipe is in pristine condition, all the soft mounts are in excellent shape with the heat resistant fiber washers in place. Should last for years to come. |
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| The silencer is an original-stock unit and came with brand new glass packing installed. I will keep it in stock but will most likely replace it with a lighter aftermarket style. should shave 5 lbs off. |
| A real clean Air-Box assembly that's been modified to feed more Gulp's of Oxygen to this very hungry engine! |
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| Lower edge of Air-Box is cut 3/4" |
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| The shock is the thing that keeps your butt in-line on these brutes at high speed. This one has the White Power unit that I'm hoping will perform as well as the Fox Shock "twin clicker". A little service and maybe a beefier spring rate will do the trick.........More later. |
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| I found the bushings to be worn on the Shock-Link but not bad enough to cause damage. They will be replaced in a couple weeks. |
| The rear axle is a bit worn along with the wheel bearings. My local KTM repair shop has all these parts in stock so I will replace them also. |
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| Suprisingly the rear brake shoes only have 50% wear and the hub is in great shape. No grooves, pits or rust to be concerned with. New pads are on order, $45 set. All of the spokes are in excellent shape as are the Norwegian Nordisk wheels. There aren't even any nicks or gouges on the sides of the rims. This bike must have been riden in the woods a lot and without rocky terrain. |
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| 52 tooth sprocket is in great shape, original brake hardware and floating backing plate all seem to be in good working order ready to go. |
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| All the plastic is original and in great condition. This stuff is impossible to replace, so this was a real gem of a find. |
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| This is where all the action is on this fire-breather! Bing model 55 carb is jetted with a .190 mainjet & .060 pilot jet and appears to have been running a little rich. I will leave this alone until I test ride it at 3000ft elev in the High Desert of Southern California. Previous owner used a 40:1 mix of 112 octane fuel and MAXIMA 926 Castor Oil. I will use TORCO GP7 oil with Union 76 100 octane fuel. |
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| This is my favorite feature of the KTM. It's rear Sub-Frame is removable giving you easy access to the rear shock area and also allows you to do maintenence on the rear tire. It only takes a few minutes to remove and is well worth not banging your noggin or working in a confined space. Way ahead of it's time! |
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| Awesome footpegs |
| 14 tooth primary sprocket soon to be changed to 15 tooth. |
| Some of these 83's came with a drum-brake that caused you to overshoot about every turn you came across. I had to have the front disc brake because this heavy monster needs it to slow down. This one is in good shape. New pads were installed.. The front forks have been rebuilt and new seals installed. A little oil adjustment here and we're good to go. |
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| The front hub is a beauty, but those lower fork sliders are incredible on this bike. Not even a scratch or nick in them! Unheard of for sure... |
| Thats it for the pics for now on this little project of mine. As you can see there isn't much needed to get this one in showroom condition, but I'm going riding first! updated - July 17, 2007 |
| An original un-cut seat! No LIE... |
| <<< HOME |
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| Easton Pro-Taper Aluminum bars |
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| Nice controls and those great SCOTT Hurricane MX grips... |
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| Finally, I built this stand to keep from blowing my back out when I need to wrench on the beast! A vintage stand for a vintage bike... Ready to R&R >>> |
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| Email me >>> |
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| SEE the happy pair......here |
| "Experience the first ride".......here |
| Go to KTM Canada.....here |