| First Test Ride - July 13, 2002 |
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| EJ's |
| After traveling 3000 miles, waiting until I re-acquired new riding apparel since my previous was lost in a fire, and getting the brute titled at the DMV, here we are ready to Rock-N-Roll! It's a pleasent morning here in Corona California about 90 degrees and I'm a bit nervous. After all, knowing these vintage rocket ships are difficult to find parts for and me purchasing this thing site unseen, I have good reason to be concerned. I whisper to myself as I'm getting dressed, "I hope it runs good without any hiccups". I tickle the carb until she gushes 100 octane (40:1 mix) on the ground, give it a couple R-Foot stabs at the kicker and it lights up. Now I feel better and I mount the brute and blip the throttle a few times. The idle is good, when I put it in gear I also know the clutch will grab a bit. So, anticipating this I roll my weight forward with the bike and I'm off. I'm rolling in first, I quickly get 2nd and 3rd with medium throttle. I'm maintaing light throttle in 3rd about 25 yards then I nail it into 4th then 5th. OH MY GOD THIS THING IS FAST! I'm doing 85mph in a few short seconds. Alright I'm slowing down while downshifting and braking. OOPS! No front brake! I grab more front and rear brake and some more lower gears and finally come to a safe rolling state. I make a U-turn back to the truck and notice the engine is idleing too fast. I speed up then slow down a couple times in 2nd and 3rd gear and it still idles too fast. So I get back to the truck and quickly pull out a screwdriver and proceed to adjust the air-screw to no avail. I make a couple more straightaway runs to 5th gear and back with no change in idle. Now I'm getting worried the Crank Bearings are leaking air and this guy sold me a bill of goods. Patience, patience I tell myself, keep working with it. Finally I just back out the main slider idle screw a full turn and the engine settles down. I take another drag lap and I'm happy. Why didn't I think of that first off. Ok, back to the front brake. Went ahead and bled the brake but no change. I determined the pads need replacing to get more handle. Went ahead and took a 30 minute ride and it was pure joy! I had forgotten just how powerful and domineering the 495 was on performance and your body. The power-band is something to behold and hold on you had better do especially in 4th and 5th gear. I believe this 495 is a bit quicker than my previous. Why? First off the 100 octane, second, the jetting is perfect! After taking some plug readings I knew the mark had been made at this elevation (300ft). The engine ran very clean and the power from mid-throttle to full throttle in high gear literally wants to throw you off! I like it. Too much power is always better in my book. THE KTM's PERFORMANCE: Engine won't idle down - Adj air-screw - no effect, finally adjusted slide idle screw out 1 full turn, re-set air-screw out 2 turns. RESULT - runs great with minimal high idle - smooth, clean power - A ROCKET SHIP. Clutch a bit tight - After the engine is warmed up this pretty much goes away. Transmission is good - Whew, I sweated this one. Still have to move the shifter a mile and with authority like always, but all the gears are solid up and down. 2nd gear starts went real well and MAX-STOPPING downshift to 1st gear into a turn went very well. Front brake is terrible - The front tire will not lock up and at lower speeds the brake is 50% ineffective. Needs new pads. Rear brake is good - No complaints here. Engine rattle - This is pretty much normal for big bore 2-stroke engines and this one seems to be well within tolerence. At full power there is no noticeable rattle or excessive engine noise. Vibration? Yes there is plenty of that but I don't mind. I like to feel the bike under me by the seat of the pants. The Easton Taper Aluminum bars seem to do a good job in this catagory. Rear Shock - I'm pleasently surprised, the White Power set-up does a pretty good job, though when I get to the desert at full speed, the proof will be in the pudding so to speak. It does have a slight oil leak, so servicing is in order So there you have it folks. It was a good day with a few items that need clearing up, but this 495 is a keeper! 07/20/02 - Installed a new Brembo front brake handle and all the troubles with stopping the brute normally went away. The brake pads are about 30% worn but worked fine. The killer though is the steep $60 price tag on the handle. Went ahead and bought a spare new set of pads - $49.95 a set! Some Engine Specs taken out of my local KTM shop service manual: New Piston/Bore set-up_________________________________ .003-.004 clearance (if over .4 mm 0.0157 - Re-bore) Ring end-gap_________________________________________ .015-.20 mm Crank end-play_______________________________________ .010-.040 mm Crank pin run-out_____________________________________ .050 mm max Timing @ BTDC______________________________________ 2.1 - 2.2 mm or 17% 15' - 17% 40min Cylinder Head bolt torque_______________________________ 29.4 newton meters (nm x 0.738 = 22ft lbs) Bing 55 factory jetting__________________________________ Main jet - 195 Needle jet - 2.84 Needle - 6L6 Idle jet - 65 |
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| Second Test Ride - July 28, 2002 |
| Two weeks of anticipation riding the 495 in the wide open spaces left me lying at night dreaming of all that power and all the speed at my fingertips. Finally, I could "open her up" to horsepower bliss! The High Deserts of Southern California are a dirt riders paridise without end. There are State designated riding parks that require you have a "green sticker" to ride. Not me, I went up to my fathers property in the Apple Valley foothills, about 4 miles south of 'ROCKET' Rex Statens place. Here I grew up learning to ride my old Honda 90 and later began racing motocross. This place has hundreds of square miles of riding, but you must be careful not to disturb the sparsely located home owners. They like to call the cops if your not on designated land, and most of this land isn't. My first order of getting the bike sorted was the jetting here at 3000 ft elevation. Then the brakes would be the next priority. Who needs brakes the first ride in this paridise! Anyway, here are my findings of this testing session: Carburetor Jetting - Went ahead and ran the .190 main jet and .60 pilot jet as before. Believe it or not, there wasn't much difference in performance or plug reading at this elevation. Decided to try a .55 pilot jet to see how the low-speed circuit and idle reacted. The bike had worse low-end throttle response like it was starving for fuel. Changed it back to the .60 size because I didn't have any larger on hand. Rode the crap out of the bike on the newly designed GP course I layed out, about 5 mile loops, and the mixture seems good. I will richen it up some more next time when I have a better selection of jets. Virtually no missing or blurbing of the throttle and the top-end is out of this world! Clutch Performance - I was embarrased when Rex noticed I didn't have any "clutch handle play". A light went off in my ticker that said, "thats why the engine rev's so quick in 4th and 5th gear". "Did I do damage to the clutch on my first test ride"? So I casually re-located the clutch arm on the engine and readjusted the handle play as Rex properly noted and I tore off. WOW! What a difference, The front wheel wants to rear up like a stallion now and the top speed gets there quicker. Engine now sounds like it's hooked up all the way to the top, so I suppose the clutch is still in good condition. Thanks Rex...I dodged an expensive bullet! Front Brakes - Installed a newly re-bent to original brake handle and new pads. The bike about throws me off into an endo now. The brakes are great. Now the heavy monster has a chance of making most berm shots like normal. Rear Shock - The shaft seal still leaks, so I will have it rebuit at my local shop, Performance Cycle Works in Downey, CA. It was a great outing with no surprises and I did realize my dreams of horsepower / speed bliss. The bike is a Rocket and handles very well. Vibration is there but not to the point it drives you off the thing. I will replace the Maxima 2-cycle oil to the old tried and true TORCO GP7 per Rex's recommendation. Says that Maxima crap gums up all the internal engine and carb parts. When I took the air-filter boot off, I saw what Rex was talking about. A huge glob of concentrated fuel mix on the bottom of the carb... Until next time, this bike is definitely a keeper. See you in the deserts and here's roosting in your face! |
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