MUSA - 2007 KTM 450EXC ride report

[GAMBLER]

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/Articl...ID=4010&Page=1

[Latebraker]

It's definitely a nice bike, looked at one at the dealer and was tempted to buy one especially now that they are street legal.

[sburns2421]

A friend had a Husky TE510, what a bike for the dirt, and you could ride it to and from on the street too.

The KTM seems like an even better iteration of the same design goals. It would be my preference if I was going to buy a new barely-legal (as in DOT-legal, not 18-legal ) dirt bike. And it is a real dirt bike, not some joke 400-pound cow trotted out by BMW (or even KTM) which cost twice as much.

With that said, I'll never pay $8k for something I will go beat the hell out of in the woods. Rather wait two years and pay half that for a nice one, after someone else has taken the bulk of the loss in value. Dirt bikes seem to define "precipitous depreciation".

One thing that has interested me in the last two years is the new legal status of bikes like the KTM and Husky. People have asked for these bikes for years, yet it doesn't seem like there was much to change for the manufacturer to get them DOT-approved. What did they have to change, and why didn't they do this ten years ago?

[gixracer]

the new 450sx is awesome too. not street legal though. the frame and subframe are all new. i kinda have the dirt bug. the streets are tough but the dirt is looking like fun.