The 500 EXC has 19,000km covered and is about to pass 400hrs so I decided to give her some care and attention. Every year I check the valve clearances and when I look at the measured clearances from 2019-2020-2021 and 2022, I can see the […]
The big EXC isn’t designed to cover 2300km over 10 days, but she took it all in her stride. Now that we’re home safely it’s time to inspect her for any unexpected wear, and replace or adjust parts as needed. The only items that either […]
Ok, first off, I don’t like doing reviews. They’re shit, mostly biased, and no one cares about my stupid opinions. But I’ll be going on more trips (hopefully) so it’s not the worst idea in the world to take notes on what worked and what […]
I’ve been planning a solo spin around the Alps, starting off in Memmingen, Germany, and taking in some amazing roads all the way down to Bardonecchia in Italy. When I get to Bardonecchia I’ll have a few days of downtime, when I can sleep, or […]
It’s been nearly a year since the last fork service, so it’s time for a refresh. The TE300 and EXC500 both use the WP 4CS forks, and despite almost universal global hatred of the 4CS, I don’t find them too bad. Although having ridden normal […]
Finally, after months of waiting.. after the departure date of our planned offroad tour of Spain had come, and gone, and still never happened. We should have it done by now, and be home a week already, but we’re still in lockdown. Phase 3 of […]
The 500 EXC doesn’t have particularly bad tank range, and I don’t really suffer from fuel anxiety.. but as smarter guys than me have said, “the only time you have too much fuel is when you’re on fire”. The reasons for my oversize tank are […]
Adventurising the 500 means making it more capable of navigating and covering some major distances. In order to travel light, I probably won’t be bringing a computer, so plan on either using a phone or tablet to navigate using OSMand. This setup will eventually be […]
The 2016 500 EXC should have be sprung as standard with 4.6 springs in the forks and a 7.2kg spring on the shock. The previous owner must have been a big guy, as my used model came fitted with 5.0 springs in the front, and […]
My TE300’s OEM starter finally gave up the ghost after 4 years, and I decided to try out one of these cheap ebay starters. £60 is a lot less than £229 so it’s worth a try. The installation was smooth, all the holes lined up, […]
After the valve clearance test, I wanted to test the compressibility of the motor. A standard compression tester can do this, but I think a cylinder leakdown test is more accurate. In order to do this test the bike has to be at operating temperature, […]
Seeing as the motor on this used (new-to-me) bike has 150 hours on her, and the KTM service schedule recommends a piston at 135hrs, it’s kinda overdue a piston. Before we actually get to installing the new piston though, we’ll do some checking on the […]
Some people say that if you have €100 to spend on your bike, then spend €99 of it on suspension. I’m not sure I agree with the 99:1 ratio, but definitely 50:50 .. your suspension is the most important part of your bike IMO. Like […]
The last few spins in Clare, Limerick and Tipperary have all been interrupted and delayed by fallen trees. It’s not normally a big deal, we just get past them and keep going .. but when there’s a group of 5 or 6 riders it delays […]
It seems everyone you talk to is running different tyres and pressures, and everyone has an opinion on what works best. What they really should be saying though, is what works best for them. A tyre that works well in dry sand might not do […]