My first bike (dirt)

[GAR]

Just bought my first dirt bike. I told myself if I ever moved back to Utah I would have to get a dual sport. I've ridden street for 10 years now with the occasional track day. I grew up on a mt. bike so figured a dual sport would be a sweet mix of the two. Found this at The Edge and bought it.
'03 KTM 525 exc.
The po did tons of work to this thing. It's crazy. has more power than my street bike. It's awesome on the street but I'm quite apprehensive in the dirt. I went out to 5 mile a few weeks ago and poked around a bit. It was muddy and the rear tire desperately needs a change. It was a blast though! cruised down the pony express a ways and wondered around. so fun!

When the weather warms up I hope to get some more practice handling this thing. I live at the base of AF canyon so that might happen often. Not the best trail bike, I know, but I want to get out and do some trips and longer rides.

Looking forward to riding with some of you guys and getting my butt kicked...and maybe learning a few things along the way.

 

[sixstringsteve]

lambert park in Alpine is another great local place to test new modifications. There aren't any real hills or places to go WOT there, but it's a quick place to putt around.

 

[rholbrook]

One of my riding buddies has an 06 530. It is scarey fast. It might as well be a unicycle because only the one tire seems to stay on the ground

 

[Rot Box]

Good lookin bike I love the RFS KTM's and yes LOTS of power!

 

[GAR]

Good lookin bike I love the RFS KTM's and yes LOTS of power!

yeah, especially since the po installed a 540cc high compression kit, 1mm intake valve, cam, and a larger carb. It's a blast on pavement...scary in dirt!

 

[Greg]

Nice bike! More than once have I thought about selling my WR450 in trade for a KTM 525 EXC... they're amazing bikes.

 

[glockman]

Nice bike. I'm really tempted to trade my yz450 for a KTM 300. You said the rear ties needs to be changed? Do you not like the trials tire? In my experience they are really hard to beat on a dual sport bike.

 

[GAR]

Nice bike. I'm really tempted to trade my yz450 for a KTM 300. You said the rear ties needs to be changed? Do you not like the trials tire? In my experience they are really hard to beat on a dual sport bike.

Thanks for the advice. I really don't know anything about this stuff. So far it has felt kinda loose but I think that's mostly because it's been muddy a lot and the tire is pretty worn. I will definitely be researching the best dual sport tire soon, and maybe I'll try another one of these, who knows. It's a Pirelli MT-43

 

[Greg]

I haven't ridden with a trials tire yet, I hear they just plain hook up on the trail, especially on rock. Problem is that they have weak sidewalls and tend to wash out when pushed and leaned over, compared to a standard 'dirt bike' tire.

I'm now running a Maxxis Desert IT front & rear and I like them. Beefy tires, hook up pretty good and seem to last a decent amount of time.

Living at the mouth of AF Canyon, you're in prime singletrack territory. I absolutely LOVE the singletrack up AFC, it's great riding. In the last couple years we've had quite a bit of RME Rides, I'm sure there will be more soon enough and some will be up AFC.

 

[glockman]

Hopefully the trails are open before August this year. I haven't ridden a "big" bike with the trails tires. I have ridden my dad's TTR 230 quite a bit. It is quite on the road and flat out hooks up on the trails. I was really suprised how well it hooked up on slightly muddy trails too. As for longevity he has well over 2K miles on his set with about 70% road miles ridding up the canyons to the trailheads. His still look new. I'm hoping to get a trail bike this year and it will definetly get outfitted with trails tires. His are the MT-43 too I believe. Count me in on the AFC rides.