How many hours of riding fun riding no racing before you should work on the engine of a KTM 525 XC?

Answer 1

they say the valves should be checked every 40 hours butt rarley need to be ajusted. change oil and filters every 10 hrs . clean air filter when nessacery .easy to inspect du to snap on filter cover. i personally reckomend its first service be done at dealer then pick there brain for what they would personally do if it where there machine. invest in a scotts stearnig stabalizer if you want to ride 5th and sixth gear with no fear. woods riding i would get an after market electric fan this is what ive done with my 05 and no one comes close to keeping up and i dont have to even try the bike rides itself so treat her nice

--------------------------

The EXC range was designed and built for racing.. hence the "racing" moniker as in KTM525EXC Racing. As such the design is one to reduce weight. When reducing weight the cooling and mass asorbtion rate for taking heat out of the drive train is reduced. A road bike will have stronger and thicker metal components and be designed for sustained high speeds for use on the road. A race bike is built down to a target weight and servicing schedule periods reduced dramatically.

The bike has a very small oil capacity.

As above the service intervals would be frightening to any road bike owner. When I got my KTM525 MXC in 2005 (second hand) I serviced it as per the schedule in the KTM manual.. I changed the oil after every long trail ride and the filter was swapped for a fresh clean and oiled one. I changed the oil and filters after every other ride out and checked the valve clearances once a month.

After the first year the bike was running just as well as it had when I got it but I was using a lot of oil and lots of oil filters. I'd be out on the bike at least twice a week with an enduro once a month.

5 years later and 30,000+ miles and the bike is still running well. I recently had a rolling road tune and jetting carried out and the bike has recorded 45.3bhp at the rear wheel. The authorised KTM mechanic told me there was nothing that needed doing to the engine and the valves were spot on. Note all the engine parts are original and the head has not been off.

For the past two years I have reduced the number of oil changes to once every two trail rides ( 300-400 miles, 15-20hrs) or after every wet day, but still replace the air filter after every ride and have a tight cleaning schedule where I will jet wash the bike after every ride and allow the bike to warm up (with new filter) after (until the rad fan kicks in) then turn it off and remove the oil filler cap to allow and condensation to escape.

Even when jet washing I've only replaced the wheel/shock/head/swing arm bearings once.

The only real problem I have had is with screw threads failing in the last year or so. Two of the rear filter cover threads have gone and were re hellicoiled and one of the filter cap bolts snapped on unwinding. The sump plug thread failed and needed a hellicoil and two of the lower screen bolts heads and one side screen bolt heads have rounded off and needed drilling out.

You will note the failures of the screw threads /bolt heads are all associated with the oil changes. I did a calculation and found I was surprised when it showed I'd had those bolts out and in (twice a month for 5 years) over 120 times!

I always have spare new sump plug and screen bolts and replace them at the slightest sign of rounding off.. I've replaced the light alloy filter cover bolts with stronger steel bolts and do up hand tight only.

But for 30,000 trail miles on a 2005 KTM525MXC designed for racing, I think these bikes are very well built and if looked after will survive longer than most.

I always use Motorex oil and KTM filters. I have about 10 air filters and wash them in a putoline bucket and re oil in a Putoline Action Filter Cleaner Kit.. then keep clean and oiled air filters in individual plastic seal bags.