2000 KTM 520....any good?

A buddy of mine had one of those, I think it was a 2002. It had loads of power, but the bike felt really heavy and did not turn well. I did not like it at all.
Make sure you try it out before you buy it.
Who knows, you might like it.

My uncle used to have one and I used to ride it sometimes. I agree with tons of power, but not in an agresive way at all. What I dont remember it is feeling too heavy. For riding in the woods it was a great bike if the trails weren't too tight.

I was wrong sorry, he had a newer 525 which was supoused to be much less agressive than the 520

damn, my byddys bike was a 525 too. very controllable power but felt like a tractor through the bends on a mx track. Sorry about that

incredible engine. tractor style, not explosive like the new bikes. you feel slow as youre pulling away from everyone.. rocker arm broke on my '03 520, but everything else was good. id like to ride one again. tough to turn, even in the first corner. ive seen pics of myself where i looked really awkward, and thats how it was to turn, stock..

hard to turn, very strong motors. What do you want to do with it?

My buddy has one and it is a beast,tons of power,didn't turn all that great and vibrated like a paint shaker.
Works well for desert riding but in the tight stuff it is a lot of bike.
He has had zero problems,very reliable.

jerk off your leg power-vibrates worse than a clapped out YZ490

My brother in law has a 2005 that I've ridden, I was dirttacking it out of fire road corners one handed resting my clutch hand. Like a lighter XR600, for play riding I would take one over a current 450. So much fun. You could probably beat 90% of the vets on their $10,000 450s on an outdoor style track. Just have to steer with the rear wheel more.

Rode one at a track with a 5th gear start straight, brought it back in after two laps due to the severe head shake. Was pretty fast in a straight line, didn't turn very good.... may not have been set up well.

"KTM's are JUNK!!!!"

Don't buy one, run for the hills!

While turning laps at a little supercross style track i hopped off my 125 and on this behemoth beast and was surprised it felt pretty good until i tried to slow down and turn.. plenty of power to clear stuff out of corners..

Sure wouldn't want one though.. my back hurts just looking at them..

Probably awesome in the desert or open trail/roads... i just rode one where you should never..

If you don't get it and it's a great price, let me know. I need a new anchor for one of my boats.

I rode a big bore KTM back around 2002, just after recovering from my ACL. I had a YZ-426. That bike was no lightweight by any means, but it handled decent and had ok suspension. The KTM had a good motor, but the handling and suspension felt like I was riding some old pig XR650.

Depends on what you/he wants it for. Moto...no way. HS it is pretty easy to set up and work well. My old XR600 turned better but the Katoom would walk me on the straights (my XR was NOT slow). If the going gets tight or your buddy is not a "he man" then yer better off with the 2T 300...way lighter and quicker...just not faster (does that make sense?)

I had one. Really liked it but it took a long time to set up. All the posts about turning are spot on. Was great on natural terrain mx (once I went to .46 fork springs from the stock .43) and open fire trail stuff. For racing enduros and cross country it was too much work to ride hard all day. I was much faster and more comfortable on my 250exc 2 stroke. But again....it was an awesome bike for natural terrain mx (which our national 4 stroke mx titles were at the time.....how things have changed....)

Bob, they're great bike for just about everything but hard core moto. The RFS engines ran from 2000 I believe until 2007, and are very reliable, in some ways probably better than the 4-valve engines that KTM replaced it with in 08. I had about a two mile run on mine topped out before I realized I had blown out all the oil with a broken site glass, literally 50 miles from anywhere, and it ran like a top after we plugged that and dumped a quart of oil in.

There was some issue with the RFS valve train in 02 or so, which got fixed with updated parts by 03, you'd want to check to see if that has the updated parts, but if it's lasted this long it probably does. I believe they went from a 41mm carb to 39mm for the exc and mxc in 03 (I had the 03 525). There was no displacement difference between the 520 and 525. The big engine has a lot of inertia, which can make it feel heavy to turn. That's more of a woods riders issue than a western wide open places rider issue. There are lots of clamp options if you wanted to play with that for steering.

I miss mine, it was a great reliable bike.

These bikes were pretty good, but they do have a few things to look out for, most of which are known and can be easily rectified.

The engines are pretty bulletproof, and as long as oil changes have been kept up they are far more reliable than any of the other fourstrokes of that era, or anything since. One known issue was waterpump seals leaking, there is a kit to replace/upgrade if required. Valve clearances are MUCH easier and quicker to do than any of the Japanese fourstrokes of this era.

This bike, along with the YZF's, were the first bikes to use the new Keihin FCR carbs. They were initially not modified much from their roadbike origins, but there are heaps of basic, cheap (or free) mods that can be done, mainly around the accelerator pump to cure the bog.

Suspension and handling were the biggest bugbears. Two key things:

1. If not already done, replace the stock triple clamps (20mm offset) with some aftermarket versions that have somewhere in the 16-18mm range. Increases the trail on the front and makes a huge difference to handling, including mostly curing the turning and headshake issues noted by others above.

2. Find a suspension tuner that knows the PDS shock and get the internal damping piston replaced with one of the various progressive/telescoping ones that were developed at the time. Can be done for only a little bit extra cost than a revalve, and makes a large difference. Also pay attention to the way the manual (if it has one) describes how to set sag; the PDS is sensitive to sag and the way to measure it is slightly different to a linkage setup.

Overall a pretty good bike. They can be made pretty good for motocross, Joel Smets won the 500cc in 2000 on one of these! (I know, works bike and everything).

Head shake was mentioned but I think it had more to do with folks raising the forks in the clamps to try and help the turning (which it did) but I do remember a few guys getting scared shitless on the longer straights (it's hard to remember to lean back and gas it when your life is flashing before you).

The triple clamps were the go. Although they largely departed from the "Euro" style of previous bikes, the frame and suspension was still very tuned for European motocross i.e. mostly sandy tracks.

Would make a good desert sled.

Feel was long and very narrow in the mid-section. The front end always felt a little unplanted, like the weight bias was too light on the front. Bulletproof engine, suspension was lousy by MX standards.

Bobby,

I moto my 03' 525Sx & it's fast & turns well, but I do have some mods done.

Stock clamps are 20mm, mine are 16mm. might go to 14 after I do a few frame mods!

it still has a heavy feel to it, but it much better then stock. if he's not MX-ing it he'll do fine & won't notice it.

Just over to www.KTMTalk.com & look in the RFS section. you'll find what ever you need to know there!

I always thought that that would be the ultimate ice bike.

I had an 03 525 SX and pretty much loved it - though it did feel heavy on some tracks and in certain sections, which is why I eventually moved on (though I partly regretted it for along time afterward). But surprising to me at the time, though obviously not exceptional, it was certainly respectable in the handling department. It cornered well and (for me) was stable at speed. As for the motor... as you'd expect, fantastic. Tremendous power but very smooth and controllable. Less hit than my current 450 but deceptively quick.