The constant battle over manufacturers being the lightest seems to have greatly affected the modern bikes longevity.
Weight = Horsepower
From what I am seeing …….
KTM made spokes thinner to save weight in the last few years and now spokes are breaking. They changed the T hose from aluminum to lighter plastic and they are failing. Thank you KTM we cant keep our T hoses in stock to keep up with demand!
I was shocked to hear that Yamaha pistons now only lasting 15 hours before needing to be replaced. Timing chains have also gotten smaller and wearing as fast as the pistons!
KX’s I haven’t heard of anything wearing out and needing to be rebuilt as quickly.
Honda’s seem to be lasting longer before needing to be rebuilt.
Suzuki’s? They are heavy but stone reliable.
You left out the broken ktm frames. This is the price people are willing to pay for having ”the lightest bike in the class”.
same with the small ktm bikes that more or less have bicycle brakes on them that all the fast riders change to big bike brakes, you never see that on a japanese branded 85.
Haven’t seen the KTM’s frames breaking.
It seems like Every brand has huge crashes breaking frames occasionally.
I do remember back in the day the Honda CR450 2 stroke frames breaking and Kawasaki KX’s
There are broken frames with all colour plastics knocking about on social media.
Same with triple clamps. Same with wheels grenading (KTM clearly have/had a spoke/nipple issue, though if your bike maintenance is decent it's not usually such a big issue).
Freak issues are always around too, saw a Honda blow out a linkage at a track recently, obviously not common but shit happens.
Interesting
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Google ”ktm broken frame” and you are in for a treat. They have been snapping frames and tripleclamps since 2007.
The japanese brands are no way near the amount of broken frames as the austrian brand.
shh youre not allowed to talk about KTM underbuilding their bikes around here.
There was also something on one of Clarke's videos about throttle cables not lasting a year.
The price we pay for performance!
Yamaha pistons and timing chains lasting only 15 hours? In what context? I can't imagine even 1 bike sale if this is true at amateur level riding.
Are Yamaha pistons really only lasting 15 hours? I haven’t heard that, or is this just referring to the manual stating replace after 15 hours?
Yes per manual replace at 15 hours on both 250 & 450 and yes I was shocked to hear it too while KTM is still at 50 hours.
I definitely could be wrong but I think it’s said that for a while. My ktm pistons go well over 100, quality stuff.
Had in march of 07 an 07 kx250f frame snap at the head stay El ping style. Fucking scary. My replacment I got was an 08 kx250f took me a while to trust it but fuck I still have that bike today since it was effectively free. That frame has 500+ hours on it and still kicking.
Back on topic yes I do agree that making everything so much lighter has a detrimental effect on longevity but these intervals are made to be a guidelines for "serious racers" as these are race bikes. Think your local A/fast B riders, fast minis. Most guys aren't going fast enough to wear these parts out in that time intervals. Most people now a days I tell them to just change the pistons due to hours used and not wear as most of their pistons are still in spec. They might get another 20-30 hrs out if it but at thT point is 150.00 worth a full engine. to do a set of rings at 20-30hrs and a pistons and cam chains at 45-60hr. And to think about a crank at 70-90 hrs. As the pistons just don't wear down for the average guys.
The 4 stroke Valve train seemed to be one of the biggest problem areas but we don't seem to hear about them as often anymore.
The trick is preventive maintenance to replace the high wear parts before they fail taking out the entire motor and big $$$ to fix.
Yamaha pistons are good for past 100 hours in most applications. The timing chains were an issue in 2019ish, but pretty sure it was resolved with an updated PN. The weak link used to be the piston pin, it's always the only out of spec part when I take apart my engines. They are DLC coated now though and I haven't taken my new bike apart yet to see if they're lasting longer. It's currently at 135 hours, never been apart.
Kawasaki manual says 12 hours. Pretty sure Honda is the same. With that said, I personally don't know anyone that follows the manuals suggestions when it comes to that.
The manual for KTM also says to replace the engine oil every 10 hours. To me that seems like too long.
The recomended hours in the manual is more or less a ”warranty” thing even that mx bikes don’t have one.
so if a new bike craps it self at 20 hours, the brand can ask: did you change the piston at 10h as the manual says? And if you say no, they don’t have to do shit.
i had a crank that seized on the rod bearing on a Honda 250f back in 09 at 16 hours. I got a new crank and gaskets on a warranty / good will from Honda but no piston since it should be replaced at those hours any way they said.
I know why they do it. Lumpy was pushing it off as just a Yamaha deal when almost all of them say the same thing.
Pit Row
Hadn’t heard that about Honda and Kawasaki.
85' s now have the same size brakes as the full size. Different calipers but the pads are now the same. The current 65's now have the big bike rear caliper on the front and the rear. As those bikes got faster the brakes did have to change.
KTM really only had a frame problem from 2016-2018. They updated the steering head area in 2019. Beyond that they break no more than the rest. My friend's KTM broke the steering stem nearly off on his 2017 450SXF.
Send your oil out for an analysis. People changing oil every ride are throwing money away especially when they are using premium oils.
A lot of people want to have a bike with factory bike like parts and performance but not factory bike like maintenance.
If memory serves, I believe Dave Arnold said almost exactly that regarding the 86-91 CR250 HPP valves in his interview with Matthes.
Been running Rotella for this reason exactly. Cant beat 20 bucks for a gallon. Changing the oil after every XC race or every 3 hours. Filters every three oil changes. Never had a problem. Im more worried about contaminates going around than anything.
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