Why the EXC five-hunny is a shit adventure bike

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Damaraland

Race Dog
Joined
Oct 24, 2011
Messages
646
Reaction score
89
Location
Windhoek
Bike
KTM 990 Adventure
I started the "Adventurising a EXC 500" thread over here: https://wilddog.net.za/forum/index.php?topic=219441.0

Saw a bunch of people harping on about how the 500 is actually not perfect for everyone and also not the end-all or be-all of adventure riding (utter blasphemy :dousing:), so thought I'd start this topic to give them a place to vent.  Having done about 6000-odd km on mine I think I am also a bit qualified to weigh in on the topic. 

So here's Damaraland's list of why the 500 is a crap bike:

1.  Two fourth gears (if you ride one you'll know)
2.  Every 2000 km's or so I have to do a 5 minute service
3.  The flicker indicator bulb is useless.  Mine stopped working after 50 hours.  Shit bike.
4.  What the f*ck is up with the seat
5.  KTM forgot to tighten the ground wire (if the bike ever stalls as soon as you stand up you'll understand :imaposer:)
6.  Fuel injection.  F*ck sake KTM.  Everyone *knows* that it's unreliable and that carbs is best.
7.  Too much vibration on Tar.  In my heart I know I should've bought a BMW F650GS but it doesn't look as cool on the trailer.

Rules of this thread is simple: 

1.  You don't need to have owned or ridden one, in fact probably best that you have zero experience with these bikes - it encourages robust discussion. 
2.  Repeating hearsay is encouraged (e.g. if you sit too far back the subframe - which incidentally is made out of spaghetti - will explode, killing you instantly).
3.  You're not allowed to mention fuel pump issues, as that is considered low-effort and too easy a target.  I'm thinking mine must be a knockoff because it hasn't broken yet.
4.  Bonus points if you mention Japanese reliability. You win the Internet if you actually know of someone doing adventure riding on a 450 rice burner.
 
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