WR450 or KTM450exc ?

[99-life]

CraigW-

I believe Dan has put more than 500 miles on his bike, in fact I think I read that he put 513 miles on his bike in one day back in May.

[CraigW]

Believe me, I am very happy to hear there are 03's doing high mileages without problems.

As I said before, performance is awesome (suspension, motor and handling). It was because of performance that I chose the WR over the KTM (owned 3 520's in the last 3 years).

I suppose I am somewhat sensitive to the breakdown issue. Where we ride at times, breaking down can be life threatening. We ride a lot of tribal lands here in Southern Africa. While the majority of the folk are very friendly, there is a element (especially when alcohol is involved), that would like nothing better than to take you out. Imagine walking around Harlem with a sign saying " I hate niggers", that what it can be like if you are stuck out in the rural/tribal areas. There is a practice here called "necklacing" where a mob put an old tyre round your neck, put fuel in it and set it alight. Maybe I am being a bit dramatic, but over the years riders I know have been seriously threatened and abused. Fortunately there bikes were not broken at the time and they could make an escape.

Fortunately the trails are awesome, the locals and their cattle make paths to die for (joke). You probably have more chance getting hurt on your road bike in the citys than having what I previously described happen to you.

Craig out

[aki]

I have now about 700miles on my WR450 with no maintainance at all. I live in Iceland and there are few WR450 here. No one have had this woodruff failure here.

If you are afraid of the woodruff failure why not just use the kickstarter, not always but just where you wanna be absolutely sure to get home. I have used the kickstarter a few times and it works flawlessly every time. Just starts running after 1 or 2 kicks.

[Bamster]

You hear alot about the top heavy feel and slow turning of the WR.I can't tell you what the 450 is like but my 99 400

can really beat me up on a tight trail. If I was looking for a new bike I would get the WR 250. That thing feels light and nimble in tight woods,plus it has the button.

[Dan_Lorenze]

I would say that I have about 2000 miles on my WR450 so far.. No problems at all (except for a bad starter motor that Yamaha replaced). When I got the bike I took an air gun to my flywheel nut and zapped it a couple of times just to make sure it was tight... No problems.... During the last couple of years I've seen numerous KTM RFS's broken down on the trail, It's seems like I'm waving "hi" to Paul Krause or Kurt Caselli all the time, Rick Daniels too...(all KTM racers). KTM is not free from problems but if you address their issues and maintain them you'll be rewarded with a killer bike...

Just my opinion, love both of them.....

Dan

[davidmoeller]

Got bike home, rode 10 minutes, broke key. Took to dealer,

got it home,rode 10 minutes,broke key. Took to dealer, been riding about 200 miles, cross every I own, and hope it is O.K. ? :D :D

[Indy_WR450]

Sorry to hear that Dave, but most of us have figured out that it is a tolerance issue with the flywheel and crank shaft tapers. All the bikes with failures have this issue and just putting in a new key will not do it. A good lap job and loctite is the only bandaid that works. Yamaha should replace the cranks and flywheels on bikes that have had repeated failures. ?

[davidmoeller]

On the first repair,no one knew about the problem. The dealer fixed it, but just replaced the key. On the second

repair, everyone knew the problem was the fit. So far,so good. :D ?