Darius1502
08-30-2013, 10:25 AM
62 HP stock...
The KTM 550's are the most powerful open classers ever made (absent the ATK 700's and such). This guy posted on the KTM board his '92 550 KTM trike:
176334
New guy here.
Here's the short story of my 550.
Grew up riding 3 wheelers and quads on the Oregon Dunes. By the time I turned 18, I wanted something with good power that could run with all of the high dollar Banshees in a drag race. I was on the look out for a CR500 when I ran across the Katoom in the paper. More than I wanted to spend, but it was a 550, so I had to have it.
Threw a paddle tire on the rear and proceeded to tear up the dunes (and myself a few times) on the dunes for 2 summers. Then I began the project that I originally bought the bike for. Found a rear axle from a Suzuki Quad, made my own swingarm, and built a grab bar that mounted some Banshee rear fenders. Was going to build my own trees to widen the front end, but the 1 piece tank/shrouds kept that from happening; so I found the front wheel and tire off of a street bike, adapted it to the forks, and I had myself a 550cc three wheeler.
Now before anyone freaks out, I want to clarify that the trike conversion is 100% bolt on. I still have all of the stock parts - I could bring it back to stock configuration in an afternoon. IIRC, I bought this thing in about 1996, and they were already rare enough that I didn't want to chop the bike up.
Then I proceeded to ride it as a trike for about 5 years. Worked awesome out in the dunes. Insane power, great suspension (especially compared to a quad), only weighs about 300 pounds (the same as a ATC 250R) and it even handled good.
Then the noise regulations started to hit (93 decibels was NOT going to happen), I met my wife, started a family, lost interest. But I didn't get rid of it. I pushed it into the back of my dad's barn, threw a cover over it, and forgot about it - this was about year 2000.
So now the kids are all old enough to ride, grandma and grandpa bought a new RZR, and it's time to get back into going to the Dunes again. Drug it out of the barn a couple weeks ago, knocked the cobwebs off of it, changed all the fluids, etc.
Fired her up yesterday morning for the first time in over a decade - and even on the first kick.
This weekend I'm taking her over to the sand. If all goes well, I'll do some sprucing up over the winter.
Might not be your guys cup of tee, but I figured you might appreciate it. This seems to be the ONLY place that anyone knows anything about these old bikes.
Here's a pic after I hosed all the gunk off:
The KTM 550's are the most powerful open classers ever made (absent the ATK 700's and such). This guy posted on the KTM board his '92 550 KTM trike:
176334
New guy here.
Here's the short story of my 550.
Grew up riding 3 wheelers and quads on the Oregon Dunes. By the time I turned 18, I wanted something with good power that could run with all of the high dollar Banshees in a drag race. I was on the look out for a CR500 when I ran across the Katoom in the paper. More than I wanted to spend, but it was a 550, so I had to have it.
Threw a paddle tire on the rear and proceeded to tear up the dunes (and myself a few times) on the dunes for 2 summers. Then I began the project that I originally bought the bike for. Found a rear axle from a Suzuki Quad, made my own swingarm, and built a grab bar that mounted some Banshee rear fenders. Was going to build my own trees to widen the front end, but the 1 piece tank/shrouds kept that from happening; so I found the front wheel and tire off of a street bike, adapted it to the forks, and I had myself a 550cc three wheeler.
Now before anyone freaks out, I want to clarify that the trike conversion is 100% bolt on. I still have all of the stock parts - I could bring it back to stock configuration in an afternoon. IIRC, I bought this thing in about 1996, and they were already rare enough that I didn't want to chop the bike up.
Then I proceeded to ride it as a trike for about 5 years. Worked awesome out in the dunes. Insane power, great suspension (especially compared to a quad), only weighs about 300 pounds (the same as a ATC 250R) and it even handled good.
Then the noise regulations started to hit (93 decibels was NOT going to happen), I met my wife, started a family, lost interest. But I didn't get rid of it. I pushed it into the back of my dad's barn, threw a cover over it, and forgot about it - this was about year 2000.
So now the kids are all old enough to ride, grandma and grandpa bought a new RZR, and it's time to get back into going to the Dunes again. Drug it out of the barn a couple weeks ago, knocked the cobwebs off of it, changed all the fluids, etc.
Fired her up yesterday morning for the first time in over a decade - and even on the first kick.
This weekend I'm taking her over to the sand. If all goes well, I'll do some sprucing up over the winter.
Might not be your guys cup of tee, but I figured you might appreciate it. This seems to be the ONLY place that anyone knows anything about these old bikes.
Here's a pic after I hosed all the gunk off: