KTM 550 two stroke 3 wheeler

[Darius1502]

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:



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:

[Yamaha_Rules69]

Very cool bike. I think it would look a lot better and handle better with a traditional 3 wheeler triple tree with inverts and 10 in front rim setup. Awesome bike though, you can imagine that thing hauls ass.

[Darius1502]

Yep it does. I have a 550 KTM and its insanely powerful. KX 500's and CR 500's need not apply. The 85 CR 500 was close to the power ... but really hard to control.

[Bren_downe]

http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthr...-KTM-550-Trike

He's here aswell.

[Ghostv2]

http://www.3wheelerworld.com/showthr...-KTM-550-Trike

He's here aswell.

I knew i seen that before.

[bikemaker]

Old thread was in the New Member area, but now that I have the post count, I'll update in this section.

First day I got it up and running, it would start on the first kick almost every time; since then, I haven't been able to get it running.

I've tried all of the tricks, including ether and pull starting it, with no results. I'm starting to think something electrical shook loose or failed on that first day. Still has spark when you pull the plug and test it, but it's acting like it just isn't getting enough spark to continuously run.

I'll keep digging into it, and keep ya'll posted.

[CRAZY70MAN]

Simply badarSS!! Very different......

[Jason Hall]

That front tire is going to stink/sink in the Sand that is For Sure lol.. Does anyone make an oversized tank with seperate shrouds for that bike?? If not, maybe you can mount a tank from a different bike as the frame probably has a single backbone tube I would think??

[bikemaker]

The front tire actually floats better than you would think. And keeping the front end light is just a blip of the throttle away.
The 500's from this era had a smaller tank with the bolt on shrouds that should bolt right on; just a matter of finding one.
I do plan on widening the front end, but I have to get it running first.

[Darius1502]

The front tire actually floats better than you would think. And keeping the front end light is just a blip of the throttle away.
The 500's from this era had a smaller tank with the bolt on shrouds that should bolt right on; just a matter of finding one.
I do plan on widening the front end, but I have to get it running first.

Hey man...I hope it was ok to post you here form KTM talk. A MX tank from any 1987 or later 500 will fit that frame.

Regarding the non starting...I can't figure out it. I bet its electrical. I would get it tested.

Maybe your flywheel bolt is loosened and it changed your timing?

I would go through everything.

Electrical and timing are the things that I think could be it.

Hows your compression?

Oh I never showed you this...but here's my '92 ... its a ported 550 but has the 500 stickers on it

[bikemaker]

No problem Darius.
And I definitely have seen pics of your bike already....
Been scrounging through lots of posts trying to figure things out.
Coil checks out, next ill pull the flywheel to check out the stator.
Hopefully it's just a ground issue.
The rainy season is coming and I want to ride this thing!

[bikemaker]

Little update;
If I let this thing sit for 3 or four days, it will start once, maybe twice if I'm lucky. Then it's dead to the world unless I just let it sit for another 3 or 4 days. Then it will go through the same scenario again.
I'm to the point of declaring the ignition system DOA. There's an aftermarket one available (PVL), but it's $$$, so I'll see if I can scrounge up a used one somewhere.

[bikemaker]

Been contemplating the front end. It's looking more like the big clearance issue is going to be clearing the radiator fill cap, not the radiator shrouds. It looks like I can make wider triples work if I were to decrease the steering angle a bit and moved the forks forward.
So to the others that have been making their own triple clamps, I need your opinion.
What I'm talking about is moving the fork tubes forward in relation to the steering stem. The current triples have about a 1" offset from the center line of the steering stem to the center line of the fork tubes. To make it work, I would need to increase this dimension by about 2-1/2" (for a total of 3-1/2"). What kind of effects will this have on the handling?
None of the angles would change, it would just cause the forks to pivot more around the steering stem, if that makes any sense.
It would be nice to have a regular trike front wheel, tire, and fender on there, but if I can't make it work, I'll just continue to run this setup, and you guys can continue telling me how it looks like crap......