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Bagstr

Dear 450 XCW Motor - I am Sorry to have been so hard on you.

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5 hours ago, PbdBlue said:

Probably not a bad idea. The KTM manual states you need to change a bunch of stuff every 135 hrs. Crazy! I can't believe they expect you to essentially do a complete rebuild every 135 hours!

1171006630_ktmmaintenance.thumb.jpg.4cc8a0ba0696c5b24090b38ab843caa9.jpg

Looking at the manual before I purchased my 500 exc almost made me not buy it.

At the time there was not as many choices for what I was looking for.

Unless someone does major service on their own bikes the recommended service intervals will be costly....

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1 hour ago, CVRick said:

Looking at the manual before I purchased my 500 exc almost made me not buy it.

At the time there was not as many choices for what I was looking for.

Unless someone does major service on their own bikes the recommended service intervals will be costly....

That is what keeps me away from KTM and BMW, then again, I am not over 50, retired, financially independent or a good rider.... 

Yamaha is my breed of choice. Honda is the runner up, for my needs, skill, budget and time. 

I had to take my shoes off to use my toes, but 350 hours is a little over 14 days of riding 24 hours a day. That isn't a lot of time before having to tear down the top end.

 

Good luck, OP! The pictures, information and commentary from SDAR is worth the price of admission! Sorry I don't have anything valuable to contribute. I am interested on how it all turns out and I am hoping that you can get back out to play without delay. 

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41 minutes ago, erik_26 said:

That is what keeps me away from KTM and BMW, then again, I am not over 50, retired, financially independent or a good rider.... 

Yamaha is my breed of choice. Honda is the runner up, for my needs, skill, budget and time. 

I had to take my shoes to use my toes, but 350 hours is a little over 14 days of riding 24 hours a day. That isn't a lot of time before having to tear down the top end.

 

Good luck, OP! The pictures, information and commentary from SDAR is worth the price of admission! Sorry I don't have anything valuable to contribute. I am interested on how it all turns out and I am hoping that you can get back out to play without delay. 

Just so you know Yamaha recommends inspecting the piston for cracks every 600 miles and replacing as needed. All dirt bikes have crazy maintenance schedules. The real question is what is actually necessary. The failure Bagstr experienced is not a common one at least from what I have read\seen. I've owned a half dozen Yamaha 4 strokes and they all have been reliable. That said I'm on my 2nd KTM and both have been just as reliable. 

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Reliable unless you ride like Bagster or PMB   

Kidding

  • Haha 1

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4 minutes ago, CVRick said:

Reliable unless you ride like Bagster or PMB   

Awww.

So unnecessary..

 

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1 hour ago, PbdBlue said:

The failure Bagstr experienced is not a common one at least from what I have read\seen. 

I was at C&D today picking up a quart of Magic Motorex and got to chatting with Steve. His opinion is the same as Bob/Tim- 250 hours is about right for a duty cycle. Yes, they'll go much further, but 10k miles is about the limit. His repair estimate was nearly identical in numbers and strategy- valves need only cleaning, new guide seals, etc. Replace piston and possibly cylinder- usually unnecessary, but turnaround time is excessive.

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1 hour ago, paulmbowers said:

I was at C&D today picking up a quart of Magic Motorex and got to chatting with Steve. His opinion is the same as Bob/Tim- 250 miles is about right for a duty cycle. Yes, they'll go much further, but 10k miles is about the limit. His repair estimate was nearly identical in numbers and strategy- valves need only cleaning, new guide seals, etc. Replace piston and possibly cylinder- usually unnecessary, but turnaround time is excessive.

I'm hoping you meant hours and not miles. And Moterex comes in liters not quarts...

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13 minutes ago, PbdBlue said:

I'm hoping you meant hours and not miles.

Yup.

Fixed.

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Paul,

Nice to hear the confirmation from another reputable mechanic ( Steve ).  I my opinion these mechs are trying to save us from ourselves ( the cost of a barrel ).

We know many get way more than 315 hours on a piston. But,,,,  You know you are at higher risk of a piston fail.

The original Piston lasted 4 years at my usage, four more I can live with.   BTW the turn around will be 2 weeks. I could buy another brand and practice carrying 40-50 lbs around all the time.  

Standing By for the Pop of the new build with new packing in the muffler.   Bagstr   🍺

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Just reminding everyone about the maintenance intervals listed in the manuals.  It is based on racing conditions.  My 08 450 went 12,000 plus miles and 1500 hours and was still running strong when I sold it.  Ask tim about it , I tried to blow it up and he laughed at me every time he looked at that bike.  My 07 rfs motor had way more time on it than that but no hour meter so who knows.........  My 15  500 had 600 plus hours and got piston and rings and sold at 800 plus hours not burning an ounce of oil.     My 15 200 with 97 hours blew the motor completely because of bad gas so I'm thinking this was a major factor in the problem.  Big pop pushes rings funny and at speed the ring instantly melts and grinds to cylinder.   Bags motor was in perfect running condition and would have gone for many many many more hours without the help...  Big bang theory      I miss that show

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Hobie,

Thank for the perspective

Bagstr

P.S.   One Vote for BAD GAS

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Bags-

I think Hobo of The North might be suggesting you and I are somehow not of “racing” caliber. 

Imagine.

The nerve of him!

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12 hours ago, paulmbowers said:

Bags-

I think Hobo of The North might be suggesting you and I are somehow not of “racing” caliber. 

Imagine.

The nerve of him!

I would never..............

In all seriousness I was only referring to the writers of said manuals.  Not saying I agree with them at all.  I will say that Mr. Bags took his bike to one of the best mechanics out there.  Tim is good people and really good at what he does.

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4 hours ago, hobiee said:

I would never..............

Yeah. Sure. Fine. Whatever.

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Back in business today,,,Finally.  Three weeks at the shop.  Emptied the fuel tank into a 5 gal jug, installed fresh gas in bike. 

Thinking of installing new air in the tires as well.  

      :cowboy:

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On 10/4/2019 at 5:56 PM, hobiee said:

Just reminding everyone about the maintenance intervals listed in the manuals.  It is based on racing conditions.

True dat.  The owners manual fro my 07 TE 450  recommended that the crank be replaced after 80 hours.  Methinks I would have replaced it 7 or 8 times based on that.  Heck, I have barely even replaced two valve shims in the engine since I bought the bike.

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1 hour ago, Bagstr said:

Back in business today,,,Finally.  Three weeks at the shop.  Emptied the fuel tank into a 5 gal jug, installed fresh gas in bike. 

Thinking of installing new air in the tires as well.  

      :cowboy:

Glad your back with your Austrian Princess Bags! We have been grooming your favorite haunts for you. 

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10 hours ago, SoCalMule said:

Glad your back with your Austrian Princess Bags! We have been grooming your favorite haunts for you. 

Yes, 100 miles of grooming just yesterday.

All for you, Bags.

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The Thought of you two enjoying the freedom of the desert during my suffering was Not helpful, but only an extension of my mental dystopia. Sympathetic buddies would have taken a riding hiatus. Unfortunately it will take time to recover our relationship.

      😎 

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To what do you attribute the delay in completion of the job? Did you order additional work or parts outside the original scope of the work?

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5 minutes ago, Bagstr said:

Sympathetic buddies would have taken a riding hiatus.

You've clearly chosen unwisely.

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Good to Go for another few hundred miles. 

Cylinder and Piston kit

Valve Stem Seals, clean and inspect valves and gap

Inspect crank and bearings.

Replace water hoses

Spark Plug

Repack muffler

New Air Filter

Tim appears to me to be thorough. He had a lot of bikes in the shop when I showed up and I added the water hoses which delayed the issue. If you scheduled work in advance, your timing might improve. That said, he told me that guys should expect a two week turn around for major work.

Good News in this failure is that the internals of this motor were immaculate @ 315 hours.

Now Back to the Fun Stuff

 

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3 minutes ago, Bagstr said:

 

Good News in this failure is that the internals of this motor were immaculate @ 315 hours.

 

 

 

Well, other than the melted piston smearing itself on the cylinder.

"Inspect crank and bearings"- what exactly did they do there? They didn't split the cases, right?

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No, did not split the cases. No idea of the details of inspection. " They were good."

Don't think I mentioned the conversation regarding Full Rebuild cost ( splitting the cases ).  $3500 - $4500 depending on condition of gear-sets etc. That is the time to seriously think about selling machine and starting over. 

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