I DO! Imagine that, RSRBOB with an opinion. :) We happen to be a KTM dealer,
in addition to YAMAHA of course. Anyhow, they are pretty decent motorcycles,
but compared to Japanese bikes they are very expensive to maintain. For
example, imagine popping $80 for a clutch or brake lever? That is retail on
them. Sure you might be able to find them on line for less........ but how
much less? I am guessing that is about 4x as expensive as a Yamaha lever, if
not more. How about fork seals? I don't remember the specific model but I
believe it was a 250 SX, nothing particularly special about the forks, and
the seal repair "kit" which was one seal and one dust seal was $90 retail per
leg.... As far as reliability, they are pretty dog gone reliable. Nothing
really noticeably less than the Japanese brands. In the Hare Scrambles, they
are generally a touch faster than the Japanese bikes, cc to cc. They are
maintenance intensive, esp in the four strokes, but equal to the maintenance
suggested by Yamaha on their racing 4 strokes. One other thing to think
about. KTM USA is a small company. And dealing with it is not as easy as
dealing with someone like Yamaha. Expect it to take longer to get parts that
have to be ordered, up to two weeks where it takes us 3 days for Yamaha
parts. Also, customer relations does not have the financial resources of a
Big 4 mc company, so don't expect as liberal attitude when it comes to grey
areas of warranty coverage. You think Yamaha was reluctant on the ABS issue?
If you liked that, you might love KTM. As for me, they are not worth the
extra money. They are not markedly superior to the Japanese brands and in
some areas lag behind. If you want something that could be perceived as
exotic, it could be for you.
RSRBOB
