Supermoto's engines life??

[GSXReater]

Are the reliable? The singles that is. How long do the engines last before needing a rebuild? I believe they are quite expensive to rebuild arent they?

How can you tell if the engine is on its way out? Can you tell by how many hours of riding?

Thanks.

[Irezumi aka Reuben]

What bike in particular as all are different.

[Sparks!]

As Reuben said, depends a lot on the bike, how it's ridden and how much use the engine has had... race bikes go through engines quite quickly...

I bought a KTM450 and it blew up 2 weeks later, had it rebuilt as a 525 and it was solid lasted for ages with stunt, supermoto track days and off road use.

All depends on type of use, hours, how well looked after and a bit of luck!
____________________
Current Toys: 06 Yamaha WR250F | Nissan 350Z GT | Tech 4 Homes

[GSXReater]

Im actually looking at ktm's, any advice?

[Sparks!]

[Tome]

The road bikes are more reliable than the offroad/race bikes.
As with any bike regular maintenance is the key. The less highly strung EXCs obviously have a better chance at a longer life (400 and 525/530)
____________________
Kawasaki ER-5 - Honda Hornet 600 S
"A foetal shape is the body's default performance setting - think jockey, downhill skier... Tron."

[Carl Howell]

Depends on the bike. My Husaberg FS450 has just had a £400 rebuild because the main bearing failed but thats because it was put together wrong by the previous owner. Needs stripping and all bearing replacing and everything checked for wear at 90 hours, 45 hours for race use though.

Oil changes every 4-500 miles for steady road use, every track day or race day otherwise.

Then if you want an LC4 their service intervals are like over 3000 miles for oil changes I think. As long as you get the later one they are solid engines but don't make the same sort of power or have the same response as a race bike.

There are many different supermotos.
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Owned: 2002 Gilera DNA 50, Yamaha DT125R

Own: Yamaha FZX250 Zeal (FZR250 engine as a similar shape to a Hornet)

[G]

As above, some supermotos are based on competition spec machines which have service intervals listed at 3 hours or less! Others sold as 'supermotos' have very lowly tuned engines (talking similar power per cc to a bottom of the range car), which have official intervals of 6000 miles.

[GSXReater]

[G]

The majority of the 6000 mile service interval bikes weigh around what a sports bike that makes 2.5x the power! I'd describe these as a 'commutermoto' - far from being 'super'!
The only real exception is the BMW G650 which isn't /too/ bad.

You can get light weight bikes with long service intervals, but you're talking 12hp from a 125cc, or something.

Basically, the 'holy trininty' is power, light weight and reliability.
You can have any two of those, but not all three.

The KTM 690 SMC and more recent 625SMCs have 3000 mile service intervals and weigh a tad under 140kg. Have to do the valves every service, though.
That's the best you'll get from KTM - who's slogan is 'ready to race', not 'ready to commute' .

[r0b]

So are you interested in a bike for commuting, sounds like service interval is important to you.

If you are after 50+ bhp single I cant think of a light sumo that has decent service intervals with that sort of power. All KTMs have race derived motors so your probably better looking elsewhere...

Most ppl who want decent reliability seem to go for the drz400sm (135kg) which is underpowered stock at around 34bhp. Get the carb of the E model and a few other mods and you will touch 43bhp. Lots of info is availiable on thumpertalk.com some ppl have built drz with 50bhp but heavily modded.

drz400sm
https://www.emoto.com/img/docs/suzuki_drz400sm/suzuki-drz400sm-0262.jpg


If you dont mind a heavy bike there is the xt660x with decent power but pretty heavy and not really crashable.

xt660x
https://www.bikez.ru/images/150/12975.jpg

I have a tt600r with enduro wheels, 44bhp, 130kg, 6000miles service interval.

tt600r (with sumo rims)
https://motard.concode.com/images/motard/yamaha/TT600R-Supermoto-3.jpg
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'92 Honda NX650 Dominator RD02
'98 Kawasaki ZX9R C1
'00 Yamaha TT600R Belgarda

[keyser soze]

I've got a ktm 640 lc4 sm and its my only transport at the moment. its done 14k miles and not missed a beat. I ride to work everyday on it around 30 miles and service it at 3k miles.
would I get another one hell yes.
its not as focused as the race bikes but still loads of fun

[Scouse]

[mr.tattoo]

[Hazylogic]

Sorry for the thread hijack OP!

I've been looking at getting a DRZ400E (1200-1300) as my first starter bike (I'm restricted to 33bhp for 2 years) with the hopes of converting to sumo in the future; I'm skint as a bint at the moment.

Either that or an XR400/XR650 and if I can't find any near me then I may just get myself an old KLX650. Are these the ones you are on about that are slow and heavy as fcuk?

[G]

They are fine for a 33hp road bike - a lot lighter than an old CBR600 or something.
However, compared to a proper supermoto, yes - they are slow and relatively heavy.

To me, the whole idea of a supermoto is acceptable power and very light weight - otherwise you don't really get an advantage over other bikes that have a lot more power.

[Eddie Hitler]

I have an FMX650, old grumpy dominator engine which is dog slow compared to any other bike. But 20k miles later its still as strong as when it was new.

Mine has 41bhp as I have modded a fair bit, standard you are lucky to get 33.

[Hazylogic]

I've seen a husky te610E 2002 with sumo wheels going for 1200 . What are they like? Don't they have around 50bhp? What are services / anything I should be looking out for when viewing the bike? Are husky parts a bit of a sunt to get hold of?

[dextersaurus]

[Hazylogic]

cheers Dunc. Still not sure about that one. sounds fun, but would prefer something a bit smaller to start!

[G]

[Hazylogic]

well I don't want the hassle of paying for restriction G. Would be quite happy with the husky, but getting restricted is the problem. Same with drz etc.

[KevTM]

Hazy

https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/KAWASAKI-KLX-250-SUPERMOTO-ENDURO-TRAIL-IMPORT-RARE_W0QQitemZ170352240694QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Motorcycles?hash=item27a9c8e836&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12|66%3A2|39%3A1|72%3A1683|293%3A1|294%3A50

KLX250 "Supermoto" style in Selkirk. Think they're about 18bhp though so maybe a bit underpowered.

[G]

Make a restrictor yourself and get it dyno'd if it's the cost - or pay the dyno operator to do it if it's the time .

DRZ-S is over priced to my mind for what it offers - and personally doubt they actually need any restriction.

The hassle of buying a new bike when you get annoyed with your current one will be a lot more than adding and removing restrictors I suspect!

[Hazylogic]

ahh well that husky is gone. I'll keep my peepers opened for sumat around scotland/northumberland/yorks