Help Needed - Plan to buy KTM50

V

Vargo671

PR Addict
I am looking to transition my son from a CRF50 to a KTM50 and could use some help. There are several models available and I need to understand which is the best for MX. I found a KTM50 Junior (2006) and was wondering if this fits the bill. Also, is anyone able to list pro's and con's to the bike/bikes?

Thanks in advance!
 
I am not a peewee pro, but have been through this before. Ktm if your planing on racing go with pro jr, not mini adverture (there is not a class in the cra, but there is in the ama). as far as Ktm or Cobra I've been told cobras break more often but easy to get parts for. Ktm don't break as much but good luck getting parts. My boys have a king and jr cobra and have not had bad luck with them. They are screamers lol!
 
+2 on the pro jr ktm. I just got one for my boy a few weeks ago and he loves it. The big thing with the bikes are clutch set up. My boy went from a ttr 50 to the ktm and I ended up having to put the adventurer springs in the clutch in lue of the washer stack cause he was use to the roll on throttle of the 4 stroke. He didnt like having to hold the throttle wide open to get it to move! Other than that, and just going through things cause it was a used,not well maintained bike,it has been trouble free. If you get a ktm I recomend joining ktmtalk.com. There is a lot of good info on bike set up there
 
Been through 3 ktms. Junior or senior depends on your sons age. Stay away from Cobras. They are a night mare a good rider on the local level can compete with them on a ktm. I never used washer stacks and had great luck with ktms amd not all the maintenance. Too many "mini" dads think they are mike goessler and gonna make the bike way faster and it just causes reliablity issues. Try to get a '09 or newer. That's the ones with the new updates and they are much better bikes.
 
First off, what is the age of your rider? The KTM Pro Jr. or Cobra Jr. is for the 4-6 class and the Pro Sr. is for the 7-8yr olds. If you plan on running AMA events, get the bike that is for your rider's age group.

We ran KTM's in the PeeWee's and had friends that rode Cobra's. Not a lot of differences, except personal taste. Find some PeeWee parents that have a KTM and Cobra and see if they will let your rider try them. Then buy whichever one they like best and feel more confident with. Getting the one that your rider likes will be more important than what everyone might recommended. The more confident your rider feels, usually the better they will progress and enjoy. As was already mentioned, if you do go with the KTM's, www.ktmtalk.com has a separate forum for just the 50's. There is a lot of usefull information on setup and maintenance there. So take advantage of it.

Reliability on either one is dependent upon the rider (if they blip the throttle a lot, it's hard on the clutches) and Dad's willingness to spend time in the garage maintaining them.

I don't know why a lot of people think getting KTM parts is a problem. Holeshot in Akron does a great job on stocking parts. They only sell KTM's. There are numerous KTM only dealers that have webstores, like MunnRacing and Cycle Hutt. Both have a good supply of parts in their inventory. Avoid Dealers that sell Jap bikes, quads, etc.... plus KTM's as they just can't afford to stock a lot of parts. Thus they have to order nearly everything.

Which everone you decided on, get your spare parts with the bike. This would be items like clutch dics, clutch springs, xtra piston & rings, etc... and keep them in the garage or trailer on race day. Don't wait for the bike to break, then order parts.

Probably the best advise is if your rider is 6 or 7yrs old, pick up a 65 and get them on it. Less maintenance and overall operating cost. In the long run, cutting the PeeWee years short a season or two and having them on a 65 will same Mom & Dad a lot of stress as the 50 racing bikes require a lot of attention if they're being raced every weekend.

Good Luck
 
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