VOL. 55 ISSUE 47 NOVEMBER 27, 2018 P91
2019 KTM
500 EXC-F
The alpha dog of the modern
performance dual-sport world is
the KTM 500. On any given day
it is being used as a light-duty
adventure wagon or a race-day
mount and it performs remark-
ably well in both. It has the
added benefit in this comparison
of a lot more displacement (it's
actually 510cc). So, in straight-
up performance its no wonder
people love its torque. It's truly a
third-gear bike in a lot of situa-
tions and while it delivers some
of the smoothest power out
there, you can still tell it has a
racehorse inside. It is never as
docile as the Honda 450L.
But even its 450cc version
sold as a Six Days Edition re-
ceives similar praise and top-of-
class rankings here. While those
bikes weren't official partici-
pants, we had them along for the
ride and they are right there with
this big dog.
What makes the KTM platform
so great is it can check off all the
boxes of what this class of dual-
sport should do and then some.
It compromises in a few places
here and there, but they're rarely
deal breakers. From power
output, delivery and consis-
tency to chassis and suspension
performance and tunability, the
KTM still leads the charge in this
class. Yes, it vibrates more than
any other bike in this test. For
that, it lost praise from some test
riders on pavement stints and
higher-speed roads. But all of
them said it wouldn't deter them
from buying it because they
don't really want to ride it there
(Above) At $11,199, the KTM is the
most expensive dual sport bike out
there, but that doesn't seem to keep
people away. These bikes are still
flying off the shelves. What does that
tell you about the KTM?
