this is my KTM 500 EXC. this is the motorcycle that's going to take me
around the world for next four to five years I'm going to show you today all
the modifications I made why I made them and why I consider it to be the ultimate
motorcycle for me for where I want to ride how I want to ride in any country
in the world
welcome to MOTOTREK! I'm Paul, you might know me as round-the-world Paul or
rtw Paul I'm just about to leave take my KTM put it on a plane flight to England
from there I'm gonna ride the bike from England across the Siberia I'm gonna
divert a little bit go through the stands go through the Mongolia and be on
the road for years but this year that's the where the tough riding is gonna be
and for that the bike is built specifically. I am purposely trying to hit as much
dirt as possible I really don't want to be on the pavement at all
so the bike is built specifically for that nice lightweight bike with good
fuel range that will help me go to places that are remote, that most
motorcycle riders which just wouldn't even consider going to. I started doing
adventure motorcycling about nine years ago I've done lots of trips been around
the world a few times over the last nine years I've used numerous bikes XT 660's
XR 650 R's DR650 is WR250 even rode big bikes - Super Ténéré...
they just didn't feel right this bike feels right to where I want to take it
the difference between this bike and those... it's just a pure motorcycle.
it's a race bike it wants to go it wants to have fun and it was how fun I want to
have fun it's light it's easy to ride easy to work on there's nothing about
this bike that I don't like I've taken what I consider some of the good points
from all the other bikes I've ridden and they're on this bike so this makes it
for me the ultimate motorcycle how I want a motorcycle to be. so why this bike
why 2016 500 EXC? Why not a 450 or a 690? 2012 to 2016 there's a few little variances that
make this a better travel bike I can get a bigger gas tank so I have a longer
fuel range there's a strongest subframe it has more oil capacity because the
bike has been out longer aftermarket support and parts on the shelf in
numerous countries around the world... more accessible so there's a stronger reason
to use this bike even though it is not a 2020 it makes it actually a better
motorcycle for the kind of travel that I want to do
first thing I wanted to get for the bike was a big tank this is a 5.3 gallon
gives me a lot more range and I don't need to go looking for gas stations
every five minutes I want to be comfortable I'm riding I'm riding
distances I've done over 400,000 kilometers in the last nine years
so I'm tall I'm almost six foot to the handlebars on the stock bike are just not
in the right position for me I like the bars to be a little bit higher
I like the flare of the bars to be a little bit different so that's one of
the things that I look to change straight away once I know that's right I
need to be sitting comfortably I need a good seat. The stock seat doesn't work for
long-distance travel I need a wider seat better foam and in
my case because I ride off-road one that has good grip that holds me on the bike
stock pegs on this type of bike because it is a race bike a small to make them
more comfortable these are more than double the size of stock peg they still
come from KTM but these are rally pegs so they're great for standing all day
long and there will be days when I'll be riding and all I will be doing just
standing up suspension is another thing you need to look at this is the Six Days
version not the standard EXC so there's a few upgrades but even so I upgraded
the springs and the valving on the forks and on the shock the bike originally
wasn't set up for this bigger tank which adds weight for the luggage which adds
weight and me I'm bigger I'm bigger than the average rider wheels that come on
the bike stock of good but I'm going to remote places so I want to add some
strength, it adds a little bit of weight but I primarily I want to add strength these
WARP 9 ELITE rims are a stronger version and extra heavy duty spokes and a unique
feature is stainless nipples a lot of motocross bikes come with aluminum
nipples so this actually adds strength to the wheel as well I also add a larger
brake rotor I add a supermoto rotor reason being I'm
carrying additional weight so I need additional stopping power and I've put
this on almost every single bike that I built and it saved literally my life
more than a few times it's a cheap upgrade but it's 100% worth it. tires... I
look for or a mix between durability longevity
and grip these are from a company called MOTO-Z, it's a new tire called a
Fatty and it does all those things and life on this tire is probably in excess
of 5,000 miles 8,000 kilometers I didn't grow up riding motocross so I like not
having the wind blowing in my face so I have a rally screen it's attached to a
rally Tower which made by a company called MOTO MINDED. this you've probably
seen on Dakar bikes it deflects a lot not everything but a lot of the wind and
it just helps you ride and not get as tired if you're riding long days
integrated into it is navigation I have two sets of navigation one from Trail
Tech and one from Garmin there's a reason for different versions the reason is one
may fail one may fail because it loses power one may fail because it loses a
satellite signal I use one primarily as a dash and I use the other one for
navigation I have the Garmin set up if I'm standing a lot at an angle that I
can look down and I can see the screen perfectly the rest of the time all I'm
using I'm using this for basically for speed for standard things that you would
expect to see in a dashboard but this is a race bike it doesn't have a dashboard
so therefore this is now my dashboard the lighting on a stock bike as most
people know is is not the best so I have a double headlight setup and this puts
out about five or six times more than the stock setup would I know
don't ride at night but if you do get caught riding at night it's nice to be
able to see where you're going and this as an upgrade is huge this turns night
into day. Handlebar set up... none of this is stock.
I have hand guards protection in
integrated hand guards they have mirrors so if I'm writing on the road I
have a mirror if I'm off the road I can put them out of the way so they won't
get broken upgraded grips upgraded levers this is a chain oiler... a little
rotation creates pressure forces drips of oil down to the chain upgraded
handlebars here is a voltmeter and integrated into it
2 USBs so I can run a cable into my bag and if I need to charge my camera I
can do that spoke about the GPS already steering stabilizer risers to lift the
bars up a little bit cable guides
I need to protect the bike because I ride off-road I'm gonna drop the bike my
hands are protected these are ridiculously strong hand
guards radiator and need protection on that so nothing coming in can puncture
the radiator the exhaust this is carbon fiber so protect the exhaust the bash
plate to protect the underneath of the motorcycle if I drop the motorcycle the
hand guards will work but if something hits the motor this is a billet cover
stronger than stock on the rear end the rear brake rotor a little bit of
protection there and the caliper as well needs to be protected brake snake is
about $3 worth of parts from a hardware store it's just a little bit of added
protection just to stop your brake lever getting bent outwards by any brush that
might go behind there. if I fall and drop the bike I don't need to worry about it I
can just pick it up and carry on because I know I'm covered this bike has a kick
starter the new bikes don't I kill my battery I can kick start my bike I drop
the bike in a river I can purge the water out of the motor
KTM look cool but I wanted to make it my bike so I added some graphics I work
with Rocky Mountain and Attack Graphics and I have an image in my head and we
worked together and we came up with this this material on the gas tank
this is vented so it's not gonna peel itself off the gearing on the bike is
15 / 48 but stock... I don't remember but I know it wasn't 15 / 48 and this suits my
kind of riding my style how I ride the speed I want to ride and where I want
to ride and it gives me decent fuel economy as well along with the upgrade
of the Dirt Tricks sprockets I have also upgraded the chain as well this needs to
be something I can just forget about for 20,000 miles also on here there's some
protection for the swing arm and for the change side of these are both upgrades
as well and because of the additional weight on the bike a much stronger side
stand to make life easy if I get a flat hopefully I don't get a flat but to be
able to pull the rear wheel out the adjusters are set so I don't need to
keep making an adjustment on the chain I can actually pull it out and they will
lock into place and a little handle to make life easy to just be able to pull
the axle and fuel filter this is aftermarket and also the angle
that the fuel line comes out of the tank protection here in case the chain snap
and this stops the chain going through the engine case this is where the chain
oiler comes down trips onto the chain and if I drop the bike on its side to
stop getting punctured there's extra protection here and then the big thing
is the bash plate obviously covering the whole underneath of the motor and the
added bonus that's where I keep my tools dirt bikes don't come with strong sub
frames per se so to add a little bit more structure and also to make the
luggage sit on the bike better and make it easy to tie down tighter to me a rack
was a definite that I needed another upgrade on the rear is a run a cush
drive this helps with longevity of the motor and it's cushioning for the
transmission main shaft the bites going to get hot in the tracks and places that
I ride it cools down from stock pretty good but I added a trail tech system on
here that I can actually dial in I drop the temperature down by 5 degrees so
this is a way for me to make the fan turn on sooner
the Boyesen is basically just an upgraded water pump it just has better internal
components and it helps with the flow it flows a little bit better than stock all
the coolant radiator hoses from a company called Samco they're upgraded
their rates quality silicone and it's just added peace of mind rear turn
signal thing on the KTM that always kind of melts and gets burnt on the
right-hand side change that to just a short turn signal that's inboard and
fall down the crash it's not going to get broken off a couple of things that
you can't see under the seat there's a lithium battery better than stock and a
little bit later and in the tank from California Cycle Works an upgraded fuel pump.
let's talk about the elephant in the
room it's a race bike race bikes service oil changes I'm not going on a race I'm
not racing around the world KTM will tell you 15 hours 500 miles
change the oil do the valves every thousand miles so does that mean like
every other day I have to change the oh no because I'm not racing around the
world you can extend that loads and loads loads of riders before me have an
extended that ... not an issue at all so what makes it even easier the bike
carries 1.5 litres of oil and I need to do an oil change carry an extra oil
change that's that that's easy - done - forget it filters carry some extra
filters easy clean the air filter again easy these things are 5 10 15 maybe 30
minutes to me that little bit of time is worth taking to do that a little bit of
it's preventive maintenance you have to do it on every motorcycle but this
motorcycle I can take anywhere anywhere and to me that little bit of extra
effort of maintenance is worth it it really is
one thing I didn't cover was the luggage I'm gonna cover that in another episode
but hopefully I covered everything else on the motorcycle you wanted to know any
questions ask them in the comments and I'll see you on the road somewhere