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Beta 500 RR-S

Kman has one and rides regularly with me. He has had it for about 1.5 year now and reports that it has been mechanically flawless. He just put on new tires. It's an awesome light bike and has plenty of power. I usually trade positions with him once we hit the gravel patches , sort of a understanding with a quick signal to him to pass me and with a 55mph wheel stand from him.
 
Kman has one and rides regularly with me. He has had it for about 1.5 year now and reports that it has been mechanically flawless. He just put on new tires. It's an awesome light bike and has plenty of power. I usually trade positions with him once we hit the gravel patches , sort of a understanding with a quick signal to him to pass me and with a 55mph wheel stand from him.
Cool....ask him how it does on the hwy. Just curious.
 
Cool....ask him how it does on the hwy. Just curious.
It will ride on the highway like a dirtbike

Anyone with a ktm 500 will be able to give plenty of into.

They are not highway bikes, they are dirtbikes that are street legal. That being said, it would be a trail and gravel killer
 
I believe the 500 is the best bike to go long with an big adventure bike . I have no problem riding mine 50 miles to Bastrop , ride the trails and then 50 miles back home.
 
I believe the 500 is the best bike to go long with an big adventure bike . I have no problem riding mine 50 miles to Bastrop , ride the trails and then 50 miles back home.
Kinda my thinking, if I know for sure I'm not leaving the pavement I'd stay on the V-Strom...if all day trails and gravel would love something like this I think....I had a 2hr ride to and from Sam Houston however....about ,80 miles one way from my house. Can I tolerate the 2 additional hours after riding it all day? Might be time for a trailer I guess.
 
It will ride on the highway like a dirtbike

Anyone with a ktm 500 will be able to give plenty of into.

They are not highway bikes, they are dirtbikes that are street legal. That being said, it would be a trail and gravel killer
100% correct. will hang 70 ish but needs another cylinder for that stuff...there goes up the weight.

We need the T 700
 
Trailer and any dual sport just about or wait for something like the Tenere 700...im kinda nit wanting to have to store a trailer, but honestly I did not want to make the trip home yesterday aftrer riding all day. A trailer probably would have been nice.
 
The 790 is about there for you. Put your order and clean your account. Will be about 3500 more than the t7. Has all those unnecessary bells and whistles that allow more KTM profit (which is the name of the game)
 
I trailer 2.5 hrs home after chasing sander 230 miles all day in the hills. I ain't too proud. I'm usually whooped!
 
Agree, I will have put about 5 years on my 17' strom by then and will be ready for it a year or so after stateside. May get a beater in the meantime ;-)
I've got an XR for sale
 
That's ok, I'm two bikes broke at the moment anyway. Just farkled out the Strom and ordered tires. You got time if I decide to go dual sport...😂😂😂
 
It will do the highway miles, just not with the comfort of a big bike.

There is a guy from Australia that has been touring the world on a KTM 500 EXC. It really boils down to what you plan to do with it though.

I have a 530 EXC and my 1200 GS. If I were planning to go to Mexico and ride the MexTrek ride, I'd probably take my 530, but I would trailer it to the border. If I were planning to go to Mexico and tour, I'd be more inclined to just ride my 1200 GS the whole way.

I have done three trips with the 530 EXC where I trailered to an area, then rode/camped off the bike for a week. These rides included some pretty technical stuff which would not have been fun on the GS. Each of those trips was a mix of paved and unpaved riding. Some of the pavement stretches were for a few hours running at 70-75mph. The bike did it fine. Of course, it was not super comfy for me, but neither was it miserable. Unlike some folks, I don't mind wind blast on my chest/head so long as it is clean air.

Even if I had brought the GS, I would still likely have trailered because I would have been running full knobbies on the bike, which would have been mostly used up just getting to where we were riding. But that is the nature of the riding I generally do. If I were planning to actually tour for say several weeks and see lots of different places, then I would ride the GS and put a more 50/50 type of tire on it, like say the TKC 70s. That would still let me do some unpaved roads so long as they didn't start getting gnarly.

So again, what kind of riding do you want to be able to do and what compromises are you willing to accept?

My compromise has been to take BOTH of my bikes on trips. To do this, I have to pick one spot to base for the whole trip. I then plan routes suitable for each bike so that I can alternate days between the bikes. The guys that generally go on trips with me like this compromise as well. It lets us do the hard stuff, but then ride the big bikes for "easy" days. Riding the small bikes for 6-7 days straight starts to wear us out after about 3 days because we are all 50+ and not in top physical condition :-P Even if we do moderately challenging stuff on the big bikes, it is still enough less effort that we can recover from the small bike days.

I would love to have a 500 EXC to replace my 530 EXC. However, the reality is that I really only get to ride my 530 on stuff where I really NEED to be on the 530 instead of the GS maybe once a year, if I am lucky. I don't ride single track trails in the SHNF or in private parks, so the GS works fine for 99% of the rest of the riding that can be done in Texas. About the only places I would need the 530 in Texas might be Big Bend NP and Big Bend Ranch & SP. That means the only time I really get to use it is for the out of state trips to places like Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Arkansas. I took it to North Carolina and had a blast with it on the twisty paved roads, but my GS is just as much fun on those same roads. There really isn't much in the way of real technical unpaved riding in NC to make it necessary to have the 530. All that aside, when I DO get to ride my 530 on the dirt roads around here, it is fun!

Right now, unless you are wanting to ride single track trails, I would suggest sticking with your V-Strom, unless there is just something about it you don't like. I would understand that as I never really "connected" with my V-Strom for unpaved riding. Some folks love them though. IF you do want to ride trails, a 500 would work for being able to ride up from your place to the SHNF, but trailering it would be better and would save wear on your tires. And if you can trailer, then a 300 XCW would be WAY more fun on the trails :-P
 
Honestly, I'm still figuring it all out. I really like moseying along on Forest and dirt roads looking at cows and stopping to check out plants, trees and animals. Just the main idea of being outdoors. I also like the fellowship of riding with others and meeting new people. So l would like to just have something that is able to participate in group rides that cross multiple surfaces

So far the forest access roads in Sam Houston have been idea. Don't need anything super aggressive for those. Not sure if I even wanna do singletrack. Not into riding fast, just wanna explore.

So actually my two bikes Scrambler 900 and Vstrom 650 are probably more than adequate. I think getting a trailer is probably the best idea right now. I am going to put some TKC 80 type tires on the Scrambler and use it for forest roads and the street interludes. I can then trailer it back home. If I want to ride on the highway for a long interval, I'll take the Strom with the knowledge I can still hit a gravel/dirt road if one appears.

Should be quite sufficient until the Tenere 700 arrives. Then I can make the next decision.
 
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