520 exc or GP450

[catcitrus]

To be honest it really depends How hard you want to use it on trails--and what sort of trails. I see some vids from Bulgaria and the like where they are route bashing up rocky forest gullies much better suited to a trials bike than a feisty KTM. On the other hand smoothish trails can easily be accomplished on Transalps and down--and you have the new KTM 390 adventure at just over 5k, the Enfield Himalayan, even the BMW 310 GS which with the right tyres will do the job. There is also a lot to be said for having a lowish seat, and a light bike--look what can be done by Godspeed on a C90, or the posty bikes. The full on enduros are IMO the wrong tool for most people. I have a low seat goat in the kawasaki Super Sherpa, and also the Yamaha WR250R which is the proper trail bike--and that has been ridden to Bulgaria and back camping all the way (they are still available secondhand, and new in some countries--a purpose designed trail bike--and it shows).

[PaulinBont]

Lots of great replies here with lots of pros and cons to consider. The 520 exc sold before I even got to see it but hey, obviously wasn't supposed to have it. My main concerns about the CCM are reliability and availability of spares.
Having searched fleabay, there's a 530 exc-r which has caught my eye

I was riding in Russia with fingers crossed , hoping that nothing in the way of breakdowns occurred- there'll always be access to a KTM dealership but CCM......

[bowber]

To be honest I'd try to find a 03 onward one, they aren't much more to buy and have a few useful changes, the front spindle for one lets you use any wheel from any off road KTM over quite a few years, 04 had the single front pipe and updated bodywork, I think the RFS was replaced around 08?

Very reliable motor with a few known problems that are easy to check and keep an eye on, main one being the inlet valve wearing, if you don't have much adjustment left on your inlets it's time to change the valves, exhaust valves seem to be fine on the motors I've looked at.
Keep an eye on the leak hole on the water pump, you need to replace both seals and ideally the ali block that holds them, also check the wear on the cam where the seals rub, 400 EXC cams are hard to find second hand but there are still a few floating around for the 450/525s last time I looked.
Primary drive nut and woodruff key, yes the gear is driven through a woodruff key, the nut can come loose and then wears the key, replace the key and nut at the same time as the nut is Ali. This is probably one you'd need to check for a bike that's used on the road a lot.
Used steadily on the road they can return quite surprising MPG, I've seen over 60mpg on my current 400 when I've had a long trip to the start of a trail.

Steve

Edit, Oops, did see that it had already sold, the later motor had a few problems and I'm not familiar with that one but I've known a few people who used them without any issues.

Steve

[Scrumpymonkey]

To be honest I'd try to find a 03 onward one,

Steve

Right on

[Mike54]

You'd be far better with a KTM 450 from MY12 to MY15. Not big money, extremely reliable. Parts no problem. RFS were great, yes, but parts now very scarce, and the later engine is better. If you think you need a 500 then fair play to you.

[Scrumpymonkey]

Cheers Mike, unfortunately budget is tight at the moment. Think I'm going to sit and wait for a bit and top the bike fund up.