“My first ktm after ridding Japanese bikes
I thought i would treat my self to a new 2013 450 exc as they were on offer at the time.
Over all finish when i bought it looked great but this soon went down hill, Fast.
The bike is just over a year old but you would never think it to look at it.
To look at it you would think it was 4 or 5 years old.
bearing in mind its only been used for trail ridding and never been raced.
plastics all faded badly exhaust lost it look after a few hours.
Fixing are very poor quality, 6 mill self tappers into the tank!
Mechanically its been pretty good apart from the rubbish front brake with i had problems with since day one.
Over all if your after a out of the box race bike that your going to change every year great.
However if your after a bike to last you a few years stick to the Japaneses bikes.
A little heavier maybe but fair better built quality
.”
“3rd 450 EXC KTM and still enjoy the ability to have a go at almost any off road situation. I use it on 80 - 120 mile runs using green lanes, byways etc mainly across the Salisbury plain area of Wiltshire, into Hampshire, Dorset and Berkshire. Copes easily with the road links between byways but comes into its own once off road.
It has more than enough power to get through mud, across rocks and along the usually rutted byways, but is also easy to use at low speeds when tackling more technical ruts, climbs etc.
A bonus is how much bashing the bike takes. With a decent pair of wrap around hand guards it has taken all the spills both on the open tracks as well as on the harsher rockier routes we used when riding around the Brecon Beacon area in Wales.
A cracking bike!”
