YZ450F or KTM 505xcf

I had a 2010 YZ. I just sold it to a friend. The bike was good and ran very strong, one of the strongest out of my fleet. The only thing extra I had on it was an aftermarket exhaust. The handling on the new YZ is supper good for the snow bike application. They are light on the ski but steer very well in the snow. The only thing that I did not like about the bike was, for it to start easy when hot it had to first be put on top dead center before kicking it over. It did however start very easy when it was cold. 2 or 3 kicks when 10o outside and it would fire up. The only thing that I would recommend buying for it is a factory programmer. With this you could tune the cold weather running in much better than they are. However they do run good gust as they are. The other thing about an injected bike is they do get fuel in the oil. It is not a bad thing you just need to change it every other ride. You will be able to tune that out with the programmer.

As for the KTM 505, I have not ridden one yet but I here they rip. If you go that route make sure the bike you are buy is a 5 speed trans and not a 4 speed. I think the 2009 is a 5 but not for sure. The 5 speed will be closer between gears and will work better as a snow bike.

The carb bikes are not bad they just need to be jetted properly on the main and on the pilot. This will help a lot on the cold weather starting. Also the vent lines need to be routed up into the air box or up under the gas tank so the snow will not get in them and plug them off. If they get plugged the bike runs hog fat and will barely run. This only happens in deep powder.

Good luck on your purchase.

Allen

I have all KTM's here. I like the ktm for alot of reasons but most of all is how easy they are to work on, loads of usable power, E start on a 450 or bigger is really nice, On our 250f its not a big deal as I can start it with my hand. Both are really good bikes as far as reliability goes though and to me that is the most important thing, I love working on bikes but I enjoy riding them more.

Some important things to consider would be what you have for local dealers and a parts supplier. Seems like all our local yammi dealers could use a reality check were my KTM dealer will and has gone above and beyond to help me out.

Just curios what kind of riding out you into, just as one is a motocross bike and one is cross country on the dirt IMO its the same on the snow.

Lunchbox said:

I'm buying a bike with a snowbike set-up in mind. I may do some trail riding during the summer months.

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In an trying to be unbiased opinion I would go with the xc. Even my 450sxf which is setup for me is still pretty rough on the trail. It handles huge jumps and high speed obstacles but really wears on a guy doing an REAL trail riding.