My 500 has always been the quiet slow and steady bike in my riding group. Every thing I could find out about this detuned KTM was that a mild cam was the way KTM set this bike back as an easy dirt bike to ride. I tried several pipes and muffler.............NADA, not gooder just louder. This last week I bought a DANIEL CROWER performance cam for my 500, $837 to my door. Installed it a took a ride. OK, likely not a 100 hp, but can pull a gear higher on a lot of climbs, made the stock exhaust much much louder, picks up rpm low range and up much faster, a lot faster , rather than mild steady pull, really picksup in the mid range and up, I never could find any info about a cam up grade......... now I know, I can recommend it, flat works and easy install. Talking with Daniel he assured my that no other mods necessary if I would run it at 190 degrees, and he was right. A little chippy on the idle, starts easy, smooth once up and moving, I like it.
2013 KTM 500 nice upgrade
- Thread starter CATSLEDMAN1
- Start date
This year I installed a DCR V4 cam in my KTM 2020 450 sxf and was amazed at the difference just the cam alone made. Daniel is a very knowledgeable man and worth talking to. At first I thought the V4 cam might be a bit much right up until I was on the hill. I think any new bike would benefit from a cam change for a snowbike.
You can send him your cam to be ground for about $300.
Different bike but same story. I installed cams in my YZ450 this year expecting more top end which I got but what has surprised me is the added torque and power down low and thru the midrange. I suspect the LSA is tighter than stock but I don't know that for sure, there is more lift and duration for sure. I can lug it way more and it will pull thru times when I would have previously down shifted. I made some other changes at the same time (porting, intake and tune) but I'm still convinced the cams work.
My backup/old bike is a YZ450 with the GYTR CNC head and race cams. I never rode that bike without the head so I don't know how much difference that made over stock. What's going to be very interesting is my buddy and I built identical bikes with the GYTR heads. He is currently re-assembling his motor, also a backup bike now, with the Athena 500cc big bore cylinder. The two bikes will be identical (different kits) with the exception of the big bore and likely a different tune on his so it should me a good measuring stick on where is a good place to spend your money. I've always preferred porting and cams over big bores, his bike will have both, mine just the cams and porting. We shall see.
M5
My backup/old bike is a YZ450 with the GYTR CNC head and race cams. I never rode that bike without the head so I don't know how much difference that made over stock. What's going to be very interesting is my buddy and I built identical bikes with the GYTR heads. He is currently re-assembling his motor, also a backup bike now, with the Athena 500cc big bore cylinder. The two bikes will be identical (different kits) with the exception of the big bore and likely a different tune on his so it should me a good measuring stick on where is a good place to spend your money. I've always preferred porting and cams over big bores, his bike will have both, mine just the cams and porting. We shall see.
M5
Has anyone ever tried the 450sxf cam in a 500? I did a xcw to xcf swap on my 350 and it was amazing.
can you tell me more about this?! what years. what was the xcw?
Me too I'm interested to know !
Why not? I thought the base engines were mechanically the same except stroke is longer on 500.
My 350 was a 2014xcw. I installed sxf cams from a 2012 I got on eBay for $100. That's it. Didn't even have to adjust the valves. The only tuning I did was monkey with the tps to fix the off idle hiccup. Best mod ever for snow bike.