Named after the famed Worldwide Six Days Enduro, the KTM 500 EXC Six Days is likely one of the finest enduro race bikes cash should purchase. Highlights embody a 510cc single-cylinder motor, a featherlight chromoly body, WP Suspension elements, and a ridiculous dry weight of 246 lbs.
It seems to be the enterprise too—if trendy off-road bikes are your factor, after all. Most individuals in all probability wouldn’t choose it as a donor for a retro-styled customized scrambler. However Aussie Dan Mickan did, and ended up with this spicy tackle the KTM 500.
Brisbane-based Dan has been obsessive about bikes since he began using on the age of 10. He’s additionally a fan of customized bikes, due to Australian workshops like Deus ex Machina and Ellaspede. So it was solely a matter of time earlier than he took a crack at constructing his personal.
The thought to customise the KTM popped up a number of years in the past, whereas Dan was making an attempt to scratch a really particular itch. “I used to be trying to purchase an previous Honda XR600R,” he tells us, “as a result of I needed a classic motocross or enduro-type bike to journey at occasions like Ellaspede’s Mud Hustle, or some native ‘vinduro’ occasions.”
“On the similar time I additionally had this 2015 KTM 500 Six Days version sitting in my storage. I believed that if I purchased an previous XR, then all I might do is journey it, throw cash at it to enhance suspension and engine efficiency, and by no means journey my KTM 500.”
“I used to be actually blown away by the Roland Sands ‘Kurt Caselli’ construct, which mainly launched me to the concept you may customise a mud bike—which, till then, I by no means even thought of. With that in thoughts, my plan was to construct a Eighties styled classic enduro machine utilizing my KTM 500 as a base. I might then have a motorcycle that might have the classic enduro seems to be, however all the trendy engine efficiency, reliability and suspension tech.”
Dan kicked off the design course of by printing out a bunch of images of inventory bikes, customized builds and gasoline tank choices. He then grabbed scissors and actually lower and paste bits and items collectively, till he had a transparent route in thoughts.
Subsequent, Dan stripped the five hundred EXC to its bones and began looking for native craftsmen and fabrication outlets to assist him convey his imaginative and prescient to life. “I do know my means round a workshop, however I’m not a very proficient fabricator,” he admits. “I even have three younger children, so discovering the time to spend constructing bikes is a problem.”
Fortunately Dan is extraordinarily good at one factor specifically: mission administration, as a result of that’s what he does for a residing. So he made a listing and begin farming out the laborious jobs.
For the subframe, Dan constructed a mock-up utilizing plastic conduit tubing—then gave that, and an in depth technical drawing to an area fabricator. He returned a precise chromoly metal reproduction, which bolted straight to the five hundred’s body with minimal tweaking. Additional care was taken to keep up the KTM’s aggressive ergonomics, as a result of the intention is to journey it because it was designed to be ridden.
Subsequent, Dan had to determine one small, however essential, a part of the construct: the gasoline tank. “It’s in all probability the design component that the entire construct revolved round probably the most,” he says. “It’s off an early 80s Honda XL 185, and I adore it for its boxy strains and small dimension.”
Dan as soon as once more relied on an area artisan to switch the tank to suit the EXC subframe. He had the added problem of compacting the OEM gasoline pump in there too, however ultimately, all of it labored out.
Subsequent, Dan had the blocky seat constructed to match the tank’s strains. Refinishing it in the identical blue as early 80s KTM motocross bikes was a simple choice, and finally knowledgeable the remainder of the bike’s livery.
To maintain issues tremendous sensible, the OEM air and battery bins have been modified too, in order that they might nonetheless match inside the brand new subframe. For the exhaust, a DanMoto muffler was mated to the modified KTM header.
The fenders and headlight nacelle are all normal Acerbis plastic bits. Dan picked these as a result of they’re era-appropriate, but additionally simple to interchange if he ought to unintentionally hurl his bike down the aspect of a hill. The aspect covers are customized items.
Dan’s final hurdle was to get the livery good. Working with a designer, he ended up with Eighties-inspired graphics that also retained a number of the parts of the unique bike’s design. The 2015 mannequin’s decals commemorated the Argentinian version of the ISDE, in order that was carried throughout too.
One more reason that Dan sourced out particular person jobs on this mission, is as a result of he didn’t have the finances to dump the bike at a prime customized store to have it achieved in a single shot. Ultimately, these time and price restrictions meant that the construct took nearly three and a half years to finish.
“Alongside the way in which I reached out to a bunch of individuals to bounce concepts off and run design recommendation by,” says Dan. “The native Brisbane bike neighborhood is absolutely stuffed with nice folks. The ultimate product wouldn’t have turned out as properly with out the enter from these folks—all of them know who they’re.”
So was all that point, cash and energy value it? We are saying sure. If this retro-fabulous enduro doesn’t get your coronary heart racing, you may not have one.
Photographs by Gabriel Veit
