1979 ktm 400

[Tim Brown]

Rob, Did you purchase this bike last week in Tucker, GA?
Tim

[rob w]

I had these about 3 years ago - not any longer. Today I have two more '79 250's that look just like the '79 400 in the lower left. (same bike in my other picture).
I never have rode a 420 - heard they're a nice engine.
Rob W  

[Tim Brown]

just womdering. There was an original owner  79 400 on Atlanta craigs list last week that looked identical to yours. I played phone tag for a couple days, then I didn't hear back. I was hopeful that a POG member ended up with it. It was too nice not to be appreciated.
thanks,
Tim

[dirtbike]

Rob W, have you ridden it, like actively?
I was wondering how this bike is as a rider?

I actually plan to ride/race it!

[rob w]

[john durrill]

dirtbike,
We had a 79 GS 400 . Restored it in 1990 and used it for a year trail riding. Ours was easy to start ( the Motoplat was a good one and the Bing rebuilt) and fun to ride even for a small bore rider like me.
I did swap out the front forks to gain a disk brake in the front. We run a lot of water where I live and my riding partners were mounted on 2 , 90 CR250's. I needed the brake to aggravate the Honda guys chuckle chuckle!!! The GS would give them fits even in the tight single track
Like Rob said , much better power delivery than the early 400's.

John D.

[Big Mac]

'79 420 (in '81 plastic) up the big hill at Washougal, very competitive in evo class.

[Bill Campbell]

My best post yet. I didn't think the topic would go the way it went. First off Dirtbike would love to send you a pic but I don't know how to put them on the forum. Mine looks pretty much like Rob W's. I find that mine is not very responsive and is lean on the over run whereas my 76 400 is pretty zippy bit pins a little. 79 is aesy to start and 76 has a tendency to kick back every once in awhile. One will get around to checking the port and ignition timing on both. Thanks for posts and piccies.

[dirtbike]

BILL, I don't think you can really upload pictures in that sense. What you need to do is to find a place where you can upload pictures an create a photo album for yourself. Picasa at gmail for example. It's free of charge and you can create several albums.

Then you need to klick the insert image button right above the "r" in the color drop down list above. Finally you need to past the entire URL (address) to the pic between the start and stop image tags created by the button above.

You can of course mail me at bengt|dot|hahn|at|gmail. c o m

[dirtbike]

Rob, John and Bill .....
My engine is a 1974 that I'm throwing into the 1980 frame.
Will that mean that I will have a not so good power delivery?

I have a bing but I plan to go for a mikuni VM eventually.


Below, the -81 I fixed a couple of years ago.

[Bill Campbell]

Further to this type of bike. Can someone tell me the lenght of the rear shock as I wish to buy some new ones and am not sure of the correct length. I am using 13.5 in but wonder if 14 in was stock.
Cheers Bill

[john durrill]

dirtbike,
The early 400 engines had a heavy hit when they came on the pipe.
If it were my bike i would add a Lectron in place of the Bing.
 That will smooth out the power delivery and , at least for a guy like me , give faster lap times and or better power for single track lined with trees. chuckle chuckle
In the woods the early 400's were down right scary to ride ( at least for me ) [:0]
john D.

[dirtbike]

John Durrill. I a kind of expected that. The -81 250 was very pipey and almost exploded once the powerband was reached. I know nothing about no lectron but I think I will go for a Mikuni VM.

I'm very keen about the absolute linear electric powerband of my maico 400. Maybe it's a little weak but it's sweet.
I hope that my KTM 400 will be just as nice but maybe a few ponies more??

[john durrill]

dirtbike,
The Lectron is the way to go , hand's down. It will give you a much more liner power band over any other carb out their. Its worth the money . We have 2  175 Pentons with them.
 Speedy can get you very close with the right needle setup. They are easy to tune.
 Your running enough travel to be in the Historic class right?
 For the  first gen. KTM engine its as good as a reed " kit " with out the loss of top end.
If KTM could have talked Lectron into building a larger facility and upping production , all KTM engine bikes would have come stock with them after 76.
 
  We have a 5 or 6 page article where the Lectron was installed on several bikes. The work was done by the riders at a test track. The before and after results are noted. We can send it too you if you like.
 One of the bikes tested was a Penton 250 i believe , ill have to look and see.
John D.

[Big Mac]

Bill, shock lengths...the '79 420 I got had the original Ohlin remote reservoir shocks on it, at 15". At the Unofficial KTM 495 site (see links), under Parts Manuals/Brochures, there's an '81 Frame KTM GS/MC '81 manual. In it, it shows the two geometry frame measurements, swingarm pivot to upper shock mount, for '80 vs. '81...believe the '79 is same as the '80. It then shows the different length swingarms in those years, and then the different shock lengths.