1996 is right about when the big bore two-stroke dirt bike was dying off, which makes this KTM 550 a rare and nostalgic find.
As PulpMX puts it, “In 1994, KTM USA took a hard look at the falling sales of 500cc motocross machines and decided it was time try something a little different. Their 500 at that point was getting a little long in the tooth, with the basic machine dating back to the mid-eighties. The bodywork had been freshened slightly with the new KTM look debuted on the ’93 250 SX, but underneath that new plastic was a very old school machine. Unfortunately, an all-new bike was not in the budget, so KTM went looking for ways to give their stale open classer a new lease on life. The idea the US team came up with was to shoehorn the mega motor out of one of KTM’s European sidecar race bikes into their existing KTM 500 chassis. The bike would be exclusively for the US market (Our love of big motors has always been slightly lost on the Europeans) and look to cater to the horsepower loonies that thought that a CR500 was just not enough. If you were a bigger-is-better kind of guy, KTM had your machine.”
This example is said to be a one-owner bike “that was built and set up by z performance out of Anaheim back in the day. It is a true desert missile with Applied upper triple clamp, Scott steering stabilizer and all the desert goodies that are near impossible to find.” The sale includes the original owner’s manual and dealership packet along with some extra parts.
Find this KTM for sale in Norco, California for $6,500 here on Facebook Marketplace.