KATO BIG BORE
Greetings to you good people
atADB. I read with interest
Geoff Braico and Mitch Lees’
story on the Kato twins, the
450 and 500EXC (#438). As a
long-term big bore Kato rider,
I found the test refreshing and
interesting.
Being an open-weight-class
rider (“spend over $15 at
bakery in single transaction”),
the Kato big bore has been my
choice since my 2005 625SXC
with Pro-Circuit Ti4 slip-on.
That big LC-4 engine
sounded like a muscle car and,
with the stock 45-16 gearing,
it wound up like a nervous
bomb de-fuser technician
snorting free cocaine.
I had the good fortune to be
in the position to replace my
625 in 2008 with my first new
motorcycle.
I did have a tinge of guilt
as I felt pretty attached to
that bike as we shared some
common ground. Both of us
were big and orange with
bodywork that looked likeit was designed by a blind
Austrian bricklayer, we both
tended to wobble when full of
juice and attempting to kick
over either of us was going to
leave you hurting.
When I strolled into the
dealership they told me the
625 had been discontinued
but l Ieft the dealership with
a spanking 530EXC. My next
bike was a 2012 500 EXC.
The week it hit 100 hours,
I went into the dealership to
grab some rebuild stuff and
got chatting to a salesman. He
offered me very good coin on a
trade-in and an excellent deal
on a 2014 500EXC. Eight days
later, when I went to collect my
2014, I found it was a 2013.
Instead of giving me a
refund, they decided to give me
the 2014 Six Days if I could
stump up $500, which I did.
It is my fourth Kato big-bore
and a crazy bike. The 500EXC
engine is a torque monster.
On rides like the Daintree’s
CREB Track, Diamantina
National Park, Cape York orour local Bluewater, it is great
when you get out of the bush
and have a bit of a transport
section back to the ute.
Feeling hungry, thirsty and
beat up you can sit back a
little and tap it to 150 clicks
comfortably and eat up the
kilometres.
I have included some photoswith this rant. It may look like
my Six Day is unloved and beat
up but I assure you it’s just this
damn iPhone because, in fact,
I won ‘best maintained bike
and the ‘truth telling contest’
last year at the Chiquta Ave
bike night.
Redmond
Just gold! Thanks, RedmondLETTER OF THE MONTH
FASHION VICTIM
In the “hero” shot on the opener of the 250cc MX
shootout (ADB #438), I noticed that Lee Hogan has
red boots and red gear. In the inset photo he has
black boots and green gear. Then on the Honda page
he has red gear and black boots. Does he do this to
see if someone will pick it up or does he just like
changing his stuff all the time? Love the mag, keep
it up.
Henry Berkin
More gold, Henry! For MX Editor Lee Hogan, the motocross
shootouts are the equivalent of the Logies, so he goes all
out. Don’t worry, the boys let fl y every time he emerges in a
new outfi t, kinda like Taylor Swift.LETTERS
SEND IN YOUR LETTERS AND YOU COULD BE
OUR NEXT WINNER!
Congratulations, Redmond!
You’ve won a
Motul Air Filter Wash Kit valued at $99.95
from our mates at Link International,
linkint.com.au, (07) 3382 5000$99.95
Value
Write to us at:
ADB Letters, 12/20 Edward St, Oakleigh, Vic 3166
Email: [email protected]CONGRATULATIONS!
26 | APRIL 2016 http://www.adbmag.com.au
It may look beat up,
but Redmond says it’s
in prime condition!