Factory Prepped: 1999 KTM 660 Rallye Dakar
2/27/2011 Update: This KTM sold for $8219 with 15 bidders.
From 3/24/2011:
With consecutive victories from 2001 to date, KTM has long dominated the legendary and brutal Paris-Dakar endurance rally. An LC4 660R took four wins between 2001 and 2006. This 660 was factory-prepped for Dakar in 2000 but never ran.
The current owner has had the motorcycle since 2004 and estimates a total of 40 hrs/2000 miles. With the new 450cc limits this bike is never going to run the Dakar, but we could have a lot of fun with it in Baja. Find it here on eBay in San Clemente, California. A buyer defaulted on the $11,000 top bid in a previous auction, and the seller says the current reserve is well below that.
That’s a great deal on a highly sought after, non-raced, factory endurance racer.
After being prepared for the 2000 Dakar for a German buyer, this motorcycle went into storage until purchased as still new in 2003 by a different German. He rode it for a few hundred miles and realized that for him the bike was a bit too much. We think that’s probably more of a statement about the bike than the fellow’s riding skills.
A bike designed and tuned to be launched flat-out across frame-breaking terrain for days at a time is likely to be somewhat impractical in most other situations. In 2004 it was sold to the current owner who says he legally imported it into the US.
Three fuel tanks give this motorcycle an astounding 11.6 gallons capacity. The list of special Rallye parts is extensive. 50mm Rallye forks with nearly a foot of travel, special strengthened subframe, hand-laid fiberglass instrument mask with Dakar graphics, Rallye instrument console and frame-mounted illuminated roadbook, widened pegs, the massive Rallye bashplate, Rallye aluminum water tank, special Rallye stainless exhaust.
The list is seemingly endless.
Although we see Rallye Replicas around, this is a factory special order Rallye unavailable for regular purchase. These are the bikes KTM fanatics whisper about to one another and even the Rallye Replicas remain an impractical and expensive dream for most. Actual special-order factory Rallye’s have almost all been raced, are rare in the open market, and effectively never in the condition of this one.
When it comes to tough, powerful terrain-eating motorcycles, it’s hard, or in the case of Dakar, impossible, to beat a KTM. To find a bike fully factory-prepped to take on the race, but with so little use and wear is extraordinary. That it could have been had for $11,000 and was passed by we suspect is a mistake on the previous bidders part.
It’s an easy bet that this bike cannot be duplicated for anywhere near that price. The special lightweight fuel tank alone is a multi-thousand dollar item, when they can be found. For anyone with big enduro racing dreams, or a really big, wide-open backyard, here’s some big, dirty, race-bike fun.
If you can hang on.
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