KTM made the engine a single-cam design, with an angled valve cover like the 250F engine. Valve adjustment is via shims, but the cam need only be loosened to remove and replace shims. Our experience with other KTM models has shown that the valves rarely need adjustment.
If ridden hard in slow conditions, the 525 would boil the radiators and blow coolant out the overflow. The 530 is a little better and the only time we had an issue in the West was when we were shooting photos. We had the unique opportunity to test this bike in Michigan at a National Enduro in tight woods as well. Michigan is a tougher test of the cooling system, combining low speeds with a lot of clutch work, and we needed to add coolant at each fuel stop. Even in the tight woods the 530 was supremely easy to ride and in fact took less effort than the 450 thanks to the smooth and controllable bottom power.
"Motor" is only half of the word "motorcycle." And the rest of the 530 is as new as the engine. KTM has a year with this chassis design, since it was standard '07 SX-spec. The lightweight but strong steel frame is part of the amazingly low weights that we keep measuring for new KTMs. At 251 pounds, the 530 isn't a featherweight, but it's very light in its class. The 450 XC is nearly 15 pounds lighter, but the XC-W(R) has a kickstarter and supporting hardware and a sixth gear in the transmission. The frame is constructed of huge section oval tubing mated to curious eight-sided tubing in the lower cradle. The tubing isn't exactly octagonal. Four of the eight sides are flat and four are rounded. A stronger swingarm is mated to the chassis and the bridge section in the front where the shock mounts is designed to equalize the forces the shock exerts on the swingarm. What is important while riding is that the bike stays a lot calmer and resists flexing and kicking to the side under heavy suspension loads. The new chassis and stiffer overall suspension allow the 530 to rocket through rough and whooped sections at speeds that older EXC models can't hope to equal. It didn't matter whether the whoops were the packed and solid California sort or the softer and deeper Michigan ones.
Stability at speed is fine, but some riders found the front busy, where others had no issues. Turning is crisp and accurate in all conditions but better on the throttle. This is especially true of flat turns and sand or mud. The footpegs feel like they keep toes a bit safer than the older chassis did.
As far as suspension goes, the XC-W(R) spec is certainly stiffer overall than past KTM EXC models. It reflects the changes in off-road racing to shorter, more aggressive loop-type competition. Nevertheless, the XC-Ws are the most supple legs KTM has for off-road bikes and control in rocks and roots is very good, but the overall feel is biased more toward aggressive riders who get up on the pegs.
With the new chassis comes a change in the shock angle that reduces the load to the shock. Changes in shock preload don't have such a profound effect, and two turns might be required now where only one would be enough with the older bike. KTM used to base suspension setup around a pretty strict 35mm of bike sag. Now between 30 to 40mm of bike sag and rider sag in the 110mm region works well. Our bike was set right at 35mm and that measured out fine for 210-pound Karel Kramer and 185-pound Jimmy Lewis. That's a nice change compared to having to change springs for any rider who had weight out of the ballpark of the stock coil.
The suspension offers plenty of adjustment. In addition to the normal clicker adjusters, WP fitted a high-speed compression adjuster-critical to control G-out bottoming on a KTM-and an external fork preload adjustment. Our best results came with only small low-speed compression setting changes and using the high-speed adjuster to dial in the ride and comfort.