Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1366987
34 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com Vintage Feature Vintage Feature 1995 KTM 550 MXC 1995 KTM 550 MXC By Olivier Perron By Olivier Perron Hi folks, I was approached by Kurt a few weeks back to write an ar cle about my favorite bikes. I took recep on of very clean survivor a few weeks back. In the fall of 2018, one of my friends stumbled upon an ad on Kijiji (Canadian classifieds ad web- site) of a 1995 KTM 550 MXC with very low oper- a on hours. He decided to buy it. Not having the me to ride since he's gone for months at a me working in the oil industry, the bike got parked as soon as he received it. To my surprise, in January of 2019, he offered it to me since he knew I was a fan of the KTM model. I didn't hesitate as it would make a great addi on to my current fleet. To this day, I s ll think he bumped his head somewhere to get rid of such a pris ne example (he is a fan of the model too). A few months later, the virus that s ll makes headlines around the world struck everyone like an iron fist in a velvet glove. We agreed that it would be be er to wait for me to ship it home and I took recep on of it in December, 2020. During that latency period, he informed me that it was a Canadian bike, and we both knew that at the me when it was brand new, there was only one KTM dealer in Canada. That dealer was Helmut Clasen, owner of the dealership bearing his family name, Clasen Mo- tors, based in Dundas, Ontario. Helmut was, at the me and as far as I know, the only dealer and importer of KTM motorcycles in Canada. If you wanted a KTM and lived in Canada, it was through Clasen Motors that you'd buy one. I've had dis- cussions with him before as I've known Helmut since 2016. We got to talking about the bike I pur- chased, and he told me that he sold only two KTM 550's back in 1995. Being a very organized man born before computers were a thing, and because he kept paper records of all the sales that went through his shop in a cabinet file, he was able to confirm that the one my friend gave me was sold new by Clasen Motors. Some of you might wonder how it is to ride. The magazine ar cles from way back don't tell the whole story. The chassis and engine pla orms were shared with the 500 SX of the same year motocross bikes. The difference being the moto- cross engine modified for sidecar cross (a sport not vastly known in North America) 500cc makes a lovely but quirky combina on. Here are some of the quirks and features of the bike: