Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1536785
June 2025 35 Brian told the story of how he began the season on a Can Am but due to mechanical difficul es, he switched to KTM mid-season. It was Rod Bush himself who offered Brian a deal on a used 495 that had seen a fair amount of race duty, then re- turned back to KTM in Ohio a er the '81 Unadilla Na onal. Campaigned by New England MX legend Jim Meenan, famous for winning all four NESC championships (100, 125, 250, and Open Class) added even more glamor to the story! Brian saw the gleam in my eye and suggested it might be fun for us to wake it up for a vintage feature and do some racing with it once again. Of course, I jumped at the chance. Once back in Maine, I began to survey the situa- on. We're all too familiar with the overused term "Barn Find," as few are remotely close to that. This 495 could be the defini on of. Underneath all the barn dust, lurked all the ba le scars of a hard- earned championship-winning machine. With a quick grab of the kicker, I was happy to find the motor wasn't stuck. My next order of business was a deep cleaning and to try and fire it up. As expected, the airbox had been repurposed and used as a mouse condo for who knows how long. With a shop vac, the mess was cleaned out of the airbox before kicking it over to check for spark. Once cleaned, both plugs were pulled (the KTM 495 is a twin plug single), and with a swi kick, both plugs fired a fat blue spark. At this point, the fuel system was addressed with thorough carb cleaning along with the tank and fuel petcock. With all systems related to running addressed, the big 495 fired to life immediately, and man alive, what a racket it was. With a cracked header pipe and the silencer held on by a wing and a prayer, it got the a en on of all within a mile radius! Miraculously, the clutch wasn't stuck, and I gave it a good hot supper, ripping around the dirt roads in the neighborhood. I knew I was in for a treat, but to be honest, I thought the claims of earth-shat- tering speeds might have been folklore. I've got to tell you folks; this is one crazy fast dirt bike with incredibly long legs. Brian later told me that like the land speed record a empt that our friends at Dirt Bike had done, he geared it to the moon with a 16-tooth countersha sprocket and 48-tooth rear, the largest and smallest he could buy for the applica on. Once we knew we had a runner and the bones were solid, we set out to resurrect the 495 with a proper resurrec on. Plans for the bike are to ride, race, and enjoy. A restora on we were not interested in, just a good, thorough going over while replacing all the consum- able components. With the bike showing its age and ba le scars, we began by stripping it to the bare frame and working our way up from there. While discussing rear shock op ons with Drew Smith at Works Enduro Rider, I men oned the bike had been fi ed with a pair of Fox remote reservoir shocks, and could they be rebuilt? Drew said the stock Ohlins were far superior, and if they were s ll kicking around Brian's barn, that would be the way to go. Incredibly, Brian had hung onto the original shocks and Drew did a wonderful job rebuilding them with all new internals. Original bodywork was red Original bodywork was red Chassis stripped to the bare bones Chassis stripped to the bare bones