TM 530

Blue Mooned

The sky blue plastics are clean and aggressive. What's not to like? We'll tell you what: those silly FIM-approved tyres. The TM was delivered to us sporting Michellin FIM front and Pirelli FIM rear tyre and they were next to useless. We realise that bikes must be sold with these tyres on to comply with Australian regulations, but the first thing an owner does is to toss them on the bonfire. Give us real tyres!

ERGOS
You hear us go on all the time about how light KTMs feel, but TM take it to another level. For a big bore this bike is extremely narrow. We reckon it'd look like a briefcase with handlebars from above, and that means it's comfortable to move about on. The bars-seat-peg relationship was roomy but the bike does not feel big. And it needs this because if you really want to get the best out of the big TM, you can't be lazy. Sit back with your bum stuck to the seat and it feels ponderous and unresponsive. Get up the front, use some body english and an amazing transformation occurs. The TM racing heritage shines through and suddenly it feels much more nimble and precise than a big bore has any right too.

ENGINE
The Gianelli muffler does a great job of keep things under the noise radar. This doesn't mean it sounds pooncy though. While it might be whisper quiet at idle, give it a fist full and it lets out a growl that makes you horny and scares small furry animals.

Every TM we've had has had what we'd call a weak starter-motor, a quick flick on the decompression lever is often needed to get it to wind over. It always starts, it's just that TM is the only brand where we've encountered this. Do they run a lighter starter-motor? We don't know.

The bottom-end on the big girl is strong but not scary. It builds up with enthusiasm rather than coming on in a god-almighty rush. A couple of our test riders noticed a stutter when accelerating hard off the bottom, and since we don't have time to rejet on a test day we had to live with it.

Get this baby honking through the midrange though and it comes on stronger than Warney with a cellphone. It gets our "Beefiest Midrange of 2007 Award". The top-end is dead but with a mid-range this good, no one's gonna miss it. Coming out of a corner and getting this baby to hook up in the midrange results in eye water straight-line speeds, even with those FIM tyres. There's nothing like the feeling the big TM gives you as it hooks up out of a corner and effortlessly lofts the front wheel in the air, leaving you clambering to stay with the bike. This is a hell fun motor with some serious mumbo.

The power delivery means you don't have to rev the ring out of the motor to get going, and that and reaps rewards at the petrol bowser (see below for fuel consumption).

But our test bike had a clutch issue. It was obvious the clutch wasn't taking up correctly. Whipping the master cylinder cap off revealed fluid that was full of fine silver particles. It uses the same clutch setup as the Gas Gas' so this is obviously a one-off problem that made the big girl more of a handful in the tight stuff than it should have been.

The gearing was more like a four-speed with overdrive than a five speed. The first four gears are tight, with good spacing that keeps the motor punching through that magnificent mid-range. There is a gap between fourth and fifth though. The 530 motor pulls it but you do notice that it drops out of the strongest portion of the rev range.

BRAKES
Both ends are hauled up by Brembos. A bike this fast needs good brakes but the TM only does half the job. The rear is a fantastic piece of gear. It's strong with lots of feel, and brake sliding it through the trees was so much fun we could have done it all day. The front however is not good enough for a bike this fast. It lacks both the feel and power. It pulls you up but it's not even on the radar for the "Best Brake of 2007 Award", which would probably go to the Husky TE450.

SUSPENSION
Our opinion on TM suspension has done a U-turn since we rode the 450FES last month. We loved the 450FES, it had everything we wanted in trail suspension. The big TM however has returned to the bad old days. The rear was firm but compliant but the fork was bone-jarring hard. We fiddled with the clickers all day but couldn't get a plush action from the Ohlins. The hard forks resulted in the front bouncing and deflecting over small to mid-sized bumps. This had us scratching our heads because we had a sneak ride on it when we tested the KTM200EXC and the 530 felt so good we were keen to get it back for a proper test.

Whether the suspension had been set up for a racer since we first had it we can't say but it didn't feel anything like the bike we rode a month ago. It's not as nice a bike as the 450 TM that's for sure. These deflections held back corner speed on rough corners, and as the front was losing grip as it lost contact.

OVERALL
We liked the 530, despite its flaws. It's bloody fast, and you can't help liking that. We think the bottom-end jetting needs some tweaking and this will only make it stronger. The frame geometry gives stable manners with good steering. Give us the 450FES front fork and it would be hot favourite to top the big bore shoot out. As it is it just wore us out and scared us a little with that dipsy front end.

FUEL ECONOMY
Over the usual Mad Monkey test trail the big TM used 5.1L for 73.5km, or 14.8km/L. This is amazingly good for such a big bike. Over the same trails the KTM200EXC used 11.8km/L, and most of the 450s in our shootout returned mid 12s. ( My miserly FSE450 also returned 14.8 km/L on the day).

THUMBS UP