PHOTO: Johan Boonen's KTM 500MX rebuild
In 1991, Johan Boonen was provided with a Factory KTM. Earlier this year, his mechanic Dirk Vansummeren rebuilt the machine with an eye for the smallest detail. He learned the trade as a boy next door to Johan Boonen and later became a well-known tuner of KTM machines.
He even earns a living from it in his own company DVS Racingworks. When the KTM 500 MX was ready, our colleagues from MXVintage went to Lommel to explain the whole story about this project in the production hall of DT1 air filters. Johan Boonen himself served the coffee and that got people talking.
The KTM 500 MX from back then was no longer available, so Dirk had to start from a blank sheet to collect all the parts. The search for parts was hellish and took him to corners of the world where you would not even suspect a KTM. Israel turned out to be one of those countries where motocross is not one of the traditional sports. It was important to build the engine as it was then and that involved very small things that had to remain authentic.
The fact that the engine now looks like this after 29 years is a small miracle and entirely the merit of Dirk Vansummeren. The photos below are by Gino Maes. MXVintage had a conversation with Dirk and Johan on the sidelines of the photo shoot. You can read that conversation via this link.
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