TE/TC Picked up a 2016 TE300 - Question regarding suspension/4CS forks

Hi All-

I am coming off a 2013 KTM XCW 300. Excellent bike but one of the things that motivated me to sell to my brother was to move to a non-PDS/linkage suspension. The PDS was great for the smaller bumps on trail but what I didn't like was any section of whoops - it just wore be out as it was very hard to ride through those quickly on the back wheel. I am HOPING I will have a much better experience with the linkage set up. Question #1 - What has your experience been with this bike on the whoops.

Now, I keep reading about the 4CS forks being a major negative for this bike? It seems like many are willing to ship their forks off to places to have them revalved? I weight about 200 lbs so I will concede I need to switch out to stiff springs but not sure I am convinced that I want to spend even more money on a suspension job - It's a hobby for me and I do not have any desire to compete. Question #2 - Has anyone enjoyed the 4CS forks without having extra work done on them?

Thanks for any info!

I am 200 lbs and on a 2016 TE300. For reference last two bikes were a 2008RMZ450 with woods revalved/resprung suspension and a 2010 450XCW with just heavier springs but no revalve. Pretty decent offroad guy. Just resprung the front with .46, and rear with 5.7. The stiffer spring made the fork feel way better to me, and I am quite happy overall, especially after reading all the horror stories online.
I have read through the Terry Hayes thread on KTM talk a few times. Based on this sounds like a great DIY mod for the fork is to remove check valves and and install Race Tech's compression adjusters so you have a comp adjuster on the bottom of each leg and a rebound adj on the top of each leg and their G2r base valves.

You will need to respring front and rear first. Set sag and ride it for 20 to 30 hours and then see how you feel. I went through the ringer on the 4cs and have them setup really well on my fe501 now but it cost me a mortgage payment. Some say the 2016 4cs are slightly better but still subpar. Please let us know how you make out. And yes, once I resprung and revalved my fe501 shock, it handled the whoops just fine. Stock was not good for me.

Reveille is correct, starting with correct spring rates for front and back is critical with any suspension let alone the 4CS and as a first time rider of 4CS and PDS, setting the correct sag seems to be critical to these suckers, pretty narrow range.

Question #2 - Has anyone enjoyed the 4CS forks without having extra work done on them? The short answer is NO! Honestly, if you can ignore the negativity about these forks, and with correct spring rates and sag, go an ride them for a few rides. A lot of people have revalved them, put aftermarket kits without actually understanding/feeling what is wrong with them (l don't know your riding level is) or have read how bad they are. Until you understand what is wrong with them and why, then you can find a tuner who understands these forks and what your after as they have been out for 6 years now.
PS. Don't forget the PDS either.

Okay, that's good information. I will let you know my experience once it warms up enough to get out there. Thanks for the response.

match your springs to your weight, break it in for a while and ride the thing. plenty of clicker options to get comfortable with.

I do agree to get the correct springs for your weight, and set the preload. Then ride. If the bike is not scaring you and you are having fun, then you are good to go.

If however, you find the bike darting offline in rocks, or large roots and you are going "what the hell?" then you have encountered the 4CS problem. At that point you can spend money to fix them, or ride slower. Or maybe you like the excitement of the random off trail excursions, it certainly gets your heart rate higher and test your reflexes and recovery skills.

So I did take it out on Saturday. Hit a few unforseen holes and it seemed a little unforgiving! I did have the compression and rebound set to sport, maybe I need to soften up?? Everything else put a night smile on my face. Love this bike.

What most guys experience, the bizarreness that is 4CS settings, if you 'soften up' compression, the front fork rides lower and becomes more harsh. If instead you 'firm up compression' the fork rides higher and if you are lucky that means it reacts better. Kind of bizarre, 'that hurt, let me make my forks firmer to deal with it'. Also, if you are still on stock springs your are already deeper into the travel where it is firmer.

If you go over to ktmtalk.com you can spend 6 solid days of reading about what to do.

The guys with TONS of money pull them off and buy $3500 cone valve forks.
Other wealthy guys go buy Ohlins.
A smaller collection of guys with lots & lots of money pull them off and buy $2000 AER forks.
Next spendy, is to drop $900-$1200 to have Kreft totally rework the 4CS. Everyone seems happy happy with the results.
Then there is the 'put the SSS KYB cartridges in them', seems that gets into the $800 range once done.
Others just swap out with complete SSS KYB forks.
Then you have the $500ish fixes, Protune Suspension has gotten lots of praise. These tuners re-work/re-structure them, just not as much gets thrown out or modified as with the Kreft approach.
Then the master Terry Hays has a 75ish page thread going on how you can fix them yourself! Whew. For me, dental school seems easier. But for the guys that have dug into them, they seem to have an approach that is working well.

Good luck on the path you take!

Well said - fast ^

Thanks fast...im probably in the category of I love trail riding but spending that amount of money on suspension after spending $9K just seems crazy if I don't race enduros. That's a boring spend!

from what I've read about the 2016 4CS forks, they're valved much better stock for 16. Get it sprung right and I'd bet they will be pretty decent. There are definitely steps to improve them for $$$, but for casual riding I'd think springs would do it.

16 models still suffer the same as the 14 models, don't believe all that you read

Just because you don't race doesn't mean that you don't need a re-valve. I rarely enter a race but I trail ride often and I occasionally ride some very difficult stuff and some fast paced stuff. I want to be able to trust my suspension to react properly and not put me on my head because the forks kicked out from under me. IMO suspension is the best place to spend your mod money. If you decide to mod your suspension I bet that you won't regret it and later if you end up buying another KTM/Husky you can transfer your forks and shock to your new bike and enjoy it for another bike lifespan.

Also depends on the bike... My '15 TE125 4CS forks weren't what I expected, they were better. Between the stock forks and the crap Dunlop AT-81 front, I expected to be on the ground a bunch. I rode the bike stock for a few months (I'm 180 naked, so stock spring rates are light.)and the forks were not as good as my '12 Husaberg revalved CC forks, but not the nightmare everyone talked about.

My very first ride was the local Christmas ride, the whole gamut of local terrain... Wet, mud, rocks, roots, whoops slippery clay technical creeks and technical up and down hills, punctuated with full throttle harvested corn field connectors. I'm slower than these guys and don't know the trails, so I rode over my head all day and bike worked better than I expected.

Next it was to South Jersey and sand whoop city. Bike was okay again.

First race of the season and front end would get washy on me. I then got them revalved, with some midvalve mods and bottoming mod and correct springs, by friend who does suspension. That made them better than stock, as good as my WP CC forks. I kept the stock Dunlop on front, as I didn't want to change two things at once and I raced it. It still washed out unexpectedly. I switched to a Kenda Washougal II DC next race... problem solved!

These guys seem to have in down with the 4CS forks and shock. Just saying….

http://www.stillwellperformance.com/#4cs-experts

You racing naked norm? glad I'm not in the row behind you....

I putted a 16 around and it seemed somewhat better

OK My 2016 Husky TE 300 is now dial in and ready to go. Took my suspension to Ty at Zip Ty Racing Other then the Ohlins that were on my Italian Husky Ty has done my stuff for over 15 years. So he know what I want with that being said I bolted them on and Bingo I now have a very nice bike. Remember I just came off a Italian Husky 300 ex Zip Ty Racing bike with Ohlins ft and rear Yes that biked worked but compaired to the new Husky it is so dated. My new bike flat works
Bottom line I did not spend much on the reworked suspension the results to me were great
I went out and rode everything from high speed desert to tite single track and then some KOM stuff. I feel there is nothing else needed
If some one were to have there suspension done like mine for the riding/racing I do and was unhappy. Then there really is no fix for you
That is how I feel
Now cant wait for Rd 1 of the Nationals and 2016 to start I want my # 1 plate back
I also have been out testing and feel my new TE 300 is going to get me the best results I have had at KOM in a long time