Poor handling 09 txc 450

andy man.. my 2 lines was the fork height through the tripple clamps on the outside..

people better than me have suggested that if the fork height is adjusted to the first line this will promote a more stable front-end at speed. You can raise or lower the fork from this point as a means to quicken or slow the steering respectively ie more rings showing better turning more rings more stable at speed..

thanks

DOH! Yep. I mis-read what you were telling me. Yes, I definitely need to play with the fork height. Mine is currently 2 lines down as well.

Please take it to a suspension guru and have it set to your weight and primary type of riding. I can tell you that the Husky is light years ahead of a 03 kato in all facits of steering, breaking, suspension and cockpit geometry. I ride with those bikes all the time and we swap rides quite often. In fact I find the new KTMs to be pretty loosy goosy to ride-hard to pin point the cause they just feel slightly viby and vague. The Huskys have a really planted and solid feel about them.

Loose spokes may not be your issue, but you need to have had a wrench on them at least a couple off times since new. I know this as I have a set of spokes sitting right next to me for my DRZ, that I neglected to tighten during break in. Needless to say it felt terrible untill the spokes were tightened and then 2 broke later on while truing the wheel.

I had the same issue with my 02 model CR ... Guys that weighted >40 lbs more than me would ride my bike and liked the suspension ... and it would beat me to death when riding ... I had to have it re-valved for the trails ...

This TXC has been alot friendlier bike for this ~150 lb guy At a rider weight of ~230 ... UR fork springs might need changing to something stiffer ...

Just curious what from tire your running on your bike? my 09 450 with the stock michelin felt really loose, pushed through the corners, and was just scary to ride, i changed the front to a tire i liked on my 09 ktm
and that made alot of difference, then i changed the sage to 3.5, and set the front tubess at the second line, and now as far as chassy/handling, they are pretty equal.
Just my 2 cents

Good tuning info here guys. I hope that helps you, Andyman.

Just for the record, my 09 TE450 is at two lines above the triples and works great. It was at three lines when I received it and it was twitchy. Dropping one line calmed things down just enough.

Yeah, good stuff. Thanks for bringing up tires! I hadn't thought about that. I do have the stock michelin, and suffer some of the same charicteristics that you described.