Many of you know I have not loved KTMs and especially ones with PDS. I rode my buddies 2013 350XC a lot and hated it. If you saw this post of mine... http://www.cafehusky.com/threads/me-motosportz-and-the-future.82112/ you will see things have changed for me. As such I now ride "shop bikes" to promote and understand our product. The shop bikes are all 2015 KTM's. So the first one I rode was the 350 W version. I was prepared to hate it. After a few miles of acclimation and clicker twisting I found I really liked it. To me it is SO much better than the 2013. Dunno why. Motor is super smooth, EFI is flawless, suspension works great. Was pretty shocking to me. So next time out I sampled the 2015 KTM300. After about 10 miles I found I was in "the zone" and hauling the mail on it. Buddy Ken who I feels is very close to my speed and very competitive said he could no longer keep me in sight. Buddy Jake who has always been a good bit faster than me could not shake me. WTF? Add to all this if feels somewhat effortless to maintain this speed. this bike actually upped my game. I have ridden it about 8 times now and all my friends say I have moved up a class. This is all very odd to me. So yes, I need to eat some major crow. Maybe the 2015's are much improved? Seems so to me. All I know is I went from not preferring KTMs to being faster easier on them (well the 300 anyway) and am kinda still in shock about it all. Crow eaten.
and that bird tasted pretty good.....the linky 300 has done the same for me. at least mine's WHT/BLU/YEL hahaaa
I've been riding orange since 1986, long before they were main stream. I've always liked them too. BUT, I just picked up a yz250fx and I must say, the balance and suspension are amazing! In the really technical the lack of grunt is a factor, but I really like it everywhere else -even the desert.
Ya, I'm sure you guys have heard all my complaints about my FE501 and how I just hate it...hehe. 4k miles and 200 hours of hating it... It's been one helluva bike for me. Looking at picking up a 2015 TE300 or 300 xcw next and selling the super tenere since all I ride is dirt these days.
I too admit to having to give up my "Notions" about KTM.... I started down this track with the Husaberg TE250, three plus years ago. Awesome bikes and a lot of people ride them, because they work well! I'll say that riding blue, orange and white versions, that I prefer the linkage over PDS. Our riding goes from tight and technical, to fast and whooped all in a few miles, by nature of our woodlot to farm field terrain. In this type of riding linkage is more forgiving. If I rode strictly technical woods, PDS would be fine. This is just a personal preference, for my riding style. It was just reinforced, when I rode a new '16 KTM 200 XC-W.... I just preferred the feel of my TE125, to the KTM with PDS. I've ridden KTM 150 XC's with linkage and preferred them too.
They were not notions for me I rode them and did not prefer them. The 2015's seems to work far better than the last ones I rode which were 2013 models.
Maybe "Notions" is the wrong word.... I'd ridden a few over the years and didn't like them. My 2012 Husaberg TE250 is a great bike, but required correct shock spring and careful set up of the sag, to get the most out of it. Even stock my '15 TE125 worked better. I had expected great things from the '16 200XC-W suspension out of the box, but a short ride made me realize that once again... a PDS bike likes correct spring and sag. Not sure about the '13 350's, but the 350 XCW-F is definitely a mellower happy motor, compared to a 350XC-F. That's why I think the Huskys are so good.... mellower XC-W motors and linkage.
I've always been somewhat of a PDS hater. This 15 stock with a few clicks works great. I'm so confused
Since you work for the big company and KTM is the big bike.... You're going to get lots of seat time, to figure it out!
wow Paul T on a Yamaha,,, well shoot thats for sure the one I would get if i were going Japanese 4 stroke
I,m still riding both! Having a hard time though, deciding between the 250yzf and the 500 exc. When my boy and I rode them both at McCain, we tended to want the 250............
One has to be careful not to confuse crows and ravens. I can't comment too much about the newest models vs the reasonably modern ones but the 350 four stroke seems to get sold off and replaced with a 300 two stroke quite a bit in the small amount of folks I associate with. I even intended on buying a dot legal 350 4 stroke a few years ago but they were hard sell on a kitted one with half the warranty or put down a deposit and wait.
