Go from 400MXC to 450EXC... wish you hadn't?

[E-Ticket]

Yep... sitting on the bubble.... wondering whether to keep my '02 KTM 400MXC ... or make the jump to the '03 450EXC.

Once I geared *way* down (from 14-50 to 13-52), I've really enjoyed the 400 in the woods.

Went and did the Elsinore Grand Prix this last week...

[Editor: "...what a total kick in the pants!! You have to go do this race at least once in your life!!"]

.... and had a ball. But I got real tired of being pulled by the stinking CRF450's down the straights. "...grrrrrr" (grin)
And so I'm seriously thinking about making the jump to the 450 but a tad worried about the 450 being a bit much in the deep, gnarly woods. (Live in Portland, OR -- ride snotty, rocky, death trails up in the woods)

Anybody switch from a 400 to a 450 and wish they hadn't? Especially if you're a deep woods rider?

Thanks mooches! E-Ticket

p.s. did I mention that Elsinore was a total gasssssssss....?!

 

[woodsy]

I have a quick question for you - did you see 450exc's going past CRF's??
Woodsy
I recently woods rode with a group in here in MI and watched a couple CRF's rip up a couple EXC520's pretty badly - are the 450exc's faster then the 520"s??

 

[E-Ticket]

uh.... dunno'. I was concentrating pretty intensely on what was *right* in front of me. :eek: (grin)

But I do know that I passed two CRFs on the fire road who lost their nerve.
(bigger grin)

That's where I also realized that I need a steering dampener. :scream:

Cheers! - ET

 

[ktm033]

E-Ticket, I ride in some pretty tight stuff here in Michigan. I put an EE450 kit in my 02 400 MXC, it rips! Coincedentally one of the guys I ride with is on a CRF 450. The CRF does not pull my bike anywhere, in the woods the bike is actually easier to ride than before, the power band feels the same as when the bike was a 400 just much more all over. The extra power is very nice, not a handful....."although i ride through the valley of the rising sun i fear no rice bike because my katoom is juiced with an EE big bore kit!"

 

[E-Ticket]

cool.... there's one vote for the "bigger-boom-ka-toom..!" -- ET

 

[ktm033]

oh yeah it has a Lafferty signature big gun as well which probably also helps.....btw also ride with two guys on WR426's, no comparison, the katoom has just got more!