Well, sorta of.....if you have a good memory, you'll remember that "Save Me From the Pumpkin" thread where I wanted some good reason why not to sell my KDX and get a KTM200. Reliability and $$$ ended up being my main reasons, but after apologizing to the Green Machine, I thought "Ya know, I was willing to spend $2000 more on a pumpkin...why not spend $200 on a new pipe?". I have an FMF Woods on the bike and I actually live more in desert area so...3 weeks later (Fed Ex Ground is SLOOOOWWWWWW) a shiny new FMF Desert Gnarly showed up. No problems fitting, but I have already modified the mounting tabs on my bike (drill another hole outboard of the existing one to give some manuevering room). I cranked the trusty KDX up and went for a ride.
WOW!!! I'll start there. Someone on this board once said that the desert pipe made the KDX feel like "a 125 with bottom end". I will second that. It revs so much faster and easier...I really was impressed. I ride down 3 miles of dirt road to get to my little track and the difference was very apparent. With the Torque pipe (K-35), the bike is happiest crusing just under 1/2 throttle. At 1/2 throttle, it feels like it's working hard. With the Desert Gnarly, it cruised at 1/2 throttle easily and readily revved further. At the track, I could tell a big difference in "hit"- there basically is none with the Woods and there is quite a bit with the Desert. I was pulling wheelies in 3rd and there are some turns where I just wick it wide-open with the Woods pipe- when I tried that with the Desert, it about dumped me on my butt.
Big difference going up jump faces, too- get it just below the powerband and then accelerate up the face and sail. The Woods pipe doesn't do that- it just builds revs w/out the kick. I had a pretty good mud-hole today, thanks to recent rains, and that's where I found the down-side of the new pipe. Wheelspin! Get in that mud hole and...yeah, it's just like a 125! With the Woods pipe I can't hardly MAKE it wheelspin. After about 1/2 hour I started feeling the increased pull in my arms.
Anyway, I am really pleased with the new pipe. It revs much faster, feels more "2-stroke" and is just a good thing to have around for riding areas with traction/speed. And the great thing about it is that if I want to go woods riding, in 10 minutes I can have the torque pipe back on.
I also got some of 661's "Richochet" knees pad/braces. Not bad! I've been using Moose pads, but I'm getting old and these 661's have a little more protection. I like 'em.
But one of the best parts of the day was when I approached my table-top jump and a flash of metal caught my eye- the kickstarter that I'd lost last OCTOBER!!! YES!!! I've probably put in 100 laps on my track and suddenly there's my lost kickstarter. I've already got a new one, but I can ABCD-bay this one when/if I ever sell my KDX and _some_ of my money back. Or, I'll have a spare now.
WOW!!! I'll start there. Someone on this board once said that the desert pipe made the KDX feel like "a 125 with bottom end". I will second that. It revs so much faster and easier...I really was impressed. I ride down 3 miles of dirt road to get to my little track and the difference was very apparent. With the Torque pipe (K-35), the bike is happiest crusing just under 1/2 throttle. At 1/2 throttle, it feels like it's working hard. With the Desert Gnarly, it cruised at 1/2 throttle easily and readily revved further. At the track, I could tell a big difference in "hit"- there basically is none with the Woods and there is quite a bit with the Desert. I was pulling wheelies in 3rd and there are some turns where I just wick it wide-open with the Woods pipe- when I tried that with the Desert, it about dumped me on my butt.
Big difference going up jump faces, too- get it just below the powerband and then accelerate up the face and sail. The Woods pipe doesn't do that- it just builds revs w/out the kick. I had a pretty good mud-hole today, thanks to recent rains, and that's where I found the down-side of the new pipe. Wheelspin! Get in that mud hole and...yeah, it's just like a 125! With the Woods pipe I can't hardly MAKE it wheelspin. After about 1/2 hour I started feeling the increased pull in my arms.
Anyway, I am really pleased with the new pipe. It revs much faster, feels more "2-stroke" and is just a good thing to have around for riding areas with traction/speed. And the great thing about it is that if I want to go woods riding, in 10 minutes I can have the torque pipe back on.
I also got some of 661's "Richochet" knees pad/braces. Not bad! I've been using Moose pads, but I'm getting old and these 661's have a little more protection. I like 'em.
But one of the best parts of the day was when I approached my table-top jump and a flash of metal caught my eye- the kickstarter that I'd lost last OCTOBER!!! YES!!! I've probably put in 100 laps on my track and suddenly there's my lost kickstarter. I've already got a new one, but I can ABCD-bay this one when/if I ever sell my KDX and _some_ of my money back. Or, I'll have a spare now.
