JCV 220R
Member
- Oct 13, 1999
- 90
- 0
Saturday April 13, 2001 was sunny, breezy and 50 degrees. It was a perfect day to finally ride my 2001 E/XC 250! We’ve had the worst winter in years here in NH and I knew that the 3 feet of melted snow had to end up somewhere so I knew the mud would be extreme
I also knew that not all of the snow would be melted!
Most of Chicken Wrist Racing showed up at my house at 10 am. There was DRN member ratmloud on his new, woods converted 2001 KX 250, z4me on his 2001 WR 250 (look for a ride report from him as well), keetKDX on the 2000 KDX 220 he bought from ratmloud and non DRNer Dwayne on his 1999 KDX 200.
I had stayed up late making sure my bike was ready. I had installed Ricky bars, a WER damper and all the usual protection items. I drained the premix that came in it and whipped up a batch of Torco 40:1, re-oiled the air filter and loc-tited the night away. I left the suspension settings stock – I didn’t even set the sag.
We got going around 10:30 am and buzzed 1/8 mile up the road to the trail that leads to the power lines. When we got to it, we had to ride ½ mile in foot deep snow! There were bare patches in between but there was more than enough snow. I know the trails in my area the best so I was in the lead and by the time I got to the powerlines I was ready to rip! I hit a nice straight –away and got on it. Holy Moly!!! This bike rips! As I was on the brakes hard to try to scrub off some of that accidental speed I had to pound through a series of small whoops that would’ve caused some serious upset to the old KDX under hard braking. The KTM pretty much erased the bumps with no kicking whatsoever.
After that I had to negotiate quite a bit of mud and although the KTM was hooking up great, I had only been riding for a few minutes after a long winter off and I was getting a little squirrely
I didn’t go down and I didn’t get stuck!
Then we came to the first technical hill-climb. This is the one we call "Big Ben". It’s steep, washed out and littered with rocks the size of microwave ovens. I was very worried that I’d have trouble on the new bike. Over the past 2 years I had gotten very used to my KDX and such obstacles didn’t bother me. Well, I was very pleasantly surprised: I used first gear all the way up and stayed loose and relaxed the whole time. First gear on the KTM is so much more usable than the low tractor gear on the KDX so I carried enough momentum to coast right over the larger rocks. Also, the bike is so stable that it’s easy to stay balanced and the sucker goes just where you point it! I couldn’t be happier.
I’m now 20 minutes into the ride and I’m feeling just as comfortable on the KTM as I ever did on my KDX. The bike corners great, erases rock gardens and rooty trail and eats whoops. I spent a lot of time and money getting my suspension working on my last bike and I was very happy with it but my stock KTM suspension is worlds better.
My bike hooks up great everywhere with minimal wheelspin, has gobs of tractable power on tap and inspires confidence in every kind of gnarly riding terrain. When I was deciding to move up from the KDX to a KTM 200 or 250 I saw a lot of posts here saying how the KTM is a "hard edged" racing machine that demands an aggressive rider. I would have to disagree: My E/XC 250 seems most at home when pushed hard but I spent plenty of time in Spode Mode on my first ride and, with the exception of a rock hard seat, it’s the most rider friendly bike I’ve been on.
Before this weekends ride I’ll need to bleed the brakes since the front was spongy, set the sag and do a little jetting,… it was a little rich down low.
Thanks to all that talked me into the 250 when I was thinking of getting a 200. Nothing against the 200 riders but the 250 is perfect for me.
------------------
Jay
2001 KTM 250 E/XC
NETRA & AMA Member
Chicken Wrist Racing
TWIST IT!!!!
Most of Chicken Wrist Racing showed up at my house at 10 am. There was DRN member ratmloud on his new, woods converted 2001 KX 250, z4me on his 2001 WR 250 (look for a ride report from him as well), keetKDX on the 2000 KDX 220 he bought from ratmloud and non DRNer Dwayne on his 1999 KDX 200.
I had stayed up late making sure my bike was ready. I had installed Ricky bars, a WER damper and all the usual protection items. I drained the premix that came in it and whipped up a batch of Torco 40:1, re-oiled the air filter and loc-tited the night away. I left the suspension settings stock – I didn’t even set the sag.
We got going around 10:30 am and buzzed 1/8 mile up the road to the trail that leads to the power lines. When we got to it, we had to ride ½ mile in foot deep snow! There were bare patches in between but there was more than enough snow. I know the trails in my area the best so I was in the lead and by the time I got to the powerlines I was ready to rip! I hit a nice straight –away and got on it. Holy Moly!!! This bike rips! As I was on the brakes hard to try to scrub off some of that accidental speed I had to pound through a series of small whoops that would’ve caused some serious upset to the old KDX under hard braking. The KTM pretty much erased the bumps with no kicking whatsoever.
After that I had to negotiate quite a bit of mud and although the KTM was hooking up great, I had only been riding for a few minutes after a long winter off and I was getting a little squirrely
Then we came to the first technical hill-climb. This is the one we call "Big Ben". It’s steep, washed out and littered with rocks the size of microwave ovens. I was very worried that I’d have trouble on the new bike. Over the past 2 years I had gotten very used to my KDX and such obstacles didn’t bother me. Well, I was very pleasantly surprised: I used first gear all the way up and stayed loose and relaxed the whole time. First gear on the KTM is so much more usable than the low tractor gear on the KDX so I carried enough momentum to coast right over the larger rocks. Also, the bike is so stable that it’s easy to stay balanced and the sucker goes just where you point it! I couldn’t be happier.
I’m now 20 minutes into the ride and I’m feeling just as comfortable on the KTM as I ever did on my KDX. The bike corners great, erases rock gardens and rooty trail and eats whoops. I spent a lot of time and money getting my suspension working on my last bike and I was very happy with it but my stock KTM suspension is worlds better.
My bike hooks up great everywhere with minimal wheelspin, has gobs of tractable power on tap and inspires confidence in every kind of gnarly riding terrain. When I was deciding to move up from the KDX to a KTM 200 or 250 I saw a lot of posts here saying how the KTM is a "hard edged" racing machine that demands an aggressive rider. I would have to disagree: My E/XC 250 seems most at home when pushed hard but I spent plenty of time in Spode Mode on my first ride and, with the exception of a rock hard seat, it’s the most rider friendly bike I’ve been on.
Before this weekends ride I’ll need to bleed the brakes since the front was spongy, set the sag and do a little jetting,… it was a little rich down low.
Thanks to all that talked me into the 250 when I was thinking of getting a 200. Nothing against the 200 riders but the 250 is perfect for me.
------------------
Jay
2001 KTM 250 E/XC
NETRA & AMA Member
Chicken Wrist Racing
TWIST IT!!!!
