Quote:
Originally Posted by unclebilly
These are fine for logging roads but a handful on tight singletrack.
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I'll even go a step further - they are unmanageable on tight single track. It's not just the weight (350 pounds dry), it's how high they carry that weight, along with the sheer height of the bike as a whole. I'm 6'1" and a fairly stout 250 pounds, and this bike is too big for me on single track. I even went as far as to instal a Soupy's lowering link and raise the forks as high as they will go. And it's still by far the tallest bike in my little riding group.
So, yeah - logging roads, open desert, etc. is where this bike excels. Plus, I can ride it a couple hundred miles to get to my buddy's place in Eastern Washington to go for a ride. Or, for that matter, I can ride it 20 miles away and start up one of my favorite logging roads. Your Austrian two stroke is going to make either of those trips in the back of a pickup, or on a trailer. Which is fine - we know that going in, and accept it, for the off road performance on offer. Horses for courses...
Quote:
Originally Posted by unclebilly
I sold my CRF450X which was the next generation of these old XRs last year and bought my Austrian 2 stroke 300. I know which I would rather have for the type of riding I do.
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KTM just announced, today, that they are closing. Completely. Gone. Let's hope someone buys them, they make great bikes, in a way. Fast as hell, capable as hell, but perhaps too "race bike" for general consumption. They have earned a reputation as being one of the most fragile, with some of the lowest recommended rebuild intervals in the industry. Most of us don't need, and can never take advantage of, the extra edge in performance they can eek out by doing that. I know several riding buddies who sold KTM motorcycles when that short rebuild interval just got to be an expensive pain in the ass. Precisely the "broken chainsaw" to which this commenter referred.