KTM 450 to 350

Captainc
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Captainc
Hi guys, just looking for some advice. My son had been away from racing for 5 years and put quite a bit of weight on.. he last raced a 450 crf in 2014 so I bought him a KTM 450 17 a couple of months ago so we could go racing again. He’s struggling with fitness especially after 15 mins racing .. the 450 looks to be tiring him out quickly. The thing is I have been offered a new 2019 350 sxf at a great price. Has anyone here gone from 450 down to 350? How did you find it?
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ben5020
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ben5020 6/11/2019 10:54am
6/11/2019 10:54am
Buddy of mine is a pretty big dude and went from a 18 crf450 to a fc350 and is faster on the 350 then he was on the 450, I love my 350
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Captainc
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Captainc 6/11/2019 10:58am
6/11/2019 10:58am
ben5020 wrote:
Buddy of mine is a pretty big dude and went from a 18 crf450 to a fc350 and is faster on the 350 then he was...
Buddy of mine is a pretty big dude and went from a 18 crf450 to a fc350 and is faster on the 350 then he was on the 450, I love my 350
Thank you. He crashed a couple of weeks ago and it was towards the end of a race. I think the 350 will be more than enough
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253
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253 6/11/2019 12:53pm
6/11/2019 12:53pm
I have been on 450's for the past decade or so and have always loved them. I recently came off of a KX 450, which was an amazing bike. But I wanted to just try something different. So I just bought a leftover 2018 KTM 350, and have got to say I really love the bike. It has way more power than what I had imagined in my mind, and its super light feeling. I am definitely able to ride longer and more aggressively without tiring (as quick). Great bike. Super fun for me. I am 6'2'' and 220 lbs / vet intermediate for reference.
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NeedMoto
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NeedMoto 6/11/2019 1:18pm
6/11/2019 1:18pm
Captainc wrote:
Hi guys, just looking for some advice. My son had been away from racing for 5 years and put quite a bit of weight on.. he...
Hi guys, just looking for some advice. My son had been away from racing for 5 years and put quite a bit of weight on.. he last raced a 450 crf in 2014 so I bought him a KTM 450 17 a couple of months ago so we could go racing again. He’s struggling with fitness especially after 15 mins racing .. the 450 looks to be tiring him out quickly. The thing is I have been offered a new 2019 350 sxf at a great price. Has anyone here gone from 450 down to 350? How did you find it?
All do respect, he needs to work on his fitness first and foremost. He's riding the lightest 450, and arguably the easiest to ride. There's definitely times he's going to need to ride a 350 harder, although I don't know his riding style, so that's a different topic.

There's no magic bike that makes motoing easier if your not in shape.

I would say, get into better shape before jumping ship onto another bike.
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DTR830
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DTR830 6/12/2019 6:52am
6/12/2019 6:52am
Captainc wrote:
Hi guys, just looking for some advice. My son had been away from racing for 5 years and put quite a bit of weight on.. he...
Hi guys, just looking for some advice. My son had been away from racing for 5 years and put quite a bit of weight on.. he last raced a 450 crf in 2014 so I bought him a KTM 450 17 a couple of months ago so we could go racing again. He’s struggling with fitness especially after 15 mins racing .. the 450 looks to be tiring him out quickly. The thing is I have been offered a new 2019 350 sxf at a great price. Has anyone here gone from 450 down to 350? How did you find it?
NeedMoto wrote:
All do respect, he needs to work on his fitness first and foremost. He's riding the lightest 450, and arguably the easiest to ride. There's definitely...
All do respect, he needs to work on his fitness first and foremost. He's riding the lightest 450, and arguably the easiest to ride. There's definitely times he's going to need to ride a 350 harder, although I don't know his riding style, so that's a different topic.

There's no magic bike that makes motoing easier if your not in shape.

I would say, get into better shape before jumping ship onto another bike.
But comfort is a pretty good placebo to keep you’re mind stronger than the body
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Dirtysmile56
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Dirtysmile56 6/12/2019 7:48am
6/12/2019 7:48am
Captainc wrote:
Hi guys, just looking for some advice. My son had been away from racing for 5 years and put quite a bit of weight on.. he...
Hi guys, just looking for some advice. My son had been away from racing for 5 years and put quite a bit of weight on.. he last raced a 450 crf in 2014 so I bought him a KTM 450 17 a couple of months ago so we could go racing again. He’s struggling with fitness especially after 15 mins racing .. the 450 looks to be tiring him out quickly. The thing is I have been offered a new 2019 350 sxf at a great price. Has anyone here gone from 450 down to 350? How did you find it?
I'd say go for it. 450 MX bikes are too much bike for 99% of the riders out there. It still amazes me how long they've hung around. They remind me of the old 500 2 stroke days. They faded away because they were not fun to ride,too much power and made for boring racing, just like the 450's. I wish the Japanese manufacturers would produce a 350.
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Jrewing
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Jrewing 6/12/2019 2:29pm
6/12/2019 2:29pm Edited Date/Time 6/12/2019 2:37pm
Harder to ride a 350 when tired. They lack torque.
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crowe176
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crowe176 6/12/2019 2:31pm
6/12/2019 2:31pm
I went from 350 to 450, specifically because I don't ride as much I'd like, so I wanted a "lazier" bike. My 15 350 took some work to go fast, and I really missed that lug life. I'm good for an extra 10 minutes of moto on a 450 compared to my 350. If I was smart, I'd have upgraded to a newer 350, and just worked on fitness, as my biggest gripe was the horrible 4cs suspension.

The 350 is a great bike, and I'm sure I'll have one again. They're sooooo much fun, and if my local dealer had one in stock priced comparably to my 19 YZ, I'd have had a tough decision.

But if you think they're easier to ride if you're out of shape, I'd say youre going the wrong direction.
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crowe176
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crowe176 6/12/2019 2:32pm
6/12/2019 2:32pm
Jrewing wrote:
Harder to ride a 350 when tired. They lack torque.
Yep.
AZRider
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AZRider 6/12/2019 3:49pm
6/12/2019 3:49pm Edited Date/Time 6/12/2019 5:54pm
Jrewing wrote:
Harder to ride a 350 when tired. They lack torque.
I disagree with a portion of your reasoning. While i agree its harder to ride a 350 at the same pace when tired, the 350 allows you to make little mistakes and not get destroyed by them like happens on a 450. when youre tired and grab a handful on a 450 inadvertently, things go wrong quickly
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Brent
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Brent 6/12/2019 3:56pm
6/12/2019 3:56pm
I have both, and on flatter “ parking lot” tracks (Pala) the 350 is easier to ride as it doesn’t try to pull your arms off coming out of tight corners.
On hilly tracks with wide sweepers and faster tracks without slow sections I really like the 450 more.
tackomoto
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tackomoto 6/12/2019 6:42pm
6/12/2019 6:42pm
Jrewing wrote:
Harder to ride a 350 when tired. They lack torque.
I think 95% of GNCC XC1 riders would disagree, since they mostly race the 350 for 3hrs.
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Jrewing
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Jrewing 6/12/2019 6:57pm
6/12/2019 6:57pm Edited Date/Time 6/12/2019 6:58pm
The problem in moto is when you’re tired, they have as much power as a 450 when in the high rev range, and that’s hard to do when your tongues hanging out. But to try and lug it and be smooth you lose out to the 450’s each corner a little bit. They are easier to ride but you actually need the fitness for a full moto. Don’t have the luxury of running low revs or a gear higher.
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kkawboy14
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kkawboy14 6/12/2019 7:44pm
6/12/2019 7:44pm
No way going from a 450 to a 350 is gonna fix this problem!
cody41
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cody41 6/13/2019 3:29am
6/13/2019 3:29am
I find it interesting how everyone thinks the 350 is flat on the bottom and needs to be rung out like a 2 stroke. I rode a husky and ktm back to back after riding a 250 smoker and thought they had plenty of low end torque.
Jrewing
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Jrewing 6/13/2019 3:40am
6/13/2019 3:40am Edited Date/Time 6/13/2019 3:46am
cody41 wrote:
I find it interesting how everyone thinks the 350 is flat on the bottom and needs to be rung out like a 2 stroke. I rode...
I find it interesting how everyone thinks the 350 is flat on the bottom and needs to be rung out like a 2 stroke. I rode a husky and ktm back to back after riding a 250 smoker and thought they had plenty of low end torque.
I ride one and it doesn’t pull a high gear enough to be competitive
fullysicmate
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fullysicmate 6/13/2019 4:00am
6/13/2019 4:00am
I have both 350 and 450. I ride the 350 harder and faster, and last heaps longer than the 450.
fullysicmate
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fullysicmate 6/13/2019 4:01am
6/13/2019 4:01am
cody41 wrote:
I find it interesting how everyone thinks the 350 is flat on the bottom and needs to be rung out like a 2 stroke. I rode...
I find it interesting how everyone thinks the 350 is flat on the bottom and needs to be rung out like a 2 stroke. I rode a husky and ktm back to back after riding a 250 smoker and thought they had plenty of low end torque.
Jrewing wrote:
I ride one and it doesn’t pull a high gear enough to be competitive
Put it in the right gear if you want to be competitive.
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Jrewing
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Jrewing 6/13/2019 4:04am
6/13/2019 4:04am
cody41 wrote:
I find it interesting how everyone thinks the 350 is flat on the bottom and needs to be rung out like a 2 stroke. I rode...
I find it interesting how everyone thinks the 350 is flat on the bottom and needs to be rung out like a 2 stroke. I rode a husky and ktm back to back after riding a 250 smoker and thought they had plenty of low end torque.
Jrewing wrote:
I ride one and it doesn’t pull a high gear enough to be competitive
fullysicmate wrote:
Put it in the right gear if you want to be competitive.
That’s what I’m saying.
fullysicmate
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fullysicmate 6/13/2019 4:18am
6/13/2019 4:18am
A little perspective for those saying a 350 is not competitive against a 450......Shane Watts won numerous world and gncc titles outright (that means 1st out of all classes) on a 125. Numerous mx des nation races were won by 125cc bikes against the bigger bikes. And I expect that there would be 1000’s of kids on the planet that would smoke most, maybe everyone in this thread on there 85’s....

A 350 is definitely competitive (insert slap emoji here)
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Jrewing
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Jrewing 6/13/2019 4:20am
6/13/2019 4:20am
Shane watts is/was a Freak
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Batjustin
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Batjustin 6/13/2019 4:42am
6/13/2019 4:42am
I currently have both. 2016.5 450FE and 2019 350.

Unless you can ride the 350 aggressive the whole motto you will lose a lot of ground to the 450.

450 easier to go fast longer in my opinion (need more strength)
350 less strength more lung capacity (when your gassed harder to go fast)

Both good bikes but my 2 cents is that the 450 is less tiring than the 350.

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