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Plessinger and Musquin used them at the end of outdoors. I am sure they had different valving but otherwise they looked stock. They didn’t even have any coatings on the lower tubes.
The pic of the forks were from a relatively new bike with low hrs..
Are the KYB free pistons broken you seen from a new low hr. bike or are they from one with many hrs. ?
I personally haven’t seen any damage on Showas or KYB’s as mentioned.
Made a comment that is all..
It’s been a few yrs., but if I recall I think it failed twice. I don’t have any other pics..
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Not poking anybody but glad they sell Hondas and Yamahas.
Was at a race today and saw a 2023 KTM 150 with 2 hours on it, the rear caliper locked up. Also a 2023 KTM 300 XC having trans problems, would not shift up all the time.
There is no such thing as a ‘23 KTM 150
rear brake pedal needs to be adjusted to have enough play in it, or it can lock up. Some adjust the height of the pedal, but don’t adjust the plunger… don’t ask me how I know this
And every other brand was perfect?
The plastic stock ones broke enough. Never had it happen to me, but I saw that at my local tuner. He’d replace them with the aluminum ones. It happened more than you think, new and old.
Sounds like a seal leaking in the inner chamber.. There is a seal I think they called it a quad ring? it seperates the positve pressure from the balance chamber and if it leaks by it pulls or holds the forks down, Any suspension shop could fix it with like a $40 part
Yup, my first ride on my brand new bike (0 hours) in 2019 with SSS forks the free piston broke. Replaced with the Zeta aluminum free piston and never had an issue again.
I recently bought a '23 TC125; and after a few weeks in the garage (not on a stand), the fork sucked down. I had no idea what was going on. I put on stand, removed both bleeder screws (left and right sides) and tons of air released and the fork expanded all the way. I then put the screws back. checked the pressure was good; but pumped it up with some extra air; then set to my desired pressure again and the fork was good to go. I now keep it on a stand with fork fully extended and remove the bleeder screws regularly to ensure to no pressure buildup.
Sorry, it was 2-stroke, not sure what year. My bad. I rode the 23 KTM 300 XC yesterday and the thing was awesome. And as if the other brands don’t have problems, they sure the F do. Good luck to all manufacturers this year.
Funny how these threads bring out the KTM haters. My evidence is purely anecdotal, but I'm on my 6th Austrian bike..4 Orange and 2 White and they've all been super reliable. Over the course of 6 bikes and hundreds of hours, I've had to replace a stator and a throttle cable. Not a bad track record in my opinion.
Is that why I revalved all my bikes except for the one with air forks(Kawi)?
Honda guys bashing Ktm forks 😂…..
At least they have springs. But I rode a 23 crf250 and the forks sucked
Springs or no springs if they suck they suck. I think the frame is a contributor to issues on the latest crf250r and unfortunately no suspension tuner can fix that. The ‘23 ktm forks seem to work better with the ‘23 frame than the ‘22 forks did with the ‘22 frame.
Pit Row
Have your ridden the new CRF with a basic front re valve? $500 dollar re valve and the bike is night and day better.
My main ridding buddy has a kx450f. 1st day out with a brand new bike and the forks failed. First jump he hit the forks never came back up lol. The Kawi air stuff was so bad that they went back to spring forks.
I haven't and I'm not a honda guy. I've mostly ridden and raced yamaha 2 strokes and always used to hit the ktm demo rides. Never liked the air fork but never owned one with them either so not 100% sure what I'll do when my new ktm 125 comes in. Hopefully ride it and like it. I may just keep riding my yz 250.
No I sold it after the engine ate its head at 15 hours. I race with a guy who had his revalved and still didn’t like it. The suspension tuner told him the frame is pretty stiff, and they could not get it valved great for hare scrambles. I think he gave up on it and went back to the yz125 when it bounced him into a tree. The broken arm ended his season early so he may have a different view next season.
Maybe the air fork works better off-road than mx but if Plessinger and Musquin can make them work they must have some potential on the track. No top level pros run stock spring forks.
I have heard of the new 23 2 strokes blowing up due to switch in piston supplier
Doesn't anyone see the irony in this? Spend $500 on your expensive Honda (closer to 1k if you need springs front and rear) and it's great but if you put any money into your expensive KTM then it's an overpriced POS. Not bagging on you specifically but now people are acting like any fork that has mechanical springs is automatically good/great which is far from true. I actually had no major issues with my last sx suspension with AER48 forks. I then had a revalve (under $500 front/rear) and they were even better.
Expensive Honda? It's the cheapest of the bunch minus Suzuki.
Any stock bike can benefit from a re valve and or proper springs. But having the suspension fail on a new bike is another story.
Sounds like your buddy needs a new suspension tuner. Plenty of woods guys on RX models in my area that love the bike in the woods.
I agree. People had shit forks for years, and then air forks came along and those same people now had shit air forks.
Plenty of spring forks with bad design and settings and compared to an AER, they can be a pain to work on. Revalving any SSF fork is literally half the work, lol
Where have you heard this ? I am pretty in tune with the threads on this bike and I haven’t seen a single failure.
From some friends on KTM Facebook sites . I do not have 1st hand knowledge just what I heard . My 22 350 has been great except aer failure from stuck Schrader valve so went KYB
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