My daughter who races MX recently aged out of the Girls class and so we had to move her up from a Supermini to a big bike and race the Women's class. I had to make a decision on which bike would be best for her, she is around 5ft tall and about 100 lb's. I had her try a 125 and 250F, she liked the 125 better than the 250F and I felt that the 250F was to much bike for her anyway but she wasn't tall enough to kick start a YZ125. So against my better judgement I went with a new electric start TC150. I personally know several people who have had MAJOR issues with the new EFI bikes but I talked to some people in the know that said KTM had ironed out all of the issues on the newer EFI 2 strokes. I know that they are not as competitive as their carb bikes were but that was not too much of a concern of mine since she is not going to ride it hard as the boys do. You also know they are not competitive when the starting gate at ever major amateur 125 class used to be orange/red/white but now they are mostly blue.
Well 11 hours in and we develop a horrible rattle and low on power. My daughter does her own oil and filters so during troubleshooting I pulled the air filter and the intake was spotless. We call the shop we bought it from and he said bring it in, we will try to get Husky to warranty it, I was like cool, never had a bike fixed under warranty. The shop found the crank thrust washer failed which caused debris and chewed up the piston, Husky denied the claim, stating that it was due to dirt ingestion.
Went and picked up my bike in box, upon inspection of the crank it's width was measured 55.81 while it should have been 56.00 so fairly certain that the crank was pressed too tight from the factory. We also found the rod cracked on the failed thrust washer side which I believe was all caused by the crank being pressed too tight.
While I wasn't sure if they would cover it under warranty, it would have been nice. Not that a Japanese Manufacture would have covered it either. But the biggest problem out of the whole ordeal was when I went to order parts I was told that the Cylinder was back ordered and would not be available till March of 2026 and that other parts are on backorder till June of 2026.... The parts guys at the shop said that they see a LOT of parts are not available. While I was able to source what I needed from other places, once those places run out parts they may be very hard to come by..
Attached picture of crank, just removed from freezer prior to replacing rod.
Heart breaking, 11 hours Wtf.
Is this a 2025 model?
125/150 had major failures in the launch year (2023) but most of them seems/are been likely fixed on the 2024 model.
I have a 2024 MC250, 35 hours in no issues so far.
Yes, 2025
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Not related to the issues you've had .... but could she not just continue to race the supermini given her size? Or even a crf150r? Lectron has a carb now that essentially cured all its ailments.
Originally when we made this decision, the AMA had changed the rules to not allow any small wheel bikes in the women's class, there was a lot of push back and I heard that the rule might change back but haven't confirmed it yet.
She loves the bike though.
My son has a few 2025 KTM 250SX-Fs. Had a top-end kit and some other parts on order for over 9 months now, and no sign of them showing up - backorder, and the commit date keeps moving to the right. As a direct result of this and my concern that things are not going to get better, we made the switch to Honda a few months ago. Shame, as they make great bikes, and other than 18mo on a YZ125, he's been on KTMs since 50s.
Push on the dealer again. Sounds like you have a good case for goodwill warranty?
Hmm. Obviously it’s gonna have to be escalated to get KTM husky to covered under their warranty with like a timestamp photo showing the micrometer reading of 55.81 verified by the dealer- things like that. But in the meantime, could you not just get her like a used husky 150? Or even a ‘22 KTM/ Husky model prior to the fuel injection stuff? Your ‘25 bike is used anyway even if you get it fixed, and I would imagine there’s quite a few good models out there, fairly reasonable price, that people are looking to get rid of. Just a thought. Unfortunately your in a jam. Worst case you could try to find a YZ 125 since those are very common and a lot in very good shape at a reasonable price and she could just tippy-toe and try to figure out the kickstarter. Until your 25 150 gets fixed, or if they say will cover it after escalating.
Is this just a 25' thing? Was planning on a fresh top end for the 21' 350.
Just looking at getting a bike for your daughter to ride, maybe practice on/ race until your ‘25 gets fixed, here’s what I ran across in East Texas:
• 2020 KTM 150 SX - $3,280 - Houston, TX
• 2022 KTM 150 SX - $5,250 - Dallas area, TX
• 2021 Yamaha YZ125 - $6,200 - Dallas area, TX
• 2022 Yamaha YZ125 - $6,800 - Austin area
There’s several good low hour YZ 125 around the Dallas area in excellent shape for 4000 and under. A lot of of these sellers will take an offer that’s quite a bit less than what they’re asking.
What rod kit are you going to use to rebuild that crank? If the stuffers were overheated at all (kinda looks like they were) I suggest replacing them with the Nihilo stuffers. Even if you don't replace them, definitely remove them, check the bolts, and re-loctite them. Seen many come loose and destroy the engine on these bikes.
As soon as I picked the bike up I went to our local race shop and we replaced the rod that day. (Pro-X) They are the ones that pointed out that it was too tight. That is when I took the pic of the crack, and also took a pic of the 55.81 dimension. I honestly had no idea what that dimension should have been. They also cleaned the cylinder and it actually looked pretty good. Ordered a Vertex "B" piston. We will run it and see...
We also have a local company that plates cylinders if it comes down to that.
He did pull them off, clean them up and loctite the bolts when he reinstalled them. But we did have a problem when separating the crank, the 20 ton press would not press it apart. We had to go over to a friend's house that has 30 ton press and it took a LOT of pressure to split it. Went back together with the new pin/rod assy with no issues.
Really pathetic. Hope you get some relief from the company, but I wouldn't hold my breath. This is what a company circling the drain looks like.
Once you get it running -- one way or the other -- I'd move it for whatever you can get for it. The used value of these bikes (and the new prices) reflect that market's assessment that they are not right. It's really a shame, because these fuel-injected two strokes had such potential.
And thanks for the warning, that -- despite some peoples' claims that "the problem" is now "fixed," obviously there are still major problems with these bikes.
Yep. It's known that these small bore Austrian EFI two strokes are blowing up. My buddy had one that blew up at about 10 hrs. Dealer repaired it. Blew up again.
At any major race the whole 125 class is either blue or previous generation Austrian.
Sorry you had to go through this man. I had a 2024 65 with power valve issues from a bad cylinder. Unfortunately, the financial issues KTM has had have trickled their way into the manufacturing and operations. The quality has gone to hell. I have bought 5 KTMs in the last 3 years and will not be buying another one. We're going blue.
Cool. It’s unfortunate you had to do all that, but now you’ll have a solid bike. You out a cheaper one to just have it as a just in case though. You probably already thought about that but just a thought.
Not sure to be honest, haven't needed to order anything for older bikes.
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