2019 250SX transmission question and sharing my KTM ride day experience

11/4/2018 10:10am
I had the pleasure of attending a KTM Ride Day at Central Florida MX yesterday. KTM brought just the MX models and WMR Competition Performance brought Cone Valve suspension on a 350SX. I was really only interested in the 250SX and 450SX so I rode both twice. My current ride is a 200XC two stroke with a Rekluse clutch. My last bike was a YZ450F with a Rekluse. I had had a difficult time adjusting to compression braking again so I may not have gotten the most out of my test rides.
The track was a very loamy sand track with mostly table tops and a whoop section that was about waist deep by the end of the day.
The 250SX I was able to hold wide open in some areas and it felt great. The new bikes really do not vibrate much at all. It handled well and the suspension did well also. My only gripe with the bike is that I hit neutral 3 times. I never do that on my bike. In fact, neutral is somewhat hard to find. My question is if current owners of the 2017 and newer 250SX have this issue? Most of the reviews I have read and watch talked about the strange gearing around 2nd. I wonder if that is why I was shifting in and out of second so much compared to my bike.
The 450SX I had a lot of difficulty with because of the normal clutch and compression braking. Between the sand and compression braking, rolling off the throttle resulted in rapid deaccelleration that I am not used to or in shape for. So the first time out I fell over in two berms. The bike had a lot of smooth power, enough that I never was able to hold it wide open except for a brief second on one straight. It handled well as best I could tell in the heavy loam. It felt very stable commtting to turns. It was my first time on air forks and they were okay.
The 350SX I rode had the cone valve suspension. WMR took the time to set the sag for each of us and the bike was sprung for 220lbs. Perfect for me actually. The cone valve forks eliminated every hard hit. The same braking bumps that made my own bike's forks audibly bang and hurt my wrists, I never even felt but a small bump with the cone valves. Watching ZachAtk's1 You Tube video described them the same way. They just absorb everything. They were not overly plush as one would expect for motocross valving but the ride was good. The Trax shock rode well but maybe was not adjusted perfectly. It seemed to lose traction and slide out rather than plant and go forward. Again, I believe a simple adjustment on rebound would have fixed that. The 350SX itself surprised me. The power band was smooth and had enough low end to push through the whoop section just like the 450. What surprised me was it had a hit at the end of the midrange where the front end just came up fast. I was not expecting that. So for a 51 year old C rider, it seemed like it could be a good bike to have. Plenty of smooth usuable power with top end in reserve.
So what I took away was good suspension would probably benefit me more that anything. On the sand tracks power is king so all the bikes out performed mine in a straight line. I could corner better on my 200XC, mainly because the Rekluse allows me to modulate the throttle more in the loam without compression braking or stalling.
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JWACK
Posts
2479
Joined
8/7/2009
Location
NM US
11/4/2018 10:23am
And yet people on here say good suspension isn't worth the money and really makes no difference Grinning
Imagine if the cone valves and shock were set up just for you and what you like. Magic I tell you.
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11/4/2018 11:33am
I have a 2017 250sx and I've never hit neutral accidently. I have the opposite problem, neutral can be hard to find. I'm not sure how different the '19 is, but I love mine.
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hyler199
Posts
621
Joined
4/23/2017
Location
CA
11/4/2018 1:02pm
I have a 2017 250sx and I've never hit neutral accidently. I have the opposite problem, neutral can be hard to find. I'm not sure how...
I have a 2017 250sx and I've never hit neutral accidently. I have the opposite problem, neutral can be hard to find. I'm not sure how different the '19 is, but I love mine.
Ya neutral is hard to find for my 2013 250sx but if im pulling up to the bike stand just before i stop rolling i can find neutral way easier than when im at a full stop
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