Posts
21
Joined
10/5/2018
Location
NL
Edited Date/Time
2/2/2019 5:24am
Little background; have been riding since i was 11 years old and rode 80’s, 125’s and 250 2 strokes all my life (2003 YZ250 was my last motocross bike). After 6-7 years of not riding (university etc) I got back to riding offroad/enduro, bought a new KTM EXC300.
Great bike but it could be lighter/easyer to ride on the motocross track (real issue is that i'm not riding enough
) Since I’m living in the Netherlands I mainly ride (very) sandy tracks. That was also my reason to step to a 250 2 stroke back in 2004. I’m small (5,8) and light at around 135 pounds, so weight is an important factor.
Now I’m thinking about buying a (slightly used) motocross bike next to my EXC300, but I don’t have much experience on 4 strokes. Absolutely hated a CRF450 back in 2004, but that bike was setup for someone tall and heavy, was very aggressive from down low.
I have 3 possible options within the KTM range (other brands are an option, but I have a dealer nearby, also good available in the used market): SX150, SX250 or a SX250F. I’m about fun factor and ride ability, will not be doing any racing on them.
SX150: Pro: very light
Con: but keeping it on the pipe is hard work (especially on sand tracks)
SX250: Pro: light, powerfull
Con: hard hitting makes the bike exhausting
SX250F Pro: powerband, more controllable power makes the bike easyer/longer to ride
Con: heaviest, maintenance (alto I’m able to do this myself)
SX250 would be the smartest choice of these 3, but I always read about the fact how easy the 250F’s are to ride. Would the 250F be a better (more easy to ride) choice making my motocross track experience better?. Additional maintenance cost are not a real issue, i will not be riding more than 30 hours a year.
Great bike but it could be lighter/easyer to ride on the motocross track (real issue is that i'm not riding enough
) Since I’m living in the Netherlands I mainly ride (very) sandy tracks. That was also my reason to step to a 250 2 stroke back in 2004. I’m small (5,8) and light at around 135 pounds, so weight is an important factor.Now I’m thinking about buying a (slightly used) motocross bike next to my EXC300, but I don’t have much experience on 4 strokes. Absolutely hated a CRF450 back in 2004, but that bike was setup for someone tall and heavy, was very aggressive from down low.
I have 3 possible options within the KTM range (other brands are an option, but I have a dealer nearby, also good available in the used market): SX150, SX250 or a SX250F. I’m about fun factor and ride ability, will not be doing any racing on them.
SX150: Pro: very light
Con: but keeping it on the pipe is hard work (especially on sand tracks)
SX250: Pro: light, powerfull
Con: hard hitting makes the bike exhausting
SX250F Pro: powerband, more controllable power makes the bike easyer/longer to ride
Con: heaviest, maintenance (alto I’m able to do this myself)
SX250 would be the smartest choice of these 3, but I always read about the fact how easy the 250F’s are to ride. Would the 250F be a better (more easy to ride) choice making my motocross track experience better?. Additional maintenance cost are not a real issue, i will not be riding more than 30 hours a year.
Poll
The EXC does pretty good on the MX track, but it would be better if it’s 10KG lighter (which the SX250 is). My suspension setup is pretty oke on the MX track, but not great for larger jumps.
350F is also an option,
The Shop
Have a 2014 EXC300 with about 60 hours on the clock, the vibration is the only real issue of this bike (road legal btw!). Currently riding every weekend, so i'm pretty used to it, but when you havent ridden for a couple of months..... the vibration will kill you
Grab a nice used SX250, 2017 or newer and maybe upgrade my EXC to a TPI bike sometime in 1 or 2 years could be a nice idea. Than the basic platform of both bikes is identical (except for the carb / tpi).
Little annoying is the fact that i need other airfilters for this bike....
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