Why aren’t cone valves stock?

Same reason why kyb and showa a kit does not come stock on the jap brands . A kit and cone valve forks are a upgrade like buying a ti exhaust system for your bike if they put all that on the bike they would be way over price over 20k and unaffordable to most people . So if you really have the money for that stuff and want it you just buy it after. I think you should start with a good 900$ suspension revalve first then try the a kit stuff .

Here is a mxa newer test of the cone valve forks . They cost the same amount as a Showa or kyb a kit suspension so your looking at the same amount as buying those . https://motocrossactionmag.com/amp/mxa-team-tested-wp-xact-pro-cone-valve-forks-super-trax-shock/

Cone valves are adaptable to wp stock aer platforms.

Service intervals are also shorter on cone valves.

They are, just do more kegal exercises.

My come valve is stock....

Because then the already most expensive bike would cost even more and actually be able to be “ready to race”. Funny slogan for the one bike that has a glaring issue for 7 years and everyone has to spend over $3,000 to feel good.

Because the Factory Edition hippies wouldn’t have anything to spend their money on.

Mine too. Seems like it used to be stiffer when I first got it, but I guess it’s broken in now. Definitely handles the ruts much better now though.

Looks like a nice mod fixed it. It made me laugh.

You are asking ktm to do something that makes sense regarding suspension????

KTM will reinvent the shock 1000 times before they do that.

The tuning window for the cone valves are much narrower than the stock AER forks, so they would instantly narrow down the market the stock stuff would work for.

Also, the sensitive tuning nature of the cone valves would mean more re-valves to get it right for each rider.

I'd be happy with just spring forks instead of the shit they come with , the shock sucks too

Having just ridden it for the first time since the mods, I’d say a more reasonable option would be to come stock with the 6500 inserts. Other than some clicker settings, etc, they are going to work great for me and are infinitely better than the stock air setup right out of the box. With springs, installation, a shock revalve, and rebuild front and rear (freshened up at the same time), I was out about 1800 plus tax. KTMs cost to provide springs and the cartridges stock would be far less.

I'm a KTM owner and actually like my suspension. The shock doesn't suck lol. What's sucks is when I hopped on a yz250f with heavy sluggish steering and bottomed the forks all over the track and couldn't do a thing about it. Zero adjustability.

I think for the overall customer the stock suspension is good enough, 95% of the rider would not see the difference between air and cone, I would even say that air fork work better for slow rider
I also think this is good business for ktm to sell wp pro component apart, so why would they sell bike with them as poeple bought it anyway

I don’t understand why people bitch about the stock setup so much.I have a 22 450, I’m a decent rider, I sent my stuff out for a revalve from FC just like I have for EVERY other bike I’ve owned since 50s, they had to put a heavier spring in the rear which is something I’ve also had done to other bikes and it’s great. Could not imagine putting another dollar into it. Maybe try standing and a good attack position?

No self respecting vet novice or practice rider is gonna show up with anything less than $16,000 worth of bike

Small change after the brand new Sprinter though 😂

I have a buddy who in convinced a bike is a worn out POS after 50 hours. He swaps out the AER with Cone Valves with hundreds of hours and waits 50 hours to service them.

I bet that poor Yamahas back was hurting as well. Correct spring rate does wonders… if you think the SSS suspension sucks I’m baffled. They are night and day better than WP air forks.

To the OP question, the goal of production is to fit the widest range of riders with the cheapest underlying cost. Yamaha has managed to do this for years and every single manufacturer has the ability to buy Yamaha bikes and look at the suspension. It isn’t some big secret. It’s all derived from having a unique or stand alone brand and test riders getting the best settings on production models.

Im still just mystified to how OEMs still have bad setups on machines. Like universally hated or dislike on valving, other than the few who prefer a different feel or stiffness.

I prefer my stock 21 YZ250F KYB forks to my previous CRF250R stock and FC re-valved Showa forks. The action and movement difference between technologies and design. I can feel the ground better on my KYB Yamaha. The AER fork is okay, but I can't feel the ground at all. I either don't push into corners or I just slide out because I can't feel my wheel. I reckon people who rear steer have less of an issue with AER forks. Based on how they turn in general.

The Euro bikes have created an industry of suspension mods . So they can't say their stuff is a s good as the Japanese

Perception is a hell of a drug...

They're coated FWIW

Hmm… here is the deal. There is a lot of bs that happens related to putting a better featured product out in production vs the cost of adding that featured. It’s not straight forward. There is a bit of … wth is going on done at companies?

And the level of WTH is going on is related to the specific company and the culture of the company. And the level of control an account has over the business vs an entrepreneur. Note: accounts – when promoted to CEO positions, almost always ruin a business. Feel is a big part of business. You can’t run a business just by the number. But you better know the numbers.

Let me explain my point. First, no doubt that KTM could put a cone valve like fork internals in the stock bike for a minimal amount of extra money. I’d say for less then 100 bucks they could put in much better… cone valve like components.


The problem is the folk’s paying attention to gross margin requirements won’t allow an extra 100 buck spent on components without increasing the cost of the bike by 3x to 5x the cost of the 100 bucks. So that 100 bucks becomes a 300 to 500 increase in the retail cost of the bike. And the marketing folks may jump in and say “Huh? Were more then the Japanese bikes currently and if you increase the cost of the bike that much will lose x amount of sales to the other competing brands!!” Of course they have no real world date.. but they will create a power point presentation that will claim this will kill the company! I'd love to fire such folks... no real work experience.

It's all bull shit. The smart business man ignores the accounts. and says “for a 100 buck I can make this bike work a whole lot better.etc… customers will love this. And we don’t want to jack the price by the 3x to 5x this cost to make the margin folk happy. So I’m going to make smart business decision… I’m going to pass through the 100 bucks to the customer with no markup… knowing that we’ll make the bike that much better and take market share from our competitors as a result of the value they get with the better product we put out the door."


THAT is what a smart company does. Few companies are smart…..

Note I have a KTM 350 XCF. And I have other bikes. I’m mainly a honda guy but have a YZ250FX with the KTM that I ride ….. It’s very clear to me KTM put a lot of money into the motor and some of the other stuff. The motors are very good from a design and raw material stand point. The suspension? Really? You kidding me??

I do my own suspension work. I was taught by some by some folks that ran companies that make shocks and forks. I know enough about building valve stacks. what does what… Spring rates etc… what changes creates what effect to make my stuff work the way I want it to. Yes… its takes some trial and error.. but I understand the physics of it all. How the shim stack game works. Mid valves etc…. It's actually fun. It makes me think more when riding about what's happening with the bike.

I’ll say this. IMO The WP suspension components– the stock stuff – is not up to par with stock KYB and Showa components IMO. Yes, the WP stuff looks nicely machined. But when you work on the shock, and see the internal coatings wear through after a short amount of time… and the piston band, and the piston design. x y and z axis, the forks internals… it’s simply not as good. Not as clean a design. The product managers spent the money on other comments (can you say engine?).

Could the improve it with a little money spent? Clearly IMO they could..... but, you get an account involved.. and it all goes to hell.. IMO

As the world turns… (

Are they?

Maybe I misunderstood Billy but when I contacted Powerband forever ago he said the intervals were 40-something hours.

Ready to race originally came from Husabergs 4 Stroke Bikes in the 90s- KTM just took the Slogan for their bikes...