Upgrade to enjoy this feature!
Vital MX fantasy is free to play, but paid users have great benefits. Paid member benefits:
- View and download rider stats
- Pick trends
- Create a private league
- And more!
Only $10 for all 2024 SX, MX, and SMX series (regularly $30).
The Shop
You can easily get 80 hours out of a 250F before a oil change. The manual wont tell you that. But it's true.
I'll agree with you on one thing, riders are notorious for over reving fourstrokes. Especially on the starting line. For no reason since everything is EFI.
You'd be surprised at how long a race team could get out of a motor if they werent under pressure to use all of their budget to ensure it wasnt shrunk the next year. Ive know of teams that have literally built motors, put them on the dyno, and rev'd them until the blew up. Day after day. Just to use up budget at the end of the season.
The OEM's love people like you because you waste money. But c'mon man. 10 hours on a 2 stroke piston? Why not just do a compression check and wait until compression drops to a certain threshold. I always knew EXACTLY what compression was a sign that the piston was ready to let go. At about 10-15 lbs less than normal, it was time for a new piston.
As for a crank, I knew they'd go after about 75 gallons of fuel. And this was on a fully modified engine.
Had I been going off of a manual's recommendations, geez, I wouldve wasted so much money.
I wait until the filter is actually dirty.
Go watch a World Enduro race sometime. The abuse those bikes are put thru is insane compared to what the common weekend warrior does. It really puts everything into perspective on what these bikes are built to handle.
I'd go that long before changing oil. For the very reason you said. The issue is revs. There is no reason to rev fourstrokes like most riders do.
KTM (and the other Euro brands in general) use such higher quality metallurgy in their cases, cylinders, etc than anything the Japanese use.
Nobody should be questioning KTM quality. There's a reason they are more expensive. It's a higher quality product.
Nothing against the Japanese bikes but their focus is on excellent engineering to cover for cheaper materials.
They ride them until something breaks. So they know what needs to be beefed up for the following year.
Take a guess as to what the average engine life is before a 250F blows up without an oil change.
Y'all wont believe it because that isnt want the owner's manual says. I didnt believe it either at first. But when explained to me who wrote the manual and why, it made sense. So I started pushing the boundaries slowly further and further. Ive never had a problem.
But again, I dont sit on the starting line free reving the bike for 10 minutes as if Im on a 2stroke with carbs that I need to keep crisp for a good start.
Pit Row
People rev 250f's because that is where they make their power, just like a 125....
You need to quit before you make yourself look like an even worse mechanic.
250's make plenty of power down low. It's easy to find if you upshift. Which most riders dont do. That's not a reliability or design flaw. That's a rider flaw.
If you want more power? Get a 450. A 250 is just a 250. And a lot of riders try to make it something it isnt by over revving the bike. That's not my opinion, that's the opinion of factory mechanics Ive worked with.
125's make their power up top. They are 2 strokes. Riding your 250F like a 2 stroke is why people end up having to change their oil & pistons so damn much. That's not how these bikes were designed to reliably function.
BTW, how am I a bad mechanic when Ive never lost a motor? You'd think I'd be the person you would want advice from. Not the people who rebuild motors more often than I pressure wash my bikes.
Never losing an engine says nothing btw...just means you do not ride, are lucky, slow, always have a fancy new bike, or a combination of the lot. 40 hours on my kx250f and she broke a valve...sad day, but nothing I could do...taught me that even if a valve never moves they can break.
You are arguing a battle you already lost bro. Go hang with the boys who are blowing up supposed motors on a dyno for no reason...
How much do you weigh? Any chance that your 250F's inability to pull you out of a corner without over reving has more to do with the fact that you are better suited for a 450?
Ive never had a 250F struggle or fall off the pipe. I also only weigh about 160 lbs. I dont get on a 150F and then bitch that it doesnt make power unless Im pinning it in 2nd gear everywhere around the track.
You keep sucking valves and blaming luck. I'll keep trusting the engineers that worked in OEM R&D departments and saving money and time on oil & pistons.
The ones in easter Europe that they used to use werent held to the same strict environmental regs that other nations are forced to. So the quality was quite high of the metal.
Maybe that has changed with a move to India.
Now to say where they get their raw Matl from, only the Manuf Eng/Purchasing employees of WP know that.
Bajaj is an Indian company, and a major holder in KTM, but not majority last I checked.
I would love to see pictures of these said frame rails.
Post a reply to: Window’d KTM engine.