KTM 300 opinions

That bike should bring a smile to your face. Sounds like its setup nicely!

True that. What I meant was, where to get port and polish "work" done?
Pipes, jetting, gearing, suspension, even tires and oil if we have to.

My 450 just left my driveway in someone else's truck. It never got touched after I bought the 250 and it sat in the garage all summer.
I did get to wheelie up and down the street before it left, I'll miss it a little, but not too bad.

Wow. 450 and 300. Wise choices.

Which cam chain tensioner are you putting on the 450?

With all this talk about 300 mods, I'm really starting to think I need to get some work done on my 300. I've got it on the bench for top end service. Whatever I do, I want to make sure I don't sacrifice too much tractability or fuel economy.

Options?

Slavens mule mod

Slavens head mod

Munn racing mod?

I've already put on the knarly pipe. That made a pretty good difference in mid-range. I haven't touched the head or porting yet.

I haven't touched the head, power valve spring, or any motor stuff in 140hrs. Just did an XC 6spd upgrade recently, otherwise the only big thing was the suspension when I bought it.

I'll Mule it whenever I get around to doing the top end @ 200hrs or more hopefully.

I haven't rode the Mule mod but I hear it really compliments the 300s singletrack abilities. I do have the head mod and have mixed feelings about it when used alone. It definitely gives a nice boost in power but I just took it back off, to me it seemed to make the motor more intense powerwise, it's lost some of it's tractability (singletrack manners). I know that's not a good description :huh It didn't cause a lightswitch powerband or anything like that, I just feel I'm a little smoother rider without it the way the bike runs now. I decided to baseline everything, install a knarly pipe and dial that in, get the jetting where I like it and then see which PV spring I prefer, once that's done I'll throw the head back on and see how it does. There's so many options with the 300 when you start doing thos mods, PV spring, kind of pipe, head, porting, jetting etc.. Letting someone like Jeff have at it is probably a good idea. He's figured out all this stuff and know allot more than most of us, at least me

What do you think about the 6sp? I'm thinking it'd be a good mod to help with some of the stuff we sometimes ride out here. I usually run a 13/49 which works well for Moab and the NM stuff except when I have to connect trails or ride back into town. If I could ride at 65 with the same RPM I'm currently riding at 55 it'd make the 300 a little more versatile to me.

I don't know if the 6sp will give you that, upper ratios aren't allot different, I probably just need to pickup a 450 or 525.

My old 300 was decked with minimal squish and it ended up being more peaky, even with a gnarly.
The current 300 is muled and has a way more linear power band. However, it may just be the difference between the 03 mxc an the 07 xcw.

I guess this may be that thread! Have a look at slavens website and his YouTube videos for motor and suspension info.

It seems that the newer ktm 4 strokes have great suspension right out of the box, is that true of the 2 strokes as well? Anyone??

Jeff, my 300 has the slavens mule mod and I assume the head mod as well. The PO basically boxed it up when it was brand new, sent it to Slavens and it came back a 12k$ 2stroke. You are welcome to take it out for a test run this spring if we can connect. I can find out everything that was been done to it in the mean time. I have nothing to compare it to but it lugs fairly well. I stalled it quit a bit when I first got it but after going with the fast spring and the power valve set for the hit at the bottom of the rpm's I'm pretty happy with it. Fuel milage seems to be all over the place though.

When you say newer....I assumed you mean 2010 or more. In my opinion, yes. However, the problem I have is with the rebound on the rear but did quiet it down quite a bit with the adjustments. In talking with Neil at Hitchcock suspension, he said that most of his work is to do with the rear shock and not the front forks.

I imagine with the 300's with linkage are quite heavenly.

And the answer turns out to be "no". Got a chance to put a few hours in at Lefthand this evening..

Initial thoughts - not sure I'm sold on the Stillwell stuff. It's setup for a class A racer, and it's harsh for LHC type terrain. Felt like I was deflecting off everything. Backed off the compression and it started feeling a little better. Hoping I can dial it in. Otherwise, it's fast.. like a ninja on meth type fast. Made the 450 feel like a powerglide by comparison. I felt significantly faster on flats and nasty downhill.. pretty much everything except "up" and rockgardens.

I've now learned that being good at 4t clutchwork has nothing in common with 2t clutchwork. I was flailing and stalling on climbs I'm used to just tractoring straight up. Going to take some practice.

Off I go to toss on an MT43. Likely be back out at LHC around 1pm tomorrow if anyone wants to watch a guy bounce around like a newb on a 300.

I have everything in the center on mine...but your deflection isn't uncommon. Before you go out again, check to make sure both forks are dialed in the same. Loosen all the way and then tighten up as you need.

Yep.. I did some trail adjusting. They were both set at 17 clicks from max. I backed them out to 21, and it felt better - would be great for smoother terrain actually. I'd like to back them out a bit more for lefthand but I need to get bigger springs first. The guy it was setup for is 30 lbs lighter than me.

The PV adjustment will have allot to do with your smoothness, esp on uphills. Did the PO tell you what spring he has in it?

There's allot of discussing on KTM talk about setting up the PV. If you don't know KTM uses 3, Green/Yellow/Red. That in combination with the Dolly screw adjustment below the water pump with determine where it comes on the pipe. Green=Powerband more pronounced but comes in late and is the setting that gives the 300 the rep for tractor like power. Much of the riding will be below the powerband.

Red spring = early power band and you'll be on the pipe more.

The Dolly screw sets the preload on the spring and is a fine tune adj to the PV, screwed in is more preload (usually 2 case threads showing) and is the stock setting, screwed out (screw flush with case) causes a more linear power band, the hit is less pronounced because it's coming in earlier. The 2 extremes are green/2 threads showing=Late powerband/bigger hit with tractor like power (this is how KTM ships 'em) The Red spring/flush=power comes on early, bike's on the pipe more and will more of an MX like power band.

From my understanding, the Green spring/2 threads showing is more along the lines of the "Mule" configuration, lots of grunt. I found it to be a good starting point while I was developing the 3t technique.

You mentioned bogging down the motor...this is interesting. However, you did mention riding a four stroke before so I am thinking you might be running in a gear too high. My experience is that the bike can be lugged pretty far down at lower elevations (6-8). Did you ever kill it in first gear?

I had Stillwell do my suspension. I am close to 200 lbs with all my gear. My weight varies.
Right now I am about 12 lbs lighter. Was out riding last Sunday with zero bottoming on the rear, on the big whoops.
I always manage to bottom once and a while, so the difference in my weight allowed me not to bottom. I am running a .46, in the front. For rocky terrian I have learned to slow down the rebound, and back off on the compression.
I did not get the gold valves installed. Allen, stated that it will allow the suspension to be more plush. I may just add
those next. If you are going to be riding more rocky terrain, check the spring recommendations on the Race Tech
website. With the upgraded suspension, It allows me to make significant changes with just the clickers. If I start
riding more rocky terrian in the summer, I might get me a .44 in the front, to soften it up a little.

This could be the ticket. I think it has the yellow right now (I'd have to drop the skid plate to check). Add in the procircuit pipe and it could explain why I felt like I was either always stalling or spinning in the nasty stuff. I'll have to check it out when I get back and order up a green.

Yes.. quite a bit. Check out my vids and you can hear that I'm used to using the very low end on my RFS 450 and trying to smoothly tractor up with momentum. If I get it right, the thing can catch enough traction to start smoothly up wet roots and rock ledges. Trying this technique completely failed on the 300. I'm hoping that a powervalve and technique adjustment will get this figured, because in all other aspects this bike kicks ass in the ugly stuff.

Off to LHC now.. probably be out there till dark. If anyone hears a guy on a 2stroke stuck climbing a rock ledge and cussing, stop and say hi.

The book on my 250 xc 2011 shows the bike having the yellow spring as stock.
Its kinda weird and said not to adjust the Dolly screw.

Do you guys follow the chart KTM gives in the manual for jetting? I found that I can go 1 or 2 jets (main) leaner that what manual said. But I dont know how to choose the pilot jet, and if I choose to go leaner on the main, should I leave the needle position set as per manual, or should it get moved too.

My bike seems a little weak when entering into the band. If I'm in soft stuff, I really work the clutch at the beginning of the band. Is this jetting???

I have the red spring with the Dolly screw flush.

Thanks for any help. Long Live ADVrider.

Riding a two stroke involves some adjustment in a few areas
At Four Mile Freakout I was rambling up a steep section of 385D on my 250 EXC, and out of habit I rode up as though I were on my XR628 or 525.

Didn't work

I was a gear tall and lost all momentum on the steep...it was a teachable moment

Adrenaline kicked in... I fanned the clutch, shifted down, and stood the bike straight up - thought I was going over backward for sure - but it hooked up, the front came to Earth....and up I went. :eek1

Expecting engine braking going downhill was one of the other " oh yeah..." moments.

But that weekend was one of the most fun times I'd had on a dirtbike in a long time. A couple of days of seat time gets you shot of the old habits and you're in a different mode.

Uh, well yeah...guess you got it figured out. Clutch my friend, clutch. I did do quite a few full throttle lugging adventures around taylor. It's sort of odd to have the throttle wide open at 2 mph just to keep rolling.