Real world KTM 350 EXC impressions?

T-minus 10...... 9........8........7..........6..........

One's a DP tourer capable of carrying a passenger or a load of camping gear, the other is a plated enduro. I wouldn't mind both in my stable....

That said, my 350 has been flawless so far. About 78 hours on it.

I'm actually pondering about doing the TAT on my 350 next year. I don't see where load capacity would be an issue with 20-30 pounds of gear strapped to it.

Carrying a passenger doesn't sound like any fun on a dirt bike anyway, except to go get milk at the corner store perhaps

I think the 350 will do 98% of what the WR will do, just way faster

I have 120.2 hrs on my '14, and I am prepping it for resale - I love riding it, but I don't really trust KTM, as I have owned 6 of them, and this is the first good one!
I have an '15 on order, and I plan to keep it for approx. the same amount of time! That's how I manage my "KTM paranoia".
El Mur.

Oh yeah? Seriously?

Hmm...my buddies were talking about renting a toy hauler and heading to Utah/Colorado or somewhere. Maybe some TAT is a better option.

I have 2013 KTM 350 EXC-F with about 60 hours on it. Great trail bike, but DS with ANY length of pavement....sorry, I'll stick to my 690R.

Holy Shit! Murray Dochstader on the internet! Welcome to the interwebs Murray! David from Salmon Arm here. You chased me around the trails in Revelstoke at the "Papa John Classic".

I'll buy your '15 when you're done with it! You in Baja yet?

Here's some pictures of how my valve adjustment is going. I am in the process of putting everything back together then I'll check the clearances to make sure my changes all worked out.

mmmmm... motorcycle parts

Is it inappropriate to post a 2015 bike for sale in this forum? I've decided a 690R better fits my needs

Yes, I suspect inappropriate.

Post in FLEA MARKET, BIKES.

Why not own both? I soon will!

Props for tackling it yourself instead of paying someone else to do it. Just did this for my first time on a 450 xcw and my 500 and can say it is much easier to change shims on the bigger engines. Always feels better to do things yourself especially after seeing some of the work my local dealer did on my buddys 450. Bent a lot of fins on the rad's when taking the valve cover off and said the valves where in spec and they were actually out of spec...

Yeah I was a little apprehensive at first but I've read up on it, watched videos plus I have the service manual. So I figured i would just check them then go from there. Then I decided to go for it myself after I got that far.
Anyway, I got everything back together and started the bike up. I let it idle for a few minutes before I revved the engine. All sounded good so I'll have to take it for a ride tomorrow (it's been raining here all day).
The only thing I noticed is that the bike was shooting out blue flames when I revved it. Not every single time but frequent enough for something to be up.
I've never had this happen before so how does changing the intake valve shims and changing the spark plug make the flames?
Is it too rich now? If so, I can turn the tps down. If that's not it, what would cause this?

I may end up with both, but the 690R may lead to an 1190...

My 2012 black wheels still look great, but you're entitled to your opinion. :)


Weird, the XCF-Ws have black wheels but the EXC's don't.. and from KTM USA's website for the 2015 350 / 500 EXC:
"The wheels are equipped with new, black, 7050 T6 aluminium Giant rims, black coated spokes with lightweight aluminium nipples and lightweight CNC-machined hubs, allowing highest levels of stability to be achieved while keeping weight to a minimum. The fitted Maxxis enduro tyres have been specially developed for KTM and excel with perfect traction and outstanding performance."


I dunno.

Normally if an issue arises after working on a machine, the cause of the problem is human error. Blue flames out the pipe doesn't sound normal. I would have someone look at it BEFORE you ride it, especially if you were hesitant to do the valve service yourself in the first place. Don't go messing with the TPS or anything else, you will just make things more complicated to fix.

I was hesitant because I never did it before. If you've done it before, you know it's straight forward.
What I'm seeing online about blue flames sounds like it's the hot pipe burning gas/gas fumes. So to me, it sounds like I'm running to rich.
At about 100 hrs I began to run to lean and the bike was stalling out. So then, I turned up the tps to richen up the bike.
So as I'm typing this, I'm thinking that at 100 hours my valves tightened up and now that they are back within spec, I'm too rich.
So can someone confirm that this could happen?

I'm skeptical the tighter clearances made a difference in mixture. They were only barely out of spec, and since the TPS was previously changed I would start there as the cause of the problem. Maybe the screw came loose and lost adjustment?

If the valves were so out of spec that it ran that rich, it would probably be more difficult to start the engine than normal.

Does the exhaust make your eyes burn?

Not saying it would make the mixture change but maybe just making the bike run lean. I don't know.
All I know is that around 100 hrs the bike started to stall out when idling downhill. I richened the tips setting to .652 and the stalling stopped. 50 hrs later, I have tight intakes, make them within spec and get blue flames.
So what causes blue flames? Rich or lean?

My eyes weren't burning but I wasn't that close to the exhaust.

I would put the TPS back to factory spec. Flames out the exhaust is unburnt fuel so yes rich.
The stalling you experienced could just be a low idle speed. The new FI 4 stroke bikes idle much faster than you might be used to compared to carbed bikes. Did you ever adjust the idle knob? A little wear in the cable/pulley system may have needed an adjustment to bring it up to where it should be. ~2000 RPM if I remember right.