Ive liked the 200's Ive had,I know its heresy but I REALLY wanna try out a new 150 in the woods on tight trail. They are light.
dude. seriously, you owe it to yourself. the trails at my place are dubbed "the torture forest" by some friends who prefer gap jumps and rev limiter checks. tight, steep, emphasis on wheel placement over whiskey throttle. never really get going faster than the middle of third gear on most bikes. a buddy brought out his 2014 150xc a while back. what a sweet little weapon on the twisties! it felt like i could just pick it up and place it exactly where it needed to be with no effort at all.
I sorta wonder just how hard it would need to be screamed on climbs,trails around here are tight,3rd gear usage is a rarity here also. But being able to lug the thing counts for something,light weight might count for more. 2014 300XCW currently.
My Husky 150 (last gen Italian before KTM buyout) was a hoot. Sure it wouldn't lug along at 1 mph in 3rd gear, but it still had reasonable bottom end. The bike is still a bunch of fun, but has a few more CC's these days
i only got a half hour on it, so take this all with a grain of salt. it doesn't lug as well as a 200, but i know plenty of people who say 200s don't lug. whatever. i am constantly surprised by how tractable ktm 200s are. anyway, it isn't quite as happy revving out of the basement as the 2010 200xc-w that was there. but it was actually better at lugging out of nothing than the fresh but old (97) kdx200 that was also along for the ride. it definitely loves the pipe, but had what felt to me like a surprisingly forgiving broad transition into the powerband, and enough low end that you didn't have to commit to pinning the throttle at all times.
Ive ridden a late model YZ125 on trails a little bit and loved it,the tinyness made up for keeping it revved up some. Im kinda spoiled on the current 14 300XCW,somehow it just works right out of the box suspension wise,JD jet kit and its a go'er. Be nice to have a 150 along with it but cripes 9K out the door or more.
Bumping a YZ125 up to a 144 makes it quite the potent beast and plenty cheap to do so. Mine did quite well for me racing. I should unfollow this thread so I don't get any silly ideas Andrew
Completed enough to go riding. Still, need to completely re-lace the rear wheel with a new rim. And needs a read fender. But close enough for now. Need to pull some staples off the seat and tighten that up a little. Guess my ass did put some wrinkles. ]
Plated 2 stroke doing well! Almost 3k on the same top end I put in about a year or so ago. Been using motorex cross2t. Proving very comfy and capable sub 50,55 mph dirt riding. Giving my xr280 a real run for the money except in rocks. Only 4 stroke advantages are premix hassles and range so far. And jetting. Jetting super critical on this 2 stroke
Here's my 87 model KDX. I did a complete mechanical rebuild and spent way too much on it but I love the results. The headlight is from my 85 XR350 that has a Baja Designs dualsport kit. I also have a very nice 92 model KDX but didn't have a pic handy. KDX 200s are my favorite bike for woods riding.
Sold my '04 200 EXC last year and regretted it ever since, so I picked up this '09 XC-W this past Friday...
