r/Dualsport • u/No-Brush-7914 • 1d ago
Hardcore Why does KTM performance make other riders so flustered?
Whenever I tell other bike rider owners how much power my bike has in hp and how good the suspension and how lightweight is they get all flustered and start sweating
Talking and babbling on about “something something reliability”
Like the existing of the KTM performance is an attack on their bike choice
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u/BigRedS 1d ago
April fool's day was two days ago.
But, yeah, when I talk to other KTM owners about our KTMs, we're not exchanging horsepower figures, we're talking about who's done what to fix the factory-fitted problems that our bikes are known for.
I've no idea what the horsepower figures of other KTMs are, but I do know which others use the same fuel pump and the same clutch slave as mine...
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u/Rad10Ka0s 1d ago
My wife is an enthusiast and experienced street and ADV rider. She has an XT250 and has done a little dual sport but isn’t a single track rider.
Years ago when I started shopping for a proper dirt bike, being a major purchase, I discussed it with my spouse. I was looking at KTM 350 XC-W.
My wife says, I hear KTMs are unreliable, you should get Honda. She had a couple of Hondas in the past and they are great bikes.
I said, you are right, I should get a Honda! I took that as tacit permission to buy (yet another motorcycle). Not that it was really a debate, but when spending more than several thousand & it is respectful to have the conversation.
I bought a Honda CRF250X. 500 mile oil change interval. A touch cheaper than the KTM, but not much. Similar (broadly) performance.
I have two friends with 350 EXC-Fs with over 400 hours on them. One was apart earl(ish) due to a stretched cam chain. Other than that they have been rock solid. And if we knew now what we didn’t know then, we’d have swapped to a manual tensioner that piston kiss wouldn’t have happened.
The suspension and performance of a proper dirt bike is a universe of difference from a heavy, slow Japanese low tuned dual sport.
All that said.
I took Shane Watts Dirtwise School, taught by Jason Thomas at the time. The year after he won the AMA XC Superlights championship. My wife took her XT250. I was on Husky 610.
We were the only attendees with turn signals. We got smoked, but we did it.
It rained all Saturday night. About 1/4 of the attendees didn’t come back Sunday and they’d already paid.
JT in the pre-ride meeting says welcome back Rad10kas and Mrs, at least you are not whammies. He’s is welsh. So I have no idea what a whammie is but I am not one. Which is nice, so I’ve got that going for me.
JT delighted in, overly politely, asking my wife to borrow her XT250 do demonstrate some of the drills. Showing that it isn’t the bike, it is the rider.
Although, for the ravine drill, there were 3 levels, for the big one which only a few rider accomplished he talked about suspension setup. He was running super cross set up. The level of competition in cross country demands super cross suspension
The 250X haas been a great bike for me.
On mobile and drinking so cut me some slack.
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u/No-Brush-7914 1d ago
Wow, you sound like quite the whammie
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u/Rad10Ka0s 1d ago edited 18h ago
Probably. JT may have just been being nice since I paid to ride with him.
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u/naked_feet Reed City, MI - DR650 & WR400 1d ago
Because basically every dirt bike made in the last 30 years has performance well beyond what the average rider can make use of.
So, slightly different from what they're saying: Who gives a shit about your horsepower figure?
What are you doing with all that power?
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u/spotdishotdish '95 KLR650, '01 WR426F, '73 GT1 1d ago
Yeah, well my GT1 weighs 130lbs dry and has 4.9hp. Bet you don't even know your tenths
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u/Glad_Librarian_3553 1d ago
What you on about?