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Intro: New to Off-Road and New to KTM

4K views 22 replies 11 participants last post by  hedonist222 
#1 ·
Hey, riders, David here. Looking forward to taking delivery of a 2019 KTM EXC-F next weekend.

As noted, this new to me. Prior to 2013 (at which point, I was already 43), I had never ridden a motorcycle. That year I took the BRC and bought a new Tiger 800 "Roadie". In the years since, I've put 30k on the odometer (99.9% road, 0.1% gravel). Great bike, BTW. I have every intention of riding it to 100k or more.

I took my brother to Moab last October for his 50th (he's a big mountain biker but with 7 kids, he doesn't get out of NY much). One of the days we rented CRF 230s and hit some great trails. I've had the bug ever since. That said, even with my almost non-existant off-road experience, by the end of the day on the CRF, I felt that the bike was extremely underwhelming.

So anyway, I just pulled the trigger and I'm looking forward to some great riding and learning from the more experienced here on the forum.

Final note: I'm only 5'7" so I'm a bit intimidated by the idea of learning dirt on this bike. I'll be searching the forum for all things "short rider".

Cheers!
David
 
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#5 ·
Welcome Sir! 500 EXC? Seems to be the go-to for a lot of people these days due to the minuscule weight difference between the 350 and 500.

Just be for-warned that the EXC lineup in N.America comes full of smog crap, reeds in your airbox and a very lean tune from factory so will be substantially softer than the XC / SX lineup.

Moab on my bucket list! Jelly. My boss is heading there end of the month on his 500 and looks like a blast. Post some pics of your new bike when you get it and enjoy your stay here.
 
#6 ·
Welcome Sir! 500 EXC? Seems to be the go-to for a lot of people these days due to the minuscule weight difference between the 350 and 500.

Just be for-warned that the EXC lineup in N.America comes full of smog crap, reeds in your airbox and a very lean tune from factory so will be substantially softer than the XC / SX lineup.

Moab on my bucket list! Jelly. My boss is heading there end of the month on his 500 and looks like a blast. Post some pics of your new bike when you get it and enjoy your stay here.
Thanks. Just the 250 for a few of reasons: 1) the 500 is $3k more; 2) my understanding is that, with the exception of really good riders, trails in the Mid-Atlantic are not ideal for larger bikes (I'll probably get an earful for this but I'm just a newb--I'm only reporting what I've heard); and 3) being new to dirt riding, I figure the 250 will be sufficient for years to come.

Moab is awesome! My brother and I will be going back next October for my 50th. Tell your boss that in addition to dirt biking, he should rent a Jeep for a day and hit Hell's Revenge. It's a blast.

I'll post a pic for sure. Picking it up Friday.
 
#7 ·
Nothing wrong with the 250! Those have more than enough power to get a guy in trouble and much more nimble than the 500's. I completely agree the larger bikes are more of a handful for a less experienced rider.

We were actually watching videos on Hell's Revenge and looks crazy fun, anyways enjoy the new bike and keep us updated with mods & pictures ;)
 
#8 ·
hello and welcome david. good to have you here. great intro, great story. your experience is common with on and off road motorcycle enthusiasts. some of us start riding and enjoy it in our youth and need to put the bike aside while other things take more of our time, like career and family and grown up stuff. then we get bit again by the motorcycle bug again and its worse than ever now that we are adults, because we have the extra disposable income to spend on our bikes. i would expect your 250 4stroke to be an excellent trail bike and tons of fun. enjoy this madness now and be sure to post up often with pictures and descriptions of your (mis)adventures on your bike.
 
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#12 ·
Now that's a happy fellow there.
Best of luck to you on your adventures.
Be sure to post up pictures and video of your riding adventures. Now get out and get that bike dirty ;)
 
#13 ·
Nice ride!

I only started riding again at 43 a few years back too.

Based on your backstory, I've made a few assumptions and offer some potential help. If you're all over it, I apologise; just trying to help save you some frustration.

Anyhow: you look quite fit and strong - that's a two-edged sword as you may tend to rely on that strength when riding in the dirt (really active single track type stuff, hill climbs - that kind of thing). I know I did and it doesn't work.

What you must do is anticipate all the accelerations in dirtbiking or you'll quickly wear yourself out 'hanging on'. That's why so many people say to get a smaller engined bike because 'bigger bikes are a handful'.

Watch the best MX riders in the world (Herlings is a good example): they're able to hang on to a 450 at full noise for 30-40 minutes in the sand. They don't look half as strong as you but they're employing technique to use minimal effort for nearly all aspects of riding. They save their strength to wrestle it back into shape when things don't go as expected.

I've always gymmed and am quite fit and strong - when I started riding I could hang on and ride quite well due to lots of mtb riding. But I always got worn out, sometimes within minutes, so I doubled down on strength and added more cardio. Trail rides involved frequent stopping (every 5-15 minutes) as my bad technique meant that the bike would always win. Most of my riding buddies were the same.

After 3-4 years, despite getting training and coaching (I must be slow to learn but then I am an old dog), I'm only starting to figure out the right techniques - still a way to go but I can ride faster than ever and keep going for hours - simply through better anticipation of all the accelerations and not relying on strength except when sh!t happens.

Hope it helps you have an awesome time on that awesome bike - dirt biking is the best!

Gary Semics has great videos (don't be afraid of MX training) but face-to-face coaching is the best money you'll spend on your bike - it makes everything work better.
 
#14 ·
Thanks for the input. At this point, I'll take all I can get. Glad the pic uploaded. Even now when I look at my two posts, I only see a bunch of non-sensical text.

You're right about "hanging on". I did some double track yesterday and my arms were pretty tired by the end. I suspect it's similar to when I first got the Tiger. My throttle hand would go numb after only a little riding. Without realizing it I was holding the handlebars with a death grip. Over time, as I got comfortable, that happened less and less.

Thanks to everyone for the encouragement and well wishes. What riding I did yesterday was a blast and I'm looking forward to much more today, tomorrow and in the years to come!

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 
#20 ·
I'm 100% transparent with my dealer on how I service it and what parts go on and considering I bought the bike from them and the FMF Power Core 4 it would be insulting if something were to happen and they didn't warranty it.

That being said in the event of a catastrophic engine failure where the guys on the forum combined with my simple wizardry skills could not figure it out then I would be putting the stock parts back on and they can eat the repairs. Too bad you spend XX,000 $'s on a new bike and it's only warrantied for a year.
 
#18 ·
Aside from removing the stock exhaust and installing the FMF, what is involved? Also, be interested to see an answer to Nate's question re warranty

Of course in any event, I won't be doing this any time soon. My wife is already doing her best to avoid noticing all the boxes that keep arriving: Tech 7s, skid plate, gloves, knee guards, Titan Pro jacket, extra oil and filters, air filter cleaning kit...
 
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