Mark Rossi
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2011
Myself and the family traveled to Australia, for our annual holiday visiting family.
Over the weekend I had the pleasure of riding/racing the 2011 KTM SXF 250 and 350 mx bikes.
As in Thailand we often don't even have the opportunity to see these motorcycles I thought I would share my experience, and thoughts of these bikes
The 2011 bikes look sweet, KTM have always had eye catching bikes, however the Antonio Cairoli world championship 350 replica is a real head turner in the pits, with its gold triple clamps and Cairoli sponsor graphics.
The race event was held in Grafton a small country town just 60min north of my parents home town Coffs Harbour. I was able to enter in 3 classes, over 35's, MX lites and Open all powers. Each class has 3 races, so in all I was up for 9 events for the day.
This is how you look after racing 8 events in 1 day, still one to go.
My prep was pretty short I had 2 laps of practice to learn the bike and the track. the track was slippery wet clay for practice caused by the previous nights deluge. But as the day sun dried the soil it became tacky with lots of traction and some nicely rutted turns.
The SXF 250
First impressions of the 250 as I sat on the bike to adjust the controls where confusing, the layout of the motorcycle felt nice and fitted well, all but the handle bars they seem to be a little wider than the norm, but once we started to roll I didn't notice this on the track.
The front fork felt completely spongy and soft with a complete lack of dampening both compression and rebound, a adjustment to the compression gave zero effect, not sure if there was a fault here, the bike had only done 1 race before so I expect not ???. The motorcycle has been factory set for a sub 75kg rider so my 80kg was a little heavy for the suspension.
In contrast to the fork the shock was setup stiff, it was insisted this is the way the bike came from the factory, It just did't figure, as I had to back the spring pre-load down 2 turns to balance the shock with the fork
KTM SXF 250. photo taken after a 2 lap practice.
The engine was very linear and super smooth. The fuel injection was faultless with zero bog, I didnt even come close to stalling this bike. This was a wet and difficult track early in the day, on a bike I didnt know, I thought the bike not even having a sniff towards a stall was very impressive of the how well the EFI works
The engines power was so seamless. It took me nearly all day hitting the rev limiter, before I realised the bike was able to pull a higher gear much sooner.
I got the jump out of the start gate most times just to be mowed down by 3 to 4 riders before I made the first corner turn. Until the 6th race when I learned the engine a little more and I came into the first turn level with a 350 which was impressive as the start straight was over 100m.
What is really impressive about this bike is its stability the bike tracked and turned very well, and most of all was very stable in corners. I never once lost the front end in the difficult conditions. By the end of the day as I became more trusting in the front end you could really chop and change you lines, this was awesome for the close races we had going, as I was able to find lots of passing points on a track, a track considered by the rest of the competitors as being one lined.
Brakes where outstanding, thats all I can say about the brakes.
By the end of the day and I worked out the balance of the bike, I became more and more impressed. Earlier in the day I had a little trouble riding aggressively into the face of the jumps as I was unable to ride to far over the front with the softer front fork, but by mid afternoon and the track roughened up I was liking the pogo style suspension on the sharp edged bumps and was able to hit the jumps with full aggression.
One instant I had a fallen riders bike infront of me as I aired out a jump and had no where to go. I hit the bike in a second after landing with compressed suspension and surely thought my bike would cartwheel, however surprisingly the little Kato plough straight over the bike and stayed in control, this was impressive of how stable the bike was.
I feel with a little stronger front fork compression I would be able to go through the faster corners a gear higher.
The 250 was impressive, the handling is a notch above any KTM I have ridden before its stability is impeccable, it corners very well and exceptional in flat wide turns. The motor is strong and very easy to use, the bike starts easy every time and had faultless EFI.
The fork was a let down, it was set in a way I have never ridden a bike, much like the feeling of a KLX 250? But as I became used to the fork and worked out the bikes balance it still worked and did its job well, just in a different way to the mainstream.
Over the weekend I had the pleasure of riding/racing the 2011 KTM SXF 250 and 350 mx bikes.
As in Thailand we often don't even have the opportunity to see these motorcycles I thought I would share my experience, and thoughts of these bikes
The 2011 bikes look sweet, KTM have always had eye catching bikes, however the Antonio Cairoli world championship 350 replica is a real head turner in the pits, with its gold triple clamps and Cairoli sponsor graphics.
The race event was held in Grafton a small country town just 60min north of my parents home town Coffs Harbour. I was able to enter in 3 classes, over 35's, MX lites and Open all powers. Each class has 3 races, so in all I was up for 9 events for the day.
This is how you look after racing 8 events in 1 day, still one to go.
My prep was pretty short I had 2 laps of practice to learn the bike and the track. the track was slippery wet clay for practice caused by the previous nights deluge. But as the day sun dried the soil it became tacky with lots of traction and some nicely rutted turns.
The SXF 250
First impressions of the 250 as I sat on the bike to adjust the controls where confusing, the layout of the motorcycle felt nice and fitted well, all but the handle bars they seem to be a little wider than the norm, but once we started to roll I didn't notice this on the track.
The front fork felt completely spongy and soft with a complete lack of dampening both compression and rebound, a adjustment to the compression gave zero effect, not sure if there was a fault here, the bike had only done 1 race before so I expect not ???. The motorcycle has been factory set for a sub 75kg rider so my 80kg was a little heavy for the suspension.
In contrast to the fork the shock was setup stiff, it was insisted this is the way the bike came from the factory, It just did't figure, as I had to back the spring pre-load down 2 turns to balance the shock with the fork
KTM SXF 250. photo taken after a 2 lap practice.
The engine was very linear and super smooth. The fuel injection was faultless with zero bog, I didnt even come close to stalling this bike. This was a wet and difficult track early in the day, on a bike I didnt know, I thought the bike not even having a sniff towards a stall was very impressive of the how well the EFI works
The engines power was so seamless. It took me nearly all day hitting the rev limiter, before I realised the bike was able to pull a higher gear much sooner.
I got the jump out of the start gate most times just to be mowed down by 3 to 4 riders before I made the first corner turn. Until the 6th race when I learned the engine a little more and I came into the first turn level with a 350 which was impressive as the start straight was over 100m.
What is really impressive about this bike is its stability the bike tracked and turned very well, and most of all was very stable in corners. I never once lost the front end in the difficult conditions. By the end of the day as I became more trusting in the front end you could really chop and change you lines, this was awesome for the close races we had going, as I was able to find lots of passing points on a track, a track considered by the rest of the competitors as being one lined.
Brakes where outstanding, thats all I can say about the brakes.
By the end of the day and I worked out the balance of the bike, I became more and more impressed. Earlier in the day I had a little trouble riding aggressively into the face of the jumps as I was unable to ride to far over the front with the softer front fork, but by mid afternoon and the track roughened up I was liking the pogo style suspension on the sharp edged bumps and was able to hit the jumps with full aggression.
One instant I had a fallen riders bike infront of me as I aired out a jump and had no where to go. I hit the bike in a second after landing with compressed suspension and surely thought my bike would cartwheel, however surprisingly the little Kato plough straight over the bike and stayed in control, this was impressive of how stable the bike was.
I feel with a little stronger front fork compression I would be able to go through the faster corners a gear higher.
The 250 was impressive, the handling is a notch above any KTM I have ridden before its stability is impeccable, it corners very well and exceptional in flat wide turns. The motor is strong and very easy to use, the bike starts easy every time and had faultless EFI.
The fork was a let down, it was set in a way I have never ridden a bike, much like the feeling of a KLX 250? But as I became used to the fork and worked out the bikes balance it still worked and did its job well, just in a different way to the mainstream.