daijones

Sorry I was out of town and couldn't make it

I did this race in 2011 and wasn't too impressed and said I wouldn't do it again, in fact I didn't bother doing the 2nd day and drove home instead. Not much singletrack, more fast hardpack/rocky and whooped out trails and too many cactus plus very dusty. There were a few easy / hard splits on later loops where hard options were fun but overall not that great IMO. But might have been improved since then and some rain would make quite a difference.

I've had 4 recent 300's, 09/10/11/12 so know a bit about them. Yes estarts can be a bit weak on pre 13 and I always kick mine from cold, I also use a lithium iron battery as lighter and stronger but that being said I pulled estart from my race 12 300XC as so rarely stall it so what carry around the extra weight. But on all the others as long as batter is charged never had an issue with starting warm but the later design seems like a good idea. Differences by year, I think only 300 had estart in 08 but 250 was estart ready, or maybe it was 300's but not 250's however suspension that year sucked. 09 was good solid bike, 10 slightly better. 11 was big change with 6 speed gearbox which was big improvement, 5 speed XCW was too gappy, 5 speed XC perfect spaced but could be too high in 1st or too low in 5th at times. 11 XC also has new frame design that XCW got in 12 when XC moved to linkage rear. XC has (better IMO) CC forks and XCW has OC, XC is more of a race bike and stiffer damping so probably XCW best. 250 v 300 then, 300's feel heavier, vibrate more, overheat and can feel more intimidating as there's so much power but for deep sand not so much of an issue however I would recommend a 250 as easier to ride and plenty of power and one day if needed easy to convert to a 300. While I probably wouldn't recommend it I happen to have a nice 2010 300XC that I need to sell when I get the chance to put it back together.

+1 on BPD rad guards, well worth the money IMO unless you never crash of course. As for local dealers I bought my 08 530EXC from NCY and later found I got screwed on the bike and accessories so I've never been back and won't, yes my bad to some extent letting it happen but not a good experience. Next I bought a 10 300XC from RJ and AAK and a totally different and great experience from the sale to support, absolutely great so I have bought all other KTM's from them. I do however buy some parts and accessories online as cheaper plus free shipping and no tax and they're not in the most convenient location. My next choice as backup plan would be Veys, Robert the owner is a nice guy and supports local races and events and rides the same things we do, only things I have bought from there were using a gift voucher I won from a race and I would go back there as a backup if necessary

I have always basically used spaughs procedure although less so on torque settings, I just do it by feel. One key is to make sure the right side axle moves easily within the fork boss so should be lubed and you can test by making sure it when pushed in and out it springs back under its own force. In general and if wanting to save a little time this can position the axle near enough correctly to torque it down. I agree with suspenders that even better is to remove fork springs (or caps and bars) to allow forks to fully bottom then knowing everything is fully aligned clamp everything up. not used the motion pro tool but can see it could help, I like and own many of their tools but don't see I need this one.

Certainly makes sense and I think I read British Airways has suspended all direct flights from those countries quite a few weeks ago. But folks will still fly (and drive then fly) via other countries as business must go on so impossible to be 100% effective although reducing the possibility is certainly a good idea. Funnily I read a book where ebola was prime subject, might have been Congo by Michael Crichton where it was real bad in Kinshasa, Zaire (formerly Belgian Congo and now Democratic Republic of Congo), this was late 90's. 6 months later at the tail end of their civil war I went over there as our company got a big contract and nobody else would go, landed to find one hanger and several aircraft still smoldering after an explosion which turned out to be caused by some dodgy Russian ammunition they had stored there which somehow got set off. I was there on and off for over a year, great people but incredible poverty and so many totally amazing dirt bike riding possibilities. Did feel a bit bad after telling everyone in the company that everything was fine then 1 guy was there during the coup when the president was killed and 2 other guys taxi got held up and gunpoint and the driver argued and got killed and the guys had everything taken from them. And just read today that a group of researchers traced HIV back to Kinshasa in 1920's. But not knowing that I wouldn't want to go to a hospital there, we had another guy got bit by something and his elbow was the size of a football so we flew him down to South Africa to get treatment and he was fine after a few days, crazy stuff. So many other stories from there but some great smart people that want to learn and I enjoyed working with them. Now we could talk about Nigeria and little to say good about that other than escaping unharmed.

If I happened to be left with a Honda and I couldn't do it myself then C&D for sure, greatest of guys amd really know there stuff.

Not sure I agree that larger fork tubes tend to leak much more readily than smaller tubes, anyway my sachs shocks had 40mm or so lowers so not much different from forks. I Think the difference is back then especially on rear additional stiction wasn't seen as a big deal but now we know more and I think that's the issue with air forks that to get consistent performance without all the add ons to compensate that regular seals can't work so only options are higher stiction/lower loss seals with lesser performance or the standard low stiction seals with a scheme to compensate for issues.

So looking forward to it, need to get some riding in though.

All of these additions seem to be negating one of the original goals of cheaper. Also somewhat surprised they're having so much issues, I sachs hydrocross air shocks on my 1980 KTM RV125 and had no issues with leaking, I would recheck pressure which involved a bit of leakage so would have to add a bit of air back in to compensate once a month or so but that was it so surely with seal technology improvements in 30 years it should be difficult to prevent leaks.

Good point, illegal riding I would say biggest issue at Corral has been cutting new unauthorized trails, illegal vehicles well noisy and no spark arrestors would be top candidates. Then we get to dangerous riding/driving but I fortunately mainly ride during the week so not so bad as at weekends it can be scary, no respect for other users.

Personally I don't object to the adventure pass fee, seems good value if administered properly, nice to actually have toilets at 4 corners these days. But not happy when our fees are taken away to fund other projects. I have met ranger Tull and his team a few times when helping cut the new trails and just around and we are so fortunate to have someone like that here and while I've never had any trouble I'm quite happy that they are checking for illegal riding, vehicles etc. so we can keep these limited riding areas open.

Very cool, best of luck to Justin as such a nice guy and awesome rider

Might be up for sunday but not too early

Definitely in although will be interesting exactly which rules they use. Last enduro they used the "national" format where you have mixed abilities on each row which has pros and cons, I ended up with Charlie Mullins and other champions a few minutes behind me and ever test pushing me to move over, and amusingly Mullins crashed just after passing me so I had to sit and wait while he got going again. The west chec rules are better in that riders of similar skill level start together so A's first x rows then B next Y rows however this can make it tougher for newer riders staring at the back when course has got more cur up, again more pros and cons.

I've never trickled charged any of my modern bikes and leave them sometime for a couple of months between rides and no issues but mostly I have turntech Lithium Ion batteries on them.

I would definitely run taller gearing, I used 14/48 on my 08 530 and still rarely used 1st only on most extreme stuff, admittedly that has a bit more bottom end torque than your 450. Can't remember in your rebuild thread but did you put in a new clutch, they seem to last ages but if not to put another 200+ hours on may be pushing it? Spare throttle cable, had one break and easy insurance although I was able to get the close cable to work and ride out.

Never had any wheel bearing issues on any of my recent KTM's, 400 hours on 530 and 300 hours on a 300 and no play at all. I don't pressure wash my bikes much which I think helps but been very pleased, only bearing I had to replace around 280 hours on my 300 was the lower hiem joint which has a touch of play.

As with dirt tires always easier to come off and break the bead if they're warm after a ride and new tires left out in the sun go on easier.

I like the MSR Litening pak, minimalistic and hardly know I have it on but I prep my bikes so I don't need much in way of spares plus I don't ride that far away should something bad happen, wrap around hand guards so no need for spare levers, mousses so no need for spare tube or tire levers etc.

The KTM linkage design isn't the best and it does hang up on rocks and tree crossings unless you're Taddy and jump everything, my linkage bikes have lots of abuse on the lower mount but nothing critical so have got a fastaway link/guard to try and see if it reduces hang ups. Personally I think this was a bad design by KTM however the linkage was primarily designed for MX so no issue, personally I prefer it to PDS for off road also as found on recent XC and XCF models.

Fun race and similar conditions to McCain. Bit dry and dusty for me plus some sections quite whoopy and MX track sections were real fast and only place to relax. Some great tight sections where I could make up time but kept catching slower riders that just wouldn't move over (I started from last line) and I don't want to take someone out to make a pass. So rather frustrating especially sat in so much dust but lost so much time on first lap with bottleneck so happy enough with 2nd in 40B and in top half of results overall. But Roberto beat me good even racing his old bike and only just missed the podium in the very hot 50A class so good on him. Still bit sore today but not been riding enough lately. Fun though and would recommend to anyone else to do the next race there, can't believe 2 years ago we had 6 inches of snow for this event.

The old calvmx track in Jamul is very noob friendly but not sure if it's still open, rode there once a couple of years ago and was fun but can't find any links to it, will look more.

I could be tempted by this, also prefer weekdays but first week in April I'm away, week of April 7th or 14th could be good though, I would probably just bring my 300XC.

The KTM 300's are great but incredibly flexible in set up so definitely worth spending the time to adjust to how you want it. As Rob said before doing anything other than basic break in get the correct springs for your weigh front and rear and set shock sag around 110mm as staring point. Next look at jetting, most KTM 2 strokes come a bit rich as standard so OK for break in but even at sea level they spooge so depending on where you will normally ride leaner jetting will be needed, 162 main, down 2 on needle and 2 out on AS is a good start IMO for McCain/Corral Canyon. And both these places are great to paly with different settings, the power valve preload and different springs have noticeable changes so worth trying and easy do on the trail. Fell free to PM me if you have any questions.