If you could scan and share, that'd be great of you. Then I know what I'm either agreeing with (or not!)
I think you are absolutely correct for aggressive riding. Thats what the KTM really accels at and what it really was designed for. With that said, I also could see one of those riders adding 1/2 to 1 inch risers to a street legal KTM for riding the back public access dirt roads in AZ, UT, Big Bend National Park and Big Bend State Park in Texas, etc to allow a bit more comfortable standing over longer periods in a more relaxed mode. I do a lot of this type riding. It still allows a good wheel plant but allows a bit more comfortable stance. For more aggressive riding, its back to the original position.
just sold my extra suspension for my 350 and ordered a rekluse core exp. should be here in a week or so
Just picked up a new 2014 with a new chain and 13/50 sprockets. I was wondering how many links in your chain at 13/50, may save some time eyeballing? Snow keeps falling here but riding is starting up.
If it helps, I run 13/48 on my 2013 and it uses the stock 118 link chain. So I'd guess 120 would be perfect.
Yeah I'm sure I'll love it as well. I had a zstart pro on my husky and it was great. Just finally got some funds together to get one for the 350. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
So the stories about the stock ECU automaticlly going back to stock mapping once flashed are hocum? And KTM telling dealers no reflashes due to EPA illegality didnt happen?
Foot dragger - my humble opinion is that it isn't as simple as black/white on this or many of the other issues that get discussed or argued about on the forums. Not all dealers are created equal. Some dealers seem very pragmatic and customer oriented, and risk tolerant - they know how to interpret lawyer speak from the manufacturers, they have a sense for when not to ask a question that is likely to have a limiting answer. Other ones either don't know and seemingly hand out the first idea that springs to mind as if it is truth hoping you'll accept it and leave, or present the most conservative interpretation hoping that it either protects their interests or leads you to an alternative that leads you down a different mod path that sells some more parts or gets them more hours than a reflash. In my experience it isn't even uniform at the same dealer, one guy who buys a couple of bikes a year every year seems to magically get a different answer than the guy who is nursing along a single older bike. Not all KTM reps at the various levels are created equal - pretty much the same story as above only they are typically feeding out the company line instead of interpreting and acting on the company line. Some of the guys and gals are careful about how they present stuff to try to help give vendors and dealers options and flexibility, while others seem to like to act as all seeing all knowing judges and protectors of company and hand out dire warnings and threats about warranty/etc. Some dealers and service managers are really good advocates. Some KTM corporate reps are very customer oriented. If you are lucky enough to have a good dealer near you, and they know which of the KTM folks to bug, they seem able to get almost any answer or support needed. I am not so fortunate, so here is how I deal with it. I assume that with my luck, and my terrible local dealer service support that I'm totally screwed. That I will be doing every bit of my maintenance, and that I will be paying for anything and everything that ever happens to my bike. Once I come to grips with that, it is very freeing. I do what I want, when I want and don't have to tiptoe around what others think warn about or etc. If I get a happy surprise along the way and some people change positions or I get support that I didn't plan on - it's all good/gravy since I go into every situation assuming 0. It sucks that I have to approach it this way after dropping ~10k on a dirtbike, but I had crap service on my KDX and my BMW in the past also - my guess is that it is my winning charm and personality that earns me such great support. Anyway - this is a long way to say that any answer you are likely to get here on ADVrider about a topic such as a dealer's willingness to ECU flash is not necessarily 100% effective for you, in your situation. That doesn't mean the claims made about dealers not supporting or KTM issuing edicts are "hocum", nor does it mean that you will get the same sort of same day reflash support from the first dealer you pop into. I suspect you'll have to go to a dealer, get their read on it, and if you don't like the answer try again at a different one - or pull the ECU and ship it off to one of the dealers that has shown a willingness to support the reflash. just another opinion, feel free to ignore and good luck regardless
Nearby dealer flashed mine to the XC-W map for $100 CA. Runs perfectly, albeit with less fuel efficiency .
Just an update for anyone considering exhaust. I was pretty conviced the stock exhaust (with the screen removed from the silencer) was the way to go. I have no interest in more top end power, but coming off a 300 2-stroke, I was disappointed in the bottom end power. I had a couple of good crashes early in the season on my 350 because I ended up riding straight into things I thought I was going over. I had the ECU re-mapped, and while this helped, the difference in power was pretty subtle. A few weeks ago I was picking up my forks from my suspension guy and we got to talking about power delivery. He said the right exhaust would transform the bike. I disagreed, but he's smarter than me so I ended up walking out of his shop with a LeoVince X3 Ti-tech full system. He did give me a very, very good deal, so that tipped the scales too. Before I mounted the system, I checked out the really badly reproduced paperwork that came with it. It appeared that there were dyno charts in them, sadly I couldn't make out what they were saying. I got in touch with LeoVince USA and they were able to send me PDF copies. Here is the interesting one, torque: I don't know what the units of measure are there, but to me it seemed there was a healthy dose of extra twist available with this exhaust, so I hung it on the bike. As the saying goes, fits like a glove! I got out for my first ride yesterday, and I must say, I'm very impressed! The bike throttle wheelies in first easily now, and 2nd/3rd gear wheelies only require a little tug on the bars, or a quick fan of the clutch. It doesn't seem like this exhaust is any louder than my previous setup either.
Wow, that's quite an improvement. Is your bike stock other than a remap? I'm in the same boat, thinking the stock exhaust is perfect for my needs... So many farkles so little time....
Maybe this is a noob question but do you need to have the bike mapped accordingly when you add an aftermarket exhaust?
I think if you put on a less restrictive exhaust with the stock fuel map you would be exaggerating the characteristics of the already overly lean fueling. In my case, re-mapping with the stock exhaust did make the bike run much smoother and cooler, made it easier to start and less likely to stall at low RPM. A very worth-while mod in my opinion. I forgot to mention previously, I am running 14/50 gearing, but have been since new so all my comparisons are based on that.
The answer is that it depends on the exhaust and how close to "optimized" you want things to be. Some exhaust systems are tailored to run safely with stock tuning, fueling, etc. Other exhaust systems are packaged with controllers that can provide piggy-back control or adjustment of one or more tuning factors on the bike. And yet other options are sold as "this will fit on your bike, but only for racing and tuning is required" (or some such statement) and you have to figure out what you need/want to do to make yourself happy with performance and reliability given your choices. Some people will argue that it's best to do some level of "tuning" if you want to make the most out of any change. They will start tweaking some other part of the equation, intake mods, after market fuel control, picking a different ECU map that better matches the new combo, changing TPS voltage, etc etc. Other people will just wing it and grab the silencer they like the best for looks or sound and as long as the bike doesn't start seriously complaining with popping or bogging - they just run it. between bikes and cars I've done pretty much every combination with good success as long as I did a bit of research ahead of the time and managed my expectations