Quote:
Originally Posted by Jakobi
Funny how we all comment on the KTM above the bike feeling. I get it too and for some reason it doesn't inspire confidence. I feel very detached.
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I know, it is really crazy. I switched from a 94 YZ250 to a 2k KTM 300mxc and it was a night and day type of change for me. When I picked up the bike, I just figured it was that "foreign" new bike thing. I never got comfortable on that bike. A friend of mine [about my size] had switched to this crazy new woods bike from Spain with "old fashioned" forks that had one side compression and the other side rebound damping adjustments. It was the GG 200 and we were all busting his ballz about going backwards with his Spanish time machine. We nicknamed it the "marshmallow" due to the zoke forks. Anyway, long story short .. our previous nights campfire fun was short lived. When the flag dropped the next morning for the hare scramble, he was gone and I mean GONE. He just checked out and we never saw him again until we got back to camp after the race. He went on that year to win his class for his enduro series. He said the difference was not just the bikes power delivery and suspension, rather it was the height and ergos. He had more confidence because he knew that he could "dab" his feet without fear like on the KTM 200 he was on the previous year.
That really stuck with me and when the opportunity presented itself I picked up my 1st gasser, the 01 250XC and never looked back. It felt more like my old mid 90's YZ and I was noticeably quicker on it.