Ride Report ? - want another one or not 11 300

[BrentMartell]

LOL, well, sometimes I don't even want to hear what I have to say so I just keep my mouth shut.

Reverup- you did what most upper level riders would do. I have a special deal going with the dealer to work on set up and figure out issue's so riding this bike in mainly stock form first was our goal. I can now provide feedback to the dealer about my experiences which will help them to provide better service to their customers.

I am looking forward to this coming weekend to test out the new fork springs and see how the bike handles. I am expecting great things!

[BrentMartell]

Follow up: The bike now has between 800-1000 miles. This is the basic set up:

Hyde skid/pipe guard
Scorpion rad guards
Clark 3.2 tank
Promoto FIT system/w stabilizer
Forks- .46, valved
Shock. 5.2 stock valving
Promoto wide pegs
Shoria lithium iron battery
N2zw #2 needle, 40 pj, 178 main

Mechanically this bike has not shown any issues at all and I have not been babying it. The estart is not consistent but I am glad I have it. My little midget legs need all the help they can get. Wheel bearings, linkage etc, are all in excellent shape.

My first few rides had me concerned about fuel mileage as I was seeing 15-17 mpg. Yesterday's ride was 75 miles of mixed fast open desert to some nice slow gnarly single track. We started at about 3000 feet and went to 6000. It appears the bike got 25 mpg. The day before it was 23 mpg and I ran more WFO type terrain. So far I am very pleased and hope to see 30 plus on mountain single track.

The more time I have on the bike the happier I am. It turns well, the front brake works well, the ergo's are comfortable, the bike feels light and nimble, and the power is suptle and effortless.

I am still working on suspension set up but it is just fine tuning for ME at this point. Suspension fine tuning I think is very specific to the individual rider and what they feel is right. I think I am very close but I need to look at spring rates and pre-load a little more carefully. My brain is telling me I am too stiff in the forks with .46's and I need to be running .44's. Since this bike does not have preload fork spring adjusment I should measure that too. I am also going to try running less preload on the shock spring. If anyone has any thoughts on this stuff let me know.

Summary- so far this bike is awesome.

[REVERUP]

Listen to your brain. I think you will be happier with .44's.

I weigh 30# more than you and run .44's. I however probably race less desert events than you though riding here in Washington. Desert usually requires going up in spring rates. Alot of our stuff is gnarly tight slow where a bit softer produces better results.
Mine forks work well in everything but I have experienced some slight bottoming in high speed surprise G outs.

Roscoe

[coopernicus]

Brent,

Thanks for passing on your current setup! My riding partner just got a new 300 and he's watching your posts (and others) for setup tips. We ride in Colorado and were wondering how the jetting is working out at the higher altitude on single track trails? When you get some info, please pass it along! Also, how do you like the Hyde skid plate for racing? It seems to work for trail riding (for me) but I don't have any big hits yet to see if it will be durable when the big hit comes. Thanks!

Eric

[BrentMartell]

Roscoe, I think I will give it a test. Our desert races are over for the most part now. Also, I have not yet bottomed out since installing the springs and the valving. I am running 130mm oil height, 5wt. I use all but the last 2 inches.

Eric, I am really happy with the jetting so far and it worked up to 6000 ft. By reducing the main and the pilot I may very well be able to use this same needle to 9000 ft. My plug and tail pipe appear to be perfectly colored. Tan, no spooge, and the motor is crisp and responsive. Hyde, is OK. The fit is not as good as I expected but not bad enough to do anything different. I have hit some stuff pretty hard and it seems to be quite durable. It collects mud though!

[rgranger]

Can you post your mod for the left side air filter access. I had starter issues and wound up making a thicker gasket for the left case. I never liked KTM's estart setup but shimming the transfer gear was a little easier than making a new gasket. I had Hall's send me several so next time I will just stack a few up. I have a buddy in the custom auto business and he suggested having some steel gaskets cut. I need to follow up with his guy and see what it would run. I don't think there is a "seal" issue on that side, so more control over shimming would be a good thing. I noticed that my bike started well to begin with and then as the gasket compressed it started to bind.

[BrentMartell]

I didn't take pictures but I will try and remember to do so. The mod is real simple. I removed the plastic screw that secures the back of the cover to the subframe. Pull the cover out and forward to remove from the bike. I trimmed the white plastic piece that comes from the number plate and inserts into the cover. This allows easier assembly. The hardest part is to install the rivet nut in the subframe rail where the plastic screw was. This requires a drill, a rivet nut, and a rivet nut install tool. Rivet nuts are simply the nut that is inserted into the subframes. KTM uses these and actually so does GG just not in all the places they should.

I also installed rivet nuts in the subframe mounting holes for the silencer. Now I don't have to deal with a bolt and nut, just remove the bolt.

I will try and get some photos for you.

[BrentMartell]

If the weather holds up I will install the .42 in the other fork leg and see how the combo works tonight. A .46 and a .42 effectively is a .44.

I also re-read the e start posts on here and will look at the alignment of the stater motor and spacing the cover. Something has to work.

I have a friend who just purchased the other 300 my dealer had in stock. He did a break in ride Sunday. His latest ride was a nice Honda CRF450X. Bottomline- he is super pumped about this his Gas Gas. His estart is perfect, the motor is way better than he had imagined, etc. He was all smiles. We may need to work his suspension set up a little but I think we can dial it in pretty well in stock form for his preferences.