given the extreme instruction we’ d had we were picking tougher trails – that little instruction offering a better understanding, allowing us to keep cooler heads to tackle the challenges. Except Frank who stuck to his guns – more throttle everywhere! So is there a secret to extreme? Well, yes there are some secrets, those top boys are not going to tell all for want of retaining their hard-won position. But for us mortals both Jonny and Taddy were united in their advice.“ You must get the basics right, first and foremost. Practice throttle and clutch control, braking too. You have to refine your feel and control of those before doing anything tricky. We see lots of guys who turn up at schools just wanting to launch themselves over a fallen tree or up rock steps – but you can’ t do any of that stuff until you’ ve got the basic controls sorted.” Indeed, there’ s plenty the extreme enduro riders can teach us about control, a little of what they do will make us better riders. We should learn from them. But as for competing in hard enduros – no, not for me. They have my respect but, you know, I know my limitations …
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for easy trail manners. I’ m always testing its low end pull as I’ ll ascend technical climbs at a snail pace in second with revs just above stall – the 300 will do this all day. It’ s an accommodating bike, even more so now that there’ s no jetting to fiddle with. And with the much-improved fuel consumption that TPI brings you can take it for longer trail rides, matching the four-strokes. I tried a 300EXC equipped with the upmarket WP Cone Valve forks and Trax shock, too. That’ s quality suspension, but I could tell it was tuned to suit a faster, better rider than I. It’ s designed to work optimally at speed – only speeds I rarely attain. I’ d say if you were a clubman level rider, riding trail more than racing, then the set-up would have limited value. KTM’ s off-road product manager Jochi Sauer was in agreement.“ For sure the Cone Valve and Trax equipment is there to help the racer and it works so well for them. But we tune the standard suspension to work optimally for the hobby rider, which is the majority of our customers, so it works best at the speeds and on the kind of terrain they’ ll enjoy. Even for me now( Jochi is a former European enduro champion), I prefer the standard suspension.” Equally while the word is racers are looking for a snappier map on the fuel injection, for the vast majority the existing map, which seems to allow for a decidedly linear rev from bottom to mid, suits just fine. Jochi Sauer:“ We are working on a new alternative map and it will be a more aggressive one which will, for sure, suit the racers, but again I think for me the one we have now will remain my pick for my riding and I think this will be the case for most people.“ It’ s still early days with the TPI bikes, so we are still building knowledge. And even among our test riders in the R & D department its not easy to get a consensus, no two riders like the same setting!” There’ s an interesting phenomenon with the KTM EXC two-strokes. I’ ve been riding them since the late 1990s and the 300 in particular has always felt the same, year-in year-out. I can compare my experiences riding an extreme event in NZ back in 1999( where only 150 from 500 finished( I can count myself as one of the 150 only on account the 300EXC was so brilliant) with those of riding with Jonny and Taddy on this day. The basic formula has remained the same. But we know the latest bikes are better and for sure I appreciate the benefits of the fuel injection – the greater fuel range, the direct oil injection( so no more fussing with premix) and no more need to re-jet according to conditions. I also appreciate that the EXCs can get me to places few other enduros can – or at least for a lot less stress. It was an exceptional bike then and – thanks to TPI overcoming the latest emission regulations – it’ s an exceptional bike now, and into the future …
62 KIWI RIDER