These traits only raise their head when quietly manoeuvring and in particularly slow and snotty terrain . But guess what ? This is not an EXC , it is not expected to idle over roots with just a whisper of throttle on . No , this is a full-on crosscountry racer , and as soon as the XC-F is a little above idle all is forgiven . Why ? Because , bloody hell , this thing absolutely hauls , especially when clicking through the box using the quickshifter . It is aggressively fast , responsive , and business like , very similar in feel to a motocross engine feel . But with cross-country mapping , it ’ s fun and exciting while offering surprisingly good traction in the slick conditions - the traction control helps here .
STRANGE COMPARISON Now , I know this is going to seem like a wildly odd comparison , but I hope it goes some way to bringing understanding how this engine feels ... my own dirt ride is a KTM 500EXC and , without doubt , this 250 has a greater intensity of power at certain revs . Sure , it lacks some torque in comparison , but it makes up for that in responsiveness . It is an easier engine to go fast on , less demanding , while not being quite so easy to briskly cruise on - it wants to go ! Largely , the 250 requires less effort to ride . The other area of note is that because engine inertia is minimal , the quick revving powerful nature of the engine is more controllable . When power is cut , drive stops . That may seem obvious , but has not always been the case with some engines . High revs and a lot of engine inertia don ’ t often mix well because the flywheel effect can take control from the rider . Years ago , in slippery conditions , PE250s would keep wheel spinning at high revs after the throttle was closed momentarily , because the heavy flywheel was keen to stay in motion . Not always helpful if one was full lock sideways at the time ... More recently earlier KTM300s had a similar
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