4cs forks, OTD prices and other questions

[Smitdog]

I have sold my crf250x which gave me a taste of 4stroke world but not enough bike for me and ready to go back to 2strokes. looking at husky te300 and am thinking of picking one up in two weeks or so.

However I have concerns over forks as I have read a lot of bad reviews. Are there husky riders out there that are happy with them in stock setup. I expect that they need to be sprung for weight at some point but will clickers allow for enough adjustment to avoid this right off? THe concept of having compression on one side and rebound on other doesn't make sense to me as I expect you would want to have each fork acting together for same motion not one side for each motion. Having clickers on top is much easier than ktm forks with adjusters on bottom of forks tho.

Have heard positives and negatives of the linkage in rear. I don't expect it to be an issue for me.

Is the map switch effective? Have read that to some they see no difference.

I have found a few te300s around so wondering what others in New England have paid OTD.

Any thing that can be shared about this bike to make me fully confident it is the right one is appreciated. I was on ktm for long time before Honda so am partial to ktm but cannot find any XCW's this late in 2016 manufacturing season.

I am aware of the ignition adjustments (spring), rear subframe, better rims,etc on TE.

I am 47 years old, 200 lbs with gear at 6'. Ride New England woods and plan on enduros and turkey runs. Used to race so still have a bit of that mentality in the woods.

Thanks

[c0ncEpT]

IMO the 4CS is terrible in stock forum. It might not be an issue riding slower trails and stuff but for motocross it's just plain bad in stock forum.

I can't comment on it revalved yet.

[clappedoutkx]

I'm 32, 5'7" 140 lbs no gear, 160-170 with gear. I race Vet C in North and South Carolina harescrambles and 125 B/C in the GNCC races close to me. I'm experienced, but not particularly fast. I've got about 30 hrs on a 2015 TE125 and am very happy with it.

The 4CS forks are working well for me with stock valving and on stock springs front and rear. They are plush, but I don't bottom them. Front doesn't wash unexpectedly in turns or anything like that. As they broke in, they got a little soft and springy; clickers took care of that. I was originally going to lower the bike an inch and revalve, as has been done on my last two bikes, but I have decided to keep riding it as is.

Where I practice/screw around, there is both singletrack and doubletrack, as well as 2 adult MX tracks and an MX GP track. The doubletrack has hip deep whoops on the straights, and several double jumps. I do all of it, no problems in the suspension department. And I do it pretty gracelessly at times. I also cross plenty of logs and the occasional rock garden.

The Husky suspension is way better than the PDS KTM I came off of was. Its better than my previous woods converted KX was too. Both were resprung and revalved. I need to trade off with a converted YZ and see how that compares back to back.

Long story short, some people love their 4CS , some hate it. I'm not sure yet what all factors into the difference in opinions.

[Not sponsored]

I have sold my crf250x which gave me a taste of 4stroke world but not enough bike for me and ready to go back to 2strokes. looking at husky te300 and am thinking of picking one up in two weeks or so.

However I have concerns over forks as I have read a lot of bad reviews. Are there husky riders out there that are happy with them in stock setup. I expect that they need to be sprung for weight at some point but will clickers allow for enough adjustment to avoid this right off? THe concept of having compression on one side and rebound on other doesn't make sense to me as I expect you would want to have each fork acting together for same motion not one side for each motion. Having clickers on top is much easier than ktm forks with adjusters on bottom of forks tho.

Have heard positives and negatives of the linkage in rear. I don't expect it to be an issue for me.

Is the map switch effective? Have read that to some they see no difference.

I have found a few te300s around so wondering what others in New England have paid OTD.

Any thing that can be shared about this bike to make me fully confident it is the right one is appreciated. I was on ktm for long time before Honda so am partial to ktm but cannot find any XCW's this late in 2016 manufacturing season.

I am aware of the ignition adjustments (spring), rear subframe, better rims,etc on TE.

I am 47 years old, 200 lbs with gear at 6'. Ride New England woods and plan on enduros and turkey runs. Used to race so still have a bit of that mentality in the woods.

Thanks

I'm 48 and your height and weight, also a New England rider, I have two + seasons of Jdays, Netra harescrambles and enduro's on my 2014 te300. First the motor, nothing short of amazing for tight technical single track, almost impossible to stall and still has plenty on top for when things open up. The 14 doesn't have a map switch but it has a plug that does the same thing, don't know if it actually works as I've never changed it (set on high). The bike has been bullet proof, only thing I've replaced is consumables (tires, brake pads ect.), On to the suspension, it needs a lot of help imo, everything your hear about the 4cs is true although it can be made to work very well. Plan on spending $1000 on it to get it right, stock mine deflected off every rock and root and if you made it soft enough to be plush on trail trash it would blow through the stroke and bottom out on bigger hits. It works fantastic now after 2 company's and 4 revalves, Factory Connection got it right but it wasn't cheap (Stillwell, Kreft and FC are all doing similar mods). Now having said that my friend just bought a 2016 and he says the suspension is way better than the 09 200 xcw he was coming off of so either they improved it or he his old bike was that much worse. Suspension is subjective and what works for one person doesn't work for someone else, your best bet is to try a bike with that fork and decide for yourself weather you can live with it or is it worth spending another grand on top of an $8500 dirtbike. Not sure where you are but my buddy said he got a good price at Motorbikes plus in Portsmouth NH, I think they have a couple more and they are great to deal with, I paid $8200 otd there 2 years ago for my 14. Even with the suspension issues I don't regret buying it for a second and I am not a "Ktm guy", good luck with whatever you decide. 

[slideleft]

I'm 48 and your height and weight, also a New England rider, I have two + seasons of Jdays, Netra harescrambles and enduro's on my 2014 te300. First the motor, nothing short of amazing for tight technical single track, almost impossible to stall and still has plenty on top for when things open up. The 14 doesn't have a map switch but it has a plug that does the same thing, don't know if it actually works as I've never changed it (set on high). The bike has been bullet proof, only thing I've replaced is consumables (tires, brake pads ect.), On to the suspension, it needs a lot of help imo, everything your hear about the 4cs is true although it can be made to work very well. Plan on spending $1000 on it to get it right, stock mine deflected off every rock and root and if you made it soft enough to be plush on trail trash it would blow through the stroke and bottom out on bigger hits. It works fantastic now after 2 company's and 4 revalves, Factory Connection got it right but it wasn't cheap (Stillwell, Kreft and FC are all doing similar mods). Now having said that my friend just bought a 2016 and he says the suspension is way better than the 09 200 xcw he was coming off of so either they improved it or he his old bike was that much worse. Suspension is subjective and what works for one person doesn't work for someone else, your best bet is to try a bike with that fork and decide for yourself weather you can live with it or is it worth spending another grand on top of an $8500 dirtbike. Not sure where you are but my buddy said he got a good price at Motorbikes plus in Portsmouth NH, I think they have a couple more and they are great to deal with, I paid $8200 otd there 2 years ago for my 14. Even with the suspension issues I don't regret buying it for a second and I am not a "Ktm guy", good luck with whatever you decide. 

 

So you race JDay and chose Factory over REP and spent over  grand to get it right. My 4cs on the 16 has new cones and clickers top and bottom and is the best bike I have ever ridden, and I didn't spend that for the whole bike as he revalved the rear as well.

Stop by at Crow hill next Sunday, more than happy to introduce you to Tony.

I looked into 4cs before I got the 16 so going in I knew a basic revalve wasn't going to cut it. The first 4 inches of the fork travel is what most people complain about. My KTM is more like a Yamaha now. I did run the bike stock ,but for only about a hour so that's not much to go on. It was nice but having REP do the 14 I knew what I wanted.

 

[Not sponsored]

The $1000 I'm referring to is revalve front and rear, cup valves bump rubbers, and piston kit in the forks as well as a bladder kit in the shock, along with springs which he will need at his weight, I didn't really know much about rep, I went with another NE company first and had no luck, factory is a 1/2 hr from me and I can easily ring them back as many times as I want without having to ship them. I'm sure other company's can do a good job as well.

[Smitdog]

Thanks for the insight guys. I ended up finding a 2016 250 xcw that I picked up. Did not want any part of dealing with 4cs forks after contacting FC and REP and hearing your insight. Would have loved the 300 engine but could not find ktm xcw 300 this late in manufacturing season in NE, NJ or NY. Good thing about the 250 is that you can add a big bore kit on it. Future project!!

[Not sponsored]

Thanks for the insight guys. I ended up finding a 2016 250 xcw that I picked up. Did not want any part of dealing with 4cs forks after contacting FC and REP and hearing your insight. Would have loved the 300 engine but could not find ktm xcw 300 this late in manufacturing season in NE, NJ or NY. Good thing about the 250 is that you can add a big bore kit on it. Future project!!

Keep it stock, the only thing you get with the 300 is a little more low end and a lot more vibration. The new 300's may be a different story with the counterbalancer but if I was to buy a bike with the older motor again it would be a 250, it has a great engine, enjoy!