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RK Head + STIC XC300

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Grand Master

2strokenut

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Hi guys, 

I just wanted to throw up a review for my buddy who is a Gas Gas factory support rider on a 300XC 2018 and share a little about our experiences with making it a better bike for him. 

 

I have a professional Endurocross in my backyard so he and other guys ride at my house almost every day. I help out with tuning and have a good grasp on the ins and outs of the new Gas Gas bikes. For him, he wanted more low end grunt and also more top end and overrev. The stock bike isn't bad but it needs a bit of improvement to be competitive. It has a lot of potential.

First thing we did was add a STIC modded Keihin carb. There are a bunch of reviews in the KTM forum and also on KTMtalk. The part can be obtained from Derek Harris at HPbikes http://www.hpracedevelopment.com/  We actually tried an older version with some success about a year ago but took it off. This new version is much improved.

Results: Mid and overrev is noticeably better. Completely different from mid to top and actually wants to rev. Bottom end is still around the same but hard to distinguish from the major improvement in mid to top.

After some time on this mod we still needed some more grunt to clear some jumps without having to work the clutch like a 125. We did the billet RK Tek head available at 2strokeheads.com I'm sure most are familiar with the company.

Results: Perfection, according to him. He can pretty much stay in 2nd most of the track and clear a jump that was hard before with little clutch, if any. Runs cleaner from top to bottom and completely transformed the bike.

So just recently we want to see how much each effect was. Is it the carb or head or both? So we put the stock carb back on with jetting specs suggested by RK

Results: Still great bottom and mid but missing the explosive mid and top end that he liked for EX. We put the STIC carb back on and that's what he has been riding since. He feels that before he was really struggling with the power and didn't have much confidence but with those two mods he scored his first win at Endurocross about a month ago. It was a totally different bike at that race.

 

Disclamer: I have tested both of these products on my KTM for the last few years and mirror his feelings. The STIC carb that he is running is one sent to me by derek for testing and I did not pay for it. My buddy did pay for his RK head and also a new STIC setup that is coming his way after testing mine. If you have a Gas Gas 300 I think these are two worthwhile mods to make your bike pretty damn amazing. If anyone is in the PHX area feel free to message me if you want to try the 38mm STIC Keihin carb, as soon as my buddy gives mine back lol.

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MixinGasKickinAss

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8 hours ago, motocrotts said:

I had RK mod my stock head and noticed a big increase in low to mid. I then installed a lectron carb and the two combined was the best improvement overall. What jetting did RK recommend for the stock carb?

How do you like the lectron? I hear so many different things for it and against it. 

Was considering getting one. 

Right now I have 170,42, NEDW #2.  I just swapped some stuff around and going out tomorrow to try it out.   I think he recommended a 178 main and 45 pilot but even with the stock 175 42 I was running rich. 

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motocrotts

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2 hours ago, MixinGasKickinAss said:

How do you like the lectron? I hear so many different things for it and against it. 

Was considering getting one. 

Right now I have 170,42, NEDW #2.  I just swapped some stuff around and going out tomorrow to try it out.   I think he recommended a 178 main and 45 pilot but even with the stock 175 42 I was running rich. 

The lectron has been amazing. Just a little fine tuning but super easy to do. They are pretty much set from the factory. Bike rips from the bottom to the top. No loading up just real clean performance. Nice brown plug.   Can you tell me any negatives you've heard? Another thing ive noticed is i think the stock 38mm carb is what makes the bike finicky. If you measure the lectron it's actually a 36mm.  I can't prove it,  maybe 2stknut can chime in, but the 36 is more in line with what the bike needs. IMHO.?

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MixinGasKickinAss

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1 hour ago, motocrotts said:

The lectron has been amazing. Just a little fine tuning but super easy to do. They are pretty much set from the factory. Bike rips from the bottom to the top. No loading up just real clean performance. Nice brown plug.   Can you tell me any negatives you've heard? Another thing ive noticed is i think the stock 38mm carb is what makes the bike finicky. If you measure the lectron it's actually a 36mm.  I can't prove it,  maybe 2stknut can chime in, but the 36 is more in line with what the bike needs. IMHO.?

I haven’t heard any negatives first hand. I remember reading a huge thread on here people going back and forth on both sides.  Maybe I will look more into it along with the stic 

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Grand Master

2strokenut

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21 hours ago, MixinGasKickinAss said:

I put an RK billet head on my 18 XC 300 and all I can say is WOW

i don’t have the need for explosive top end so will probably not do the STIC anytime soon but that head is the best mod I’ve put on any bike 

The RK Head is money. I still think the STIC is worth trying out, though. It's just icing on the cake.

15 hours ago, motocrotts said:

I had RK mod my stock head and noticed a big increase in low to mid. I then installed a lectron carb and the two combined was the best improvement overall. What jetting did RK recommend for the stock carb?

The specs are on a sheet of paper in my garage somewhere. I'll try to find it.

2 hours ago, MixinGasKickinAss said:

I haven’t heard any negatives first hand. I remember reading a huge thread on here people going back and forth on both sides.  Maybe I will look more into it along with the stic 

We've tried a Lectron on the Gas Gas. It was not very good. The key to having a well running Lectron is having the right rod. It's crucial. If you don't it'll run worse than a Mikuni. I don't know what rod was in the one we tried in the Gas Gas but we put the stock carb back on shortly after.

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Grand Master

2strokenut

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On 10/19/2018 at 3:48 PM, motocrotts said:

The correct rod in the mr 4-2. It's the same as required for the ktm/ husky. 

Yeah, here's the problem, that rod sucks in the ktm 300 husky. I know because I tried it and that was the one in the Lectron my buddy used as well after talking to him. The Lectron is a funny creature.

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motocrotts

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Interesting, i know several people running that rod in ktms and husky who couldn't be happier. Sure works well with my gas gas. Especially with the RK head mod.
Bottom thru the top is clean and effortless. Doesn't load up after long sections of lugging. Of course i had to do fine tuning but it was super easy. I run 20% 110 leaded otherwise it will ping but it's a small price to pay for the performance. The husky dealer in Mesa told me the 4-2 rod was the correct rod for the ktm/ husky. Not saying you're incorrect but a lot of people are contradicting your statement. Just sayin.

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Grand Master

2strokenut

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2 hours ago, motocrotts said:

Interesting, i know several people running that rod in ktms and husky who couldn't be happier. Sure works well with my gas gas. Especially with the RK head mod.
Bottom thru the top is clean and effortless. Doesn't load up after long sections of lugging. Of course i had to do fine tuning but it was super easy. I run 20% 110 leaded otherwise it will ping but it's a small price to pay for the performance. The husky dealer in Mesa told me the 4-2 rod was the correct rod for the ktm/ husky. Not saying you're incorrect but a lot of people are contradicting your statement. Just sayin.

Honestly, what matters is that you're happy. I'm very careful to ever recommend a Lectron because it is NOT plug and play and people seem to have different ideas of how a bike is supposed to run with it. When someone doesn't like how their bike runs they don't know how to tune it, buy a bunch of rods and end up sell the thing. Lectron sold the 2-3 rod when the 17 first came out and what a shit show that was, but, there are a few guys still running that rod even though it's terrible.

4-2 never ran right in my 300 in my 38 Lectron. 3-2m seems to be the ticket for most 300 applications and I've had more than a few at my house testing. If you like that Lectron you should try a SmartCarb, maybe buy one for your TM...haha 

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motocrotts

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15 minutes ago, 2strokenut said:

Honestly, what matters is that you're happy. I'm very careful to ever recommend a Lectron because it is NOT plug and play and people seem to have different ideas of how a bike is supposed to run with it. When someone doesn't like how their bike runs they don't know how to tune it, buy a bunch of rods and end up sell the thing. Lectron sold the 2-3 rod when the 17 first came out and what a shit show that was, but, there are a few guys still running that rod even though it's terrible.

4-2 never ran right in my 300 in my 38 Lectron. 3-2m seems to be the ticket for most 300 applications and I've had more than a few at my house testing. If you like that Lectron you should try a SmartCarb, maybe buy one for your TM...haha 

Don't you have a little bit of work done to your 300? It seems it would be hard to expect to have a standard setting for your carb work for your modifications. Mine was pretty much plug and play. Probably would of been had i not alerted the head. 

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Grand Master

2strokenut

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4 minutes ago, motocrotts said:

Don't you have a little bit of work done to your 300? It seems it would be hard to expect to have a standard setting for your carb work for your modifications. Mine was pretty much plug and play. Probably would of been had i not alerted the head. 

Some porting, but the 3-2m performed the same after the porting. I actually gave my carb to a buddy to use on his stock ktm 300 at TKO. He came back and bought a 3-2m to replace his 4-2.

I think there is some variation with bikes and 36 vs 38 but if it works well that's all that matters. 

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motocrotts

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8 minutes ago, 2strokenut said:

Some porting, but the 3-2m performed the same after the porting. I actually gave my carb to a buddy to use on his stock ktm 300 at TKO. He came back and bought a 3-2m to replace his 4-2.

I think there is some variation with bikes and 36 vs 38 but if it works well that's all that matters. 

I agree.  Thanks for your reviews.

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