2018 300 XCW Suspension

[gdombrowski94]

Hey guys,

 

I am curious what everyone recommends for front and rear suspension. I weigh 215lbs and 6'3"... I recently purchased this bike and I love it. I just need help with dialing the suspension in and buying new springs.

 

Thanks!

[mog]

What are your sags front and rear

[gdombrowski94]

What are your sags front and rear

I need advice because suspension is something I dont have a clue on how to fix, besides pay someone to do that. I want to put in springs front and back and I need help figuring out static and race sag.

[mog]

Google is great , it would take me hundreds of words to describe setting the sag ,a utube video etc shows it so quickly and simply

 

 

[KTM753]

Did you buy it new? Did it come with a Owners Manual? Might be a chart in the manual. 

Race Tech has a spring calculator tool. Check their website. 

Slavens Racing website has a chart also.

 

[Mikek671]

As others have stated you need the correct springs to start, stock ones will be too soft for you.  After correct springs are installed set sag and then turn all clickers to standard settings per KTM manual and ride it for a while - tweak from there.  Depending on your type of riding you may need additional suspension work, the XPLOR stuff works OK on slower stuff but tends to be too soft valving wise for higher speed riding.

[gdombrowski94]

As others have stated you need the correct springs to start, stock ones will be too soft for you.  After correct springs are installed set sag and then turn all clickers to standard settings per KTM manual and ride it for a while - tweak from there.  Depending on your type of riding you may need additional suspension work, the XPLOR stuff works OK on slower stuff but tends to be too soft valving wise for higher speed riding.

I'm curious, what other suspension work would you reccomend?

I had a 2015 crf450r before this bike and had enduro engineering re-vavle and spring it my weight. It worked great.

I just wanted to try and save some money and do it my self.

[KTM753]

If you want to do the suspension work yourself, start researching in the suspension section the forum here or join KTKTalk.com forum and research the suspension section there. Lots of Xplor fork threads there. Guys post there valve stacks for feedback. Look into the restacker software to run your own analysis of shim changes, etc. 

If your looking for a tuner to work with, I highly recommend Matt at Checkpoint Off-road in Minnesota. He raced national enduros on a 150 XCW and has tested Xplor fork at speed. He liked the forks after a few mods and revalve. He did my AER 48s and I'm happy with them. 

 

[tigertiger]

2 hours ago, gdombrowski94 said:

I'm curious, what other suspension work would you reccomend?

I had a 2015 crf450r before this bike and had enduro engineering re-vavle and spring it my weight. It worked great.

I just wanted to try and save some money and do it my self.

springs front and rear are easy to do yourself, just get what you need and watch u-tube. Stock works for me at 155 pounds! 

Other work is possible for DIY, as there are kits (try Corey from Protune, look on facebook, very cost effective) or from Del Soggio (XP one). Tuners like Stillwell and Kreft have great solutions, as do others. 

You should really read up on these forks. They are unlike anything else out there and once I understood the differences it really helps to point you in the right direction, based on your ability and what you ride, and your budget.

Get the springs, set the sag (manual is very clear on how to do this, you will need another person) then play with clickers and RIDE. It took me about 30 hours to fully break in the suspension on my 450, but was doing some dual sport. 

 I have two bikes with Xplore (17 KTM 300 and 18 Husky 450) and they were very different from each other, but both needed a revavle and work, but for somewhat different reasons. 

[tigertiger]

22 hours ago, gdombrowski94 said:

22 hours ago, mog said:

What are your sags front and rear

I need advice because suspension is something I dont have a clue on how to fix, besides pay someone to do that. I want to put in springs front and back and I need help figuring out static and race sag.

Dedicate some time reading up on suspension. It WILL make you a better rider. Your machine has a very sophisticated and complex system for suspension, and you control it. After you understand it, then its about SETUP, and if you can't get what you want with that, then perhaps  a FIX is needed. Enjoy expanding your knowledge!! When you have all that report back folks here are happy to help. 

[Dirtstache 556]

I'm mostly a trail rider and a occasionally C class hare scrambler. for me swapping out the springs for my weight and running the "sport" clicker settings works good for me. You just need a special wrench ($15 i think) and otherwise fork springs are easy to change without needing remove the tubes or change oil etc. The PDS is stupid simple to change two bolts and the shock pulls out then would recommend the spanner wrench (another $15 or so) vs using a punch and the spring comes off easy to change. 

I got both fork and shock springs from slavens using their chart. Just be sure to figure out your weight based with all your gear on including water pack. 

I also recommend the quick fork air bleeders slavens sells (forget the brand) but not the motion pro ones, those leak, as keeping the air bleed out a couple times a day during a ride keeps them more plush. 

Edited November 30, 2018 by Dirt Rider 12345

[ScwhettyNuttz]

Save your self a lot of trouble.  Convert them to open chamber independent types with the RT kit.  The rebound adjuster on the xplor is nothing but placebo....the internals are just not there to do $h*t for rebound adjustment. 

XPLOR = renamed 4CS.

They are sprung for 150-160# rider off the showroom floor...pure stupidness IMO.

I just had my buds 18 xcw revalved and resprung for his weight. Converted to OC forks via RT kit.  Night and day difference.  Was $1,300 for all of the work.