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Ok, so up until a week ago I scoured the internet daily trying to find out about the new 150 XC-W. And not from guys who ride 450's or guys who just want to grumble because the beloved 200 is dropped for the time being. The age old question had to answered: soldier on with yesterday's model or go for the latest and greatest? I wanted to hear from guys who already ride and love 150's like myself. Didn’t really find a lot of good posts. My ’17 is 1 week old, so I figured it’s time to start a thread to help others make the $8k decision. I only have 1 hour of easy (break-in) riding on the bike, so I’ll only give first impressions at this point. Wife permitting, the details will come soon! First, what’s new on the ‘17? The answer is virtually everything. You can use your old wheels and bars, but beyond that I doubt you will find anything that transfers. Maybe the pegs, but the new pegs feel great, so I’m leaving my Fastway pegs on the ’13 for now. Couple of things to note. Make darn sure the bike is jetted properly for your location. Based on the charts, the new Mikuni carb appears to be less sensitive to altitude and temperature changes, but my bike was delivered with the “wrong” needle installed. You should have 3 needles to choose from, and mine needed the leaner needle with the clip dropped one position. And beware, the numbering system for the Mikuni needles is backwards from the Keihins! Also, the bike comes with a 110 rear tire. This is not the ideal size for the 150. My advice is to wear it out and put a 100 on the bike. Personally I prefer the feel of the 100, but the real reason is that the 150 internals weren’t designed to handle the weight of a 110. Not gonna sling any mud here (pun intended), but if you were KTM and you didn’t have any other bike in the line-up that calls for a 100, what would you do? Now for the ride impression. In a word, awesome!! Very well balanced and buttery smooth feel in the pegs and bar. Ridden KTM for 18 years, and this is truly a significant step forward. The bike is lighter than my ’13 XC despite the electric start, but honestly I can’t feel a difference. The ergos however are hugely different. At 5’10” 180 pounds the ’17 just fits me better. I would purchase the bike again for this reason alone. It’s very noticeable when standing, and I stand 75% of the time. I immediately feel far more comfortable on the ’17. My ’13 350 isn’t bad, but the ’17 feels better than any other KTM I’ve owned. I’ve not set the sag of course, but at the moment the rear is way too high and stiff, so I really can’t comment on handling yet. This bike is taller, so if this might be a problem for you I’d find one that is broken in and set up for a similar weight and check it out. The new suspension feels great just play riding, but I really can’t comment until I can open it up on real trails. However, most every suspension guru on the planet seems to be saying the same thing: the new suspension is darn good at doing what it was designed to do, and many people will be happy with it in stock form. But if you want to race hare scrambles (think fast GNCC type racing) you will likely want to modify the suspension. As with all previous PDS models, the bike is apparently a little unbalanced front to rear, and this begins to show as speeds increase. For the ’17 it was described to me as “the fork isn’t actually ‘bad’, but the shock starts to overpower the fork as speeds increase across rough terrain”. I’ve had this same issue fixed on every PDS bike I’ve owned, so no surprise, just a little disappointing. Also, and this is a true design flaw in my opinion, it seems the range of adjustability on the fork compression is almost non-existent. There are tuners out there who already have a fix, but again a little disappointing for folks who don’t want to modify their suspension. My 150 is a stock ’13 XC with an SX silencer. That said, and keeping in mind I can’t really open the new bike up yet, the ’17 clearly has significantly more power across the board, with great usable torque on the bottom and a smoother transition into the meat of the power. (Keep in mind that I mean great usable torque for a 150! Doesn’t really compare to my 350 of course.) I find it much easier to play on this bike, as I don’t have to clutch and rev nearly as much. We’ll see how well this transfers to slippery East Tennessee mountain trails in a few weeks, so check back. I currently have the stock power valve spring installed and stock exhaust. I will try the yellow (more aggressive) spring after break-in. My initial impression is that with proper jetting there is more than enough grunt to satisfy 150 fans. Top end seems like it's gonna be good, but hard to say anything meaningful at this point. Can’t wait to see how it runs after break-in, and with the yellow spring and a full FMF exhaust! One step at a time :-)

Hi! I have been riding on a KTM105XC for awhile. The bike is starting to be a bit small and i'm going hard on the trails. The best upgrade I found was the KTM150XC. (5'4 115lbs) Just had a few questions about how it does on hills and what not. Maybe how hard does the powerband hit? Thank you -Ethan.KTM

hey all. so im looking to get back into riding and i have come across 3 different bikes that i am interested in. Im 6'1 210 lb's and have very little riding experience. I am wondering if a Exc 200 ( 2stroke) will be to big and to much power for someone like me, or is a 125 2 stroke a better option, im looking more into an old 96 cr 125 or a 02 Exc200 for the same price, which one should i go for. i wil be doing mostly trails, fields and the occasional track as my buddy owns a motocross track

Can someone please explain what a seized camshaft is and how bad it is? Apparently on my Ktm lc4 400 it's camshaft bearing blew up and seized the camshaft completely Please say if you know anything about it because I got no clue! Cheers k.a.t.b.l

Hello all, Long time lurker, new member here. Read the LC4 thread index on adv but couldn't find any help there. I own an 04' 625 smc with about 15500 miles. It recently went out on me. The rocker arm follower bearing seized and cause havok inside the rocker cover. New rocker arm assemblies (intake and exhaust) installed, new rocker shafts, new 690 rallye cam, and new cam bearings. The old cam was shredded from the follower bearing seize. So now that's all replaced and put back together, there is another issue. Though it may be the original issue that caused the follower bearing failure in the first place. My oil flow into the frame neck seems to be very low to nill. I can not get the frame to burp oil out of the upper frame plug as needed. It ran for 5 minutes without any oil coming out. There seems to be little to no oil building up in the frame tube. Either its being suctioned out too fast or pumped in too slowly. So question is, what to do? I have checked the oil lines going to the frame neck for debris. How can I properly check the oil flow into the frame neck? I've read that the oil bypass piston on the bottom of the sump can get stuck. Although this doesn't seem like it would cause the low oil flow. Could it be one or both of the oil pumps? If so, how can I check the flow/pressure these are putting out, do I just loosen all of the banjo bolts slowly to see if oil is flowing? Any help would be greatly appreciated, Thank you, -Jason

What bike is the most reliable, cheapest, best riding Used for off road fast tracks nothing to technical needs to be reliable tho everyone share your thoughts I might get convinced wanting to get it for around $1000 give or take and dosn't have to be in perfect working order

i have a 2012 ktm 150 xc. it smokes like crazy when i start it and then stalls itself out, when i attempt to start it again it won't start. i have no idea what's it could be at this point. I tried fuel treatment and it didn't do anything. The bike is very hard to start and when i get it running i can't touch the throttle or it stalls out and when i let it idle it stalls out. HELP? anybody know what it could be? i think i might bring it up to the dealer

Hey guys! I'm wondering what your thoughts are on the ktm 150 xc. I ride an atv currently, and I'm going to make the switch to dirt bike. I'll be looking at newer models, 2012, or maybe even a 2013 if I can find a deal on one, as I need the linkage so I can lower the bike (I'm short lol). I ride with a few guys who have a wr250f, kx250f and a ttr 250 mainly, will this bike keep up? How do you think it will be learning to ride on it? I have some experience riding dirt bike, and I'm planning on getting one bike to last a while, and this one seems to be a nice fit. I ride dirt roads with trails in between and a few trips to the local mx track. This bike seems to be well rounded and up to all of that. How's the engine? I've read it's powerful for it's size, and feels much more powerful than a 125, does it? How is it for maintenance? Any recommended upgrades? I've read a lot of good things about this bike and I'm dying to get one, but they're impossible to find in Canada for a reasonable price, maybe you guys could help me out with that too 😉 If anyone has experience with shipping from the states it would be greatly appreciated to know how you found it. I've found a couple for a good price in Texas but I'm thinking that would be a long and expensive trip all the way to Newfoundland. Hopefully by this time next year I'll have lots of seat time on this bike! Thanks!