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Just here with a little PSA. These bikes HATE to be cold. They will foul plugs after plug if it's cold! If you don't want to run your pockets dry with replacing 18$ spark plugs keep these bikes warm! If you live in a place that gets really cold (like I do) take this into account when buying.

Hey everyone, I have a 2018 KTM 350 EXC-F that’s fully street legal, so i have rear and front turn signals among other things. I just went on a dirtbiking trip, and by the time I got back the front, rear, and indicator light turn signals all stopped working. After looking around I found that by the ignition behind be headlight where some wires are if I move them/pull/push on them the turn signals will all start working again until it gets moved again at all. Any idea what the problem is/how I should go about this? Familiar with dirtbikes but not great at the electrical stuff. Thanks!

Dear engine gurus, I have a 1996 KTM 300 EXC that is burning coolant and transmission oil I recently replaced the clutch side crank seal because it was puking thick white smoke. When I replaced the seal it significantly reduced the amount of smoke but now I believe it's burning coolant. Also replaced the water pump shaft seal, inspected the shaft and bearings, new impeller etc. New clutch side case gaskets. The bike does not leak a drop of oil or coolant when parked and filled up. The smoke now is white and sweet smelling, and when I start it up with the radiator cap off it bubbles and bubbles more if I give it throttle. I rode for about 3 hours yesterday and it was bogging and smoking on startup. It began to clear out after about 45 minutes of riding (probably when it burned out all the coolant) and then it ran crisp. When we stopped at the end of the day I had to add about 17-18 oz of coolant to fill it up and roughly 3/4 qt of oil. I plan to do a leakdown test this weekend. I have three main questions: The coolant bubbling in the rad and burning points to a blown head gasket or base gasket. Is this correct? Any other gaskets which could contribute to this? Bike appears to be burning gear oil still. Even after replacing the crank seal, but certainly at a lower rate than before. What other seals besides crank seal could be the cause? Is there a gasket which when it goes bad causes both coolant and gear oil to burn? Thanks and let me know if I can clarify anything.

Dear engine gurus, I have a 1996 KTM 300 EXC that is burning coolant and transmission oil I recently replaced the clutch side crank seal because it was puking thick white smoke. When I replaced the seal it significantly reduced the amount of smoke but now I believe it's burning coolant. Also replaced the water pump shaft seal, inspected the shaft and bearings, new impeller etc. New gaskets all around. The bike does not leak a drop of oil or coolant when parked and filled up. The smoke now is white and sweet smelling, and when I start it up with the radiator cap off it bubbles and bubbles more if I give it throttle. I rode for about 3 hours yesterday and it was bogging and smoking on startup. It began to clear out after about 45 minutes of riding (probably when it burned out all the coolant) and then it ran crisp. When we stopped at the end of the day I had to add about 17-18 oz of coolant to fill it up and roughly 3/4 qt of oil. I have three main questions: The coolant bubbling in the rad and burning points to a blown head gasket or base gasket. Is this correct? Any other gaskets which could contribute to this? Bike appears to be burning gear oil still. Even after replacing the crank seal, but certainly at a lower rate than before. What other seals besides crank seal could be the cause? Is there a gasket which when it goes bad causes both coolant and gear oil to burn? Thanks and let me know if I can clarify anything.

I should have posted this earlier. I travel with my wife and I'm in the Missoula area until Thursday morning. I'm not looking to exploit anyone's secret trails, just looking for a fun 2 or 3 hrs (before the heat of the day catches us) of single track. My buddy is a great athlete but hasn't ridden in 7-8 years. We are both early/young retirees. I ride at least 30 to 50 miles per week (1 to 2x's) of ST, so I really enjoy a challenge. But since I'm the only driver of my MH, I can't come back with a broken wing, lol. Any advice on where to start (a pin drop or Xrd staging), or a tour guide would really be appreciated. My bike is a plated KTM 300, the other isn't, so even a DS ride where we wouldn't get hassled would be the last choice. Anything is better than sitting around waiting to get old. I just want a way to see this great countryside.

2016 ktm 250sx. 170 psi compression before top end rebuild, and 170psi after rebuild (have not started bike yet). Deck height/x distance is about .006mm. Does same psi seem normal? Used same compression tester from autozone for each test. I did not hold throttle wide open for either test. Does psi go up after rings set in? Thanks!

I recently bought a used 2021 KTM 890 with about 11k miles on it and I love the bike but also never want to have to spend that much to get another after I finish up with this one.thought I have tens of thousands of miles left on the engine still, I am curious how difficult it might be to do an engine swap when the time comes on a bike this advanced and with the immobilizer and the requirement for a key for this specific ECH. Would putting a new engine in it be compatable with the ECU/ignition/immobilizer? Or would the new engine come with a new ECU and in turn need a new key for it? This may be a question for a KTM mechanic directly but thought I’d just ask here to see what you guys thought. Thanks for any feedback!

As we all know, our GG bikes don't come stock with an hour meter (except for EC models with a dashboard). I wanted to install an hour meter but I've never been a fan of the induction wire pickup types that wrap around the ignition wire. I'm not a fan of the messy look of a wire out of place and like its not supposed to be there, an afterthought. I found a way to use OE KTM parts to plug in a digital hour meter to an existing dongle in the fuel injected bikes wiring harness, both 2T and 4T (don't think carb bikes like MC's have this ability). KTM in their later years had come out with a product called myKTM which is a bar pad mounted wifi device that plugs into the bikes ECU and connects to your phone to tune the engine characteristics or something. I haven't heard much about it since its release and get the feeling that it was maybe discontinued. Anyways, the wifi device connected to a blank dongle behind the front number plate. The connector has 6 pins and is a very small connector type called JST waterproof. I found 12v positive and Ground terminals and confirmed that it's hot when the bike is woken up and power switches off 20 seconds after engine shutdown. I found THESE connectors on amazon that are an exact match and plug and play compatibility. Now for an hour meter, I found out that the KTM e-bikes use an hour meter that is powered by 12v (since obviously no spark). They have a 2 wire plug (Red and Black). In reality, it's a Trail Tech branded hour meter. KTM also sells an OEM bracket to mount an hour meter using the pre threaded holes behind the number plate. See pics below for part numbers for hour meter and mounting bracket. The hour meter wasn't a perfect fit. Had to drill out the mount holes larger as the spacing for the bracket was larger. It worked out fine. (Nice engineering, KTM) I located on the bike side (pin 5: -ground.) (pin 6: +12v.) I de-pinned the trail tech plug and pinned into my amazon JST female 6 pin plug with wires in their respective spots. I then filled in the back of the plug with liquid electrical tape to seal out water. The new hour meter and bracket mount up to the triple clamp as shown. Plug and play as shown above. With the engine running, the hour meter is counting and displays a small rotating dial to tell the user that it is counting time. Hard to see but the pic below shows the rotating dial emblem. Again, it starts count as soon as the ECU wakes up with the start button and stops count 20 seconds after engine shutdown. And here is the final result with number plate mounted up. I took it on a ride today and verified that it counts accurately and turns on / shuts off as previously described. Now, I will synchronize the hour meter to the actual bike run hours. Bringing the bike to the dealer is the easiest way to find out run hours. They hook it up to their factory scan tool and check for ECU updates and such and they can also see engine run time (minutes) logged by the ECU. I will convert total run minutes to hours, and then hook up my hour meter to 12v on a timer to bring the meter hours to the bikes actual hours. All together, this project cost me just a bit over $100. Maybe not worth it to some but I got a lot of satisfaction from clean wiring and doing something I've never seen done.

I know there are lots of battery threads but didn't see anything that looked like it fit my situation. Apologies for this being so long & possibly incoherent but I have a lot of questions. I have a 2017 250XC and it seems my OEM battery is giving up the ghost. Other forums I've found indicate that it should take 12V to start my bike but my multimeter shows 13.2 and when I try to start it cranks for a few seconds and stops. If I put it on my battery charger for 10 minutes or more it will then crank for maybe 30ish seconds, which is sometimes enough to start but if not it stops cranking. So, sure, I can start the bike like this in the garage but not sure what will happen on the trail. I've read a lot of forums and there are lots of opinions about lithium vs AGM vs lead/acid and it's all pretty confusing. I have never used a battery charger on my bike until it began not wanting to start. I did use my car charger which maybe was a mistake but I didn't know you aren't supposed to do that. What I'm looking for here is first: should my 13.2 charge be enough to start my bike? Seems like it should but I don't know if the voltage maybe quickly drops once I hit the start button. If that's happening maybe my battery is just shot. If my OEM battery IS shot, then I need a new battery. I've seen some posts saying the OEM battery is crap but mine is 6 years old and I've never had a problem with it till now so maybe getting one like it is a good thing to do. However, none of the shops show availability under OEM parts. I did find one but it was pricey. Looks like the OEM is made by Skyrich but searching their website I can't find one that looks right. Some folks have recommended WPS batteries but I can't make sense of the WPS website. Seems like AGM are less sensitive but heavier and they seem to cost as much as lithium. If so, not sure why they would be preferred over lithium. Another thing I saw is that Lithium batteries may have some sensing software that makes them not take a charge. Could this have happened on my battery? How can I know? If it did happen, how can I reset it? In the end I really just want another battery like the OEM. It lasted 6 years without any type of maintenance & I'd be fine doing that again. Any insight is appreciated.

So was messing with my friends 150 SX and noticed something in the float bowl and I wanted to see if it was standard or maybe a messed up from factory part, but if anyone has a picture the inside of the float bowl on the stock mikuni carb, and the carb without the float bowl I'm thinking someone got into it previously and lost parts and the float bowl had a finishing issue from factory causing issues.

Six months ago I picked up a very dirty but intact 2002 KTM 200 EXC. my son and I finally finished his 1982 XR80R restoration and now I get to work on the 2 hondo. after a good pressure wash i am surprised at how little wear the bike has on it. The sprockets appear to be original and show very little wear. The plastics appear original and the swingarm has only a few light scratches on each side. the rear axle nut and front fork shoes are basically unscratched. here are a few pics from todays tear down.

are the radiator shrouds interchangable between the 250sx and the 525sx????? 2005-2007

Footage from the C55+ class. We are the largest class of riders at almost every race. Dirt racing isn't just a young man's game anymore!

I have a 2012 KTM 65 SX that I just finished a complete engine rebuild on. I can’t get it to run. The cylinder is good. It has new piston and rings. It has compression. I checked for spark. It has spark. I cleaned the carb, I think it’s getting gas. I checked the timing with a timing tool multiple times. Timing is good. I’ve sprayed starting fluid in the carb and tried to start it. Nothing happens. I have 2 new plugs that I’ve tried, nothing. I have spark, gas, compression, and timing is correct. I’m out of things to try. Anyone else ever had this issue?

So I just got a brand new 2022 250 XC TPI. Bike has been running great took it out for the first ride then came home and washed the bike and it even started right up after. The Very next day it will not start. I then Checked the plug and it was fouled. Just confused why this happened, the bike only has 5 hours and was running great. After I put a new plug in, it seemed the bike was running very rich dripping a lot of goo from the exhaust. new to this website seems very helpful thank you! Also very new to TPI bikes

Sharing impressions of a couple “cross country” bikes I have. Nothing new under the sun here, but I’ll share regardless. I’ve only put about 10 hours on the 350 xcf and all of it has been in central Washington desert single track. Mostly higher speed, but some slow rocky canyons…Mattawa, Odessa etc. My last 350 was a 17 and I didn’t like the fueling flame out issues on that bike. This 22 is much better in the slow rocky climbs etc. it still takes more throttle control and clutch work than the 300, but I’ll give it a go in the alpine single track when the snow melts. What a fun bike that just feels right at speed. The motor rips and it’s easy to lift the front end. The front end feel is much better than my 17 350, although the 17 wasn’t bad. I doubt the handling has anything to do with the bling triple clamps on the factory edition, probably just more to do with the evolution of the air fork valving. The factory fmf with the spark arrestor has a nice sound to it. The 22 GasGas ex300 in the same type of riding is good as well….probably close to the same suspension from KTM (don’t know). It just feels different, not quite as planted yet very easy to toss around. The only mods to the 300 is a gummy rear tire, mousses etc for the mountain single track. I’ve had the 300 since last year and have ridden it in a wide variety of terrain. The 300 in the slow tough stuff has made me look much better than I am. It’s confidence inspiring and makes me look at most any trail and think….I’ll give it a shot. As much as I like the desert riding on the 350, if I could have only one bike it would be the 300.

So I recently picked up a 2002 KTM 400 EXC for a steal, with the intention of it being a project bike. Previous owner was very shifty. I have some experience working on motorcycles but new to dirt bikes. Previous owner mentioned that he done the clutch himself, and that he had not installed a gasket on the clutch cover. Hydraulic fluid was empty, so I filled and bled the system. After pulling the clutch cover off and checking out the plates, it looks like the outward most plate is not seated well in the basket. If I engage the clutch, it looks like the plate can slide out of position. I’m worried it will just free spin and then when disengaging the clutch it will wreck the plate and cause further damage. Or not? I’m not too experienced. Any ideas why this is? Wrong plate thickness? Incorrect installation? Adjustment of travel at the lever? I’m hesitant to fill her with oil and attempt to run the bike without knowing whether this will be a problem or not. photos from top down show clutch engaged vs disengaged.

https://www.vmx-racing.com/products/vmx-35-50-supermoto-wheels-fit-yamaha-yz250f-450f-yz125-250-blue-with-disc-930 will these fit my SXF250 2010

Hi Guys KTM XCW 250 2014 I noticed a squeaking noise coming from my rear suspension and after investigation it seems like it happens when the rear spring get decompressed/when weight is taken of the seat. Any idea what may cause this? Maybe time to replace the spring? Thanks, Joubert

Buying used I know you get a used bike. With the cost of a used bike being so high, what should I look for when buying a used bike.

Hello. I have been looking for a set of restyle graphics for my 2013 KTM 200 XCW. I am already planning on getting a 2018 style front fender, with a 2018 front headlight mask,(using the poly sport adapter) and an orange air box and side panels to give the bike a modern look, similar to say a 2018-2022 XCW. However, I am having difficulty finding suitable graphics. I would like graphics that look very similar to like an OEM 2022 XCW, that fit on my 2013 plastics. I am trying to go for a “2022” 200 XCW look, and this would really make it look great. Any suggestions? Thank you

Which is better? And it'd be a 125.

Hi guys I'm struggling with my KTM 300 2013 the electric start isn't starting the bike but I've replaced the starter motor, the bushings and the battery but the the bike still wont start does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks Mike

Attaching a video to this as well. Not sure if this is juts normal but on full right, the throttle is sluggish and sticky to return. But on full left (and when straight for the most part) it snaps back fine. I've tried tried multiple times on the slack adjuster and even if I give it full slack - while it's a hair better - there is still some sluggishness there. I mention the GET IRK only because it does seem to move the TB assembly back just a bit and I'm wondering if that could have possibly affect it? Not a HUGE deal but I would definitely like to have it snap back everywhere like it does on full left lock right now. Thanks!