2023 KTM 450 XCF-W

[jredford]

Great write up.

 

[Irishcoffee]

Great report, thanks. Surely by now an experienced rider has removed that bogus nut holding the air stem. Surely!

 

[KsTeveM]

The air system is good when the thorns mind their own business

 

[KsTeveM]

Come on, you know I had to ride the bike again today. The weather this weekend, temps, and the flowers coming out….. it was magical out there. I decided to run my loop backwards and maybe trim a few more things being fresh this morning muscles wise.

Then I came to this guy. Have you ever been lying in bed and thinking about the trail not traveled? I cut this trail several years ago as an extreme rock crawler trail. And it has been kind of abandoned. I haven’t played with it on bikes as the entrance is a little tricky and the exit is all kinds of tricky. But I was thinking about it last night as I fell asleep, 4fiddy? So here I am this morning and it got the best of me, had to put my tires on it. I need another army core of engineer bridge. Before I go through that effort, let’s check out the rest of the trail. I snuck around the water hole climbing up the wall on the left. Set the bike down to grab this pic for perspective.

Further into the trail…..remembering it is cool in here. This needs to be added.

Showed it to my son, he is giddy about adding it.

But the exit. Dadgumit….can I even do it? I have to try. I made it by the hair of my chinny chin chin. It was a potential loop out situation and I walked the line.

We will just run it backwards for a while. Now to the bridge. I was going to be hauling off an old solid core door today when we left. You know what I was thinking at this point! Macgyvered it to the quad and got it to the trail entrance.

We got it in place. My boy still puzzled by his old man, is he cool or deranged?

We ran the trail backwards to test it out. Going down the Chin Chin exit, so kind of the entrance now. Tricky descent, pics don’t show it. My boy figuring out a lot of moves by me adding the hard enduro sections. He is doing stuff that would give a lot of grownups serious pause.

We are going to call this trail Knock Knock. Made the boy test it out. Then me. This opened up another pretty cool section of trail!

I have names for all of the trail sections. Helps if someone has trouble when the kids are riding. They can tell me where and I can go directly to the spot. Same with trail maintenance etc. The below pic was part of a new section added yesterday. Has some goofy little cedar trees that look like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree….so it’s the Christmas trail. Kind of fun having our goofy lingo out here.

Last thought of the day regarding the bike. Some might be thinking if tight woods riding is the goal, why not the 300 instead? I liked the lugging and difficulty of stalling the 300, but I wasn’t as comfortable riding it in the middle of the band, where I spend a lot of time. My brain was riding it like a normal two stroke, on or off. I have so much seat time on a 4 stroke trail riding I know what they are going to do and how to ride tricky situations. So that is a preference/comfort level. Also throw in dual sport and riding an enduro for a week long adventure, the 300 is not able to switch hats as easily as the bigger thumpers. This 450 is doing what I need now and will change hats when needed. And he weighs 5lbs more than the 300? All of these light weight machines are truly incredible. Especially when you look at stuff we rode a decade or three ago. That’s all for now. Happy Trails, Merry Christmas and I hope doors open for you!

 

[Dao]

can you tell me what was needed on this bike to get a tx plate for it?

i'm thinking as a min, a horn? anything else?
THX>

 

[KsTeveM]

And a brake light switch, lic plate light, a mirror and technically DOT approved tires. Lot of places don’t check that.

 

[gixxerjasen]

Any updates? Taken her on any sweet jumps?

Also, I noted something here. The 950 and 500 are referred to as "Him" while the 450 is a "Her." How do you sex a bike? Or did you just ask them which pronoun they prefer?

 

[KsTeveM]

Not much to report on the 450. The heat had me shutdown for the summer. When I did manage to get out, the Super Enduro was my steed. And in recent weeks the 5Hundy has been getting some attention…..he must have imminent plans for us?

Now as far as gender assignment, I am a firm believer this was decided at birth. It was obvious from the time the 5Hundy let out his first cry, he was very masculine. The 950 Super Enduro, come on, no sonogram needed for that beastly bastage. The 4Fiddy was a different animal, very svelte and sexy, she let me know right away we were going to have a special relationship. I see some fall season action for us.

Things get muddy however when you introduce something like the DRZ. I feel this is when pronoun usage comes into play for them. They can’t make up their minds. And one has to be sure to take their helmet off real fast at gas stations before someone calls them Sweetie.

 

[gixxerjasen]

The 950 Super Enduro, come on, no sonogram needed for that beastly bastage.

I get what you are saying, but my 1190 gives off more of this kind of vibe...

 

[KsTeveM]

I hear you for sure on that one, strength and beauty!

 

[gixxerjasen]

I hear you for sure on that one, strength and beauty!

And if you aren't careful, she'll hurt you bad.

 

[KsTeveM]

For sure….that is some crazy HP! And I was just razzin u about the dizzer. I had a 94 DR350 back in the day and rode the snot out of him.

 

[OffroadAggie]

Bike got rode this weekend on family property with decent tests under varied conditions. Technical stuff in several flavors…..woods, rocks, creek beds, hill climbs, mud, single track, pasture land.

Technical stuff—Still learning the engine but it did what I asked it to. Played in some ravines and I tried to upset it, flame it out, she wouldn’t have it. Not once all weekend. Did some super slow speed trials type stuff, clutch is like butta and I like the low gearing. Chassis/suspension feels good, really planted. I can get by until more work is done for my weight. I’m not going to be hitting g-outs at 70mph any time soon, mostly single tracking.

I like that on my 500 you can be in the “wrong” gear and get away with it in technical stuff, think slow speed 2nd gear. I would call this bike a kissing cousin to the 500 but not quite the same. And it revs up quickly when you want to hop a log or something…feels different than the 500 in that regard. The 500 never felt like it reacted quickly, it just pushed forward like bluto vs. revving itself up like daffy duck. The 450 flywheel must be different, I could rev it, back off, let clutch out and still feel the inertia wound up? Think less grunt, more reactionary? I’m still trying to pay attention to it, but it is not a drastic difference, they are both basically 50hp machines. And it’s hard not to just ride it fast and have fun.

I wish I could ride a fresh new 500 back to back to compare. But it would never be apples to apples, tires, gearing, weight, exhaust etc. when compared to most folk’s late model EXC setups. I have to hope the 450 might be the sweet spot 350-500 and have to believe it will be happier than some of the smaller bores when I ask more of it in the desert or dual sporting. Pulling my rear around is not like toting a 160lb dude named Pierre. And I need to remember that the factory engineering with clean fuel mapping comparative to EXCs is spot on.

Tires—on my 500 when I run non-dot tires it has been the IRC Volcanduro VE33 Gekkota Gummy rear the last few years. That tire has been good to me. Front—Shinko 546. The 4fiddy came with Dunlop MX33s. I’m thinking of running the Dunlops, just cause that will be easier to remember than the other one with seven names, ha ha. Just kidding, when these wear out, probably won’t go back, compound feels too soft to me. The front flat I got yesterday….don’t want to blame the soft tire and wimpy thin tube, but it was a small thorn that took me out the first hour of riding. Just tore it down yesterday and put a real tube in. In the future I will probably have two setups. My VE33/Shinko dirt getup for around home and my desert getup will most likely be Pirelli MT43 Front, rear TBD, going to experiment. VE33, Motoz Desert, MT43. Depends on length of ride, pavement involved, offroad soil terrain etc. I put a lot of hours on the machine today, no flats with the thicker tube? Or I just got unlucky yesterday?

Had to build an army core of engineer bridge where I dropped the bike yesterday. It works.

Open terrain—she’s got some legs. I felt there was more bite than my 500 out of the hole. But it’s probably not fair. This bike is so fresh and new. I think it is kind of like after an oil change, you think your bike runs better…..this one is all shiny and new, surely it is faster? But for real, it is geared lower than my 500 was from factory (500 was 13/50, 450 is 13/52) and it is noticeably lighter and slimmer…..and dang what a wheel lofter!

If you go back in time with my 500, back to the year 2014 when it was fresh and I ran it naked…..I remember thinking he was pretty ferocious when the kraken was released as well. And thought for a 500, dang he is light. So they are really similar. One is like a 50 year old Jennifer Aniston, the other is like a 30 year old Jennifer Aniston. You would be stoked riding either one.

Controls. I need to get my fatter rally grips installed, I bought them but this dang snap lock crap stopped me, have to buy a throttle tube. These stock grips must fit Pierre. And I will need risers after all, found myself really leaning down and forward when not really called for.

Spring is sprung. I put some decent miles on the bike cleaning up my trails of the new growth. I would make my normal loop around the 100 acres while trimming limbs and then take a break. But couldn’t help wanting to get back on the bike and ride.

I usually do all the trail work solo, but my son is getting old enough to be helpful. Almost there, the point where he is stronger than me and has more stamina. Couple more years. Can’t wait!

I rode harder and more aggressively today than any time in the past out here, on any machine. The bike made me do it. I wanted to do it. And it wasn’t just a case of a new toy. The bike was just dang fun!

I even felt compelled to add some aggressive sneaker trails to “my loop”. Think hard enduro.

Can we cut a trail through this? You bet.

Having done all this clean up and additions, I was running it pretty hard to test out the flow of the loop. And getting tired completing one lap aggressively. Got me curious how long could my “lap” be on this 100 acres? Measured it, 3 mile long loop! And I have my sights on more to add that will challenge.

Back to the bike and to summarize. The main thing that stands out, nimbleness, it is very 300 like in how I can flick him around. You can ride this bike hotter than the 500 and get away with it. The 500 is like a Cummins and you have to be deliberate in your moves sometimes, and counter moves. The 450 is a hemi, requires less thinking, less effort! But that is kind of the thing….you end up riding harder and faster in the tight stuff, so you still get tired. Maybe the big question is—should you get a 500 instead? If I were only going to have one bike l and were going to ask the bike to do it all, single track, dual sport, longer mileage days on back roads….yes on the 500. But for me, I wanted a play bike that could slay the trails, run light and tight. I still have my 500 for bigger adventures. And I have my Super Enduro for bigger miles. This 450 fits my desires perfectly. And as I did with my 500, I plan to have a large desert tank with a second fuel pump fully plumbed for the 450 for hot tank swaps…….so will eventually have a better dual sport comparison, but that is months, maybe a year away as the 450’s primary job is to be a low geared trail bike/hard enduro machine. Mission accomplished I think. Will post more when I ride it some more and/or mod it some more. Smell ya later!

Howdy from College Station! I appreciate and enjoyed your posts, pics, etc about the '23 450... Ive had an 08 530 Ive really liked but long story short gave to a friend and since also bought (but havent taken delivery yet) a '23 450xcfw. Your posts and comments along with 0.99 % int! helped me decide on purchasing this bike new! Since the purchase, however, Ive read about some issues with gas tank, pump design, fuel pickup, not accessing all the fuel unless your on the trails etc. Wonder if you've heard about and/or experienced any such issues and would enjoy visiting about your riding, mods, etc. Thanks!

 

[KsTeveM]

Hey there!! Yes I’ve heard about the fuel issue, I believe it is tacomoto that sells a fix. I haven’t had any issues but haven’t pushed fuel range. I recently picked up a IMS 4.5 tank and full fuel pump assy from Slavens along with quick disconnects so I can do quick swaps from the stock 2.2 to the 4.5. I might know more/study the pickup when I install the new pump in the big tank. I’m winding down a big ride in NM and Colo where the 450 xcfw has just down right shined. I couldn’t be happier with it on gnarly trails. Time will tell when I transform it into big desert camping mode if I’m still in love with it like I still am with my ‘14 500 xcw.

 

[OffroadAggie]

Thank you for getting back. Slavens actually just got back to confirm the new design was not on the '23s so we should not have the fuel draw issue at all. If you dont mind letting me know your height and weight and what if any suspension adjustments, mods, etc have you needed to make if any? Ive owned an XT550, XR650L, DRZ400 and 530XCRW and confess Ive never even touched or thought much about suspension! Guess Im either still a beginner or just real fortunate!?

 

[KsTeveM]

I’m 6’1” and fluctuate between 225 and 250 depending on what I’m stuffing in my pie hole and how much I’m not exercising. I’ve had similar bikes in my past and as a trail rider didn’t go crazy on suspension. I’ve never raced enduro nor been a mx guy. I’m not a timid trail rider but also not a wild man. Just maybe a bull in the china closet type if the trail turns gnarly. My 2014 XCW had the best stock suspension of any bike I ever had, I lived with just playing with clickers and preload for years. When it was apparent it was fatigued, over 10k hardish miles, they got rebuilt with new internals as needed and stiffer springs using Slavens chart. So far I’ve just done slow speed trail riding on my new XCFW and didn’t need fat boy springs. But this fall I plan on doing a decent desert jaunt with gear and it will be getting new springs using the Slavens chart. So the suspension thing just depends. I play things by ear and do what feels right. These modern enduros are not our father’s bikes. Yes the math clearly shows if you are tens of pounds over the stock spring weight, you will benefit from new springs. But I would rather have skid plates, radiator guards, bark busters, bar risers, flex bars etc first. Recover from those expenses and when you can, spring for some springs! Some folks would rather ride naked with tuned suspension. To me, it depends on how hard you ride, where you ride, how often and how fat your wallet is. A skilled rider can take a clapped out stock bike from the 80s and outride a lot of folks on the latest machine with the KTM parts catalog thrown at it. Do what makes you happy!!

 

[OffroadAggie]

Good advice thank you!! By the way, have you ever heard of or riden at https://www.ctortrails.com/? From checking out the site, Id like to see if they let you ride for a day to try out to consider becoming a member!?

 

[KsTeveM]

I have. Guy that owns it, Benny I think, might balk at first, he wants you to do the membership but will usually let you come for the day. Tell him you talked to guys that have been there, doubt he will remember me but just say it anyway, guy on 500 with his son. I get the feeling he likes to know you know someone that has already been respectful out there. Last time I went it was $30 for the day. Pretty dang cool place, single track is well groomed. I would do trail 3 and 4. Then tackle trail 2. Probably stay off the X routes, they mean it. Trail 1 is pretty much all X, even the bypasses ain’t messing around. I’d just stick to the other 3 trails, they are decently long. There is a make shift bathroom and day use parking as well as a few rv spots if you wanted to stay. If it was closer to me, I would be all over the membership. The amount of work on the trails that has gone into the place is impressive. Call before you haul, he will shut it down if muddy.

 

[KsTeveM]

p.s. the smaller the bike you are on out there, the more fun you will have.

 

[OffroadAggie]

Ok thank you so much very cool cant believe I havent heard of before look forward to trying for a day if he'll let me. Ill drop your name "guy on 500 with son"! What part of Texas do you live and where do you typically ride??

 

[KsTeveM]

I live between San Marcos and Seguin. I’ve sampled about everything off road park wise in Texas over the years, go out of state several times a year and fill in the gaps doing county road riding, what I call gravel travel. Just do what you can when you live in these parts!

 

[OffroadAggie]

Ok thank you so much very cool cant believe I havent heard of before look forward to trying for a day if he'll let me. Ill drop your name "guy on 500 with son"! What part of Texas do you live and where do you typically ride??

I live between San Marcos and Seguin. I’ve sampled about everything off road park wise in Texas over the years, go out of state several times a year and fill in the gaps doing county road riding, what I call gravel travel. Just do what you can when you live in these parts!

Yep very cool... do you happen to enjoy and ride Harleys as well like me!?

 

[KsTeveM]

Yep very cool... do you happen to enjoy and ride Harleys as well like me!?

If your Harley looks like this:

 

[OffroadAggie]

If your Harley looks like this:

I wish!! Too cool!!

 

[woodsguy]

I have. Guy that owns it, Benny I think, might balk at first, he wants you to do the membership but will usually let you come for the day. Tell him you talked to guys that have been there, doubt he will remember me but just say it anyway, guy on 500 with his son. I get the feeling he likes to know you know someone that has already been respectful out there. Last time I went it was $30 for the day. Pretty dang cool place, single track is well groomed. I would do trail 3 and 4. Then tackle trail 2. Probably stay off the X routes, they mean it. Trail 1 is pretty much all X, even the bypasses ain’t messing around. I’d just stick to the other 3 trails, they are decently long. There is a make shift bathroom and day use parking as well as a few rv spots if you wanted to stay. If it was closer to me, I would be all over the membership. The amount of work on the trails that has gone into the place is impressive. Call before you haul, he will shut it down if muddy.

Haven't been there but once, over 10 years ago. Glad to know trail rankings. On CRF450R, trail 1 probably wouldn't be fun.