Motocross Feature

It has been a little longer than planned since our last real check in with our Fullnoise.com.au KTM 350 SX-F, though for those of you who read our Weekly end of week article "THE DIRTY WEEKEND AHEAD" you will be completely up to date with when and where we have been riding our orange beast.

When we last checked in, we were just about to hit our first few races for the 2013 season, starting with the opening round of the 2013 Peter Stevens Motorcycles, South Australian Motocross Championship at Whyalla.

Before the race we made once noticeable change to the bike, both in the looks department and the way it performed. Looking for just a little more poke off the bottom, we replaced the standard 50 tooth rear sprocket for a KTM Power Parts orange 52 tooth unit.

The difference was certainly noticeable instantly and achieved exactly what I was looking for, giving that little bit extra when twisting the throttle and also allowing me to run a gear taller through corners.

The one thing I did not think about was launching out of the gate with the taller gearing! The shorter gearing certainly helps fire the 350 out of a start gate, something I struggled with at Whyalla, keeping the front wheel on the ground was proving to be difficult!

The opening round of the SAMX Championships was a tough one, boiling hot temperatures, along with a decent breeze made for a rough dry sketchy track that I really did not feel comfortable on. While the bike handled the conditions well, I was just not willing to push at all and pretty much trail rode the two motos that we got in for the day.

Two other additions we made to our KTM before the Whyalla event where the addition of a set of Samco Silicon Hoses and also a set of Raptor Titanium footpegs.

The Silicon hoses were more so just about the look, the stoke KTM radiator hoses were perfect in every way but the bright orange Samco hoses certainly tie in nicely with our bikes overall look.

As I mentioned in our initial review with our bike, the only thing that I really wanted to change on the bike were the footpegs, the KTM stock pegs are not overly wide and the teeth while offering decent grip, are not quite as sharp or as tall as some of the after-market pegs on the market.

The good people over at Mainmoto sent us a set of Raptor Titanium Footpegs and gave us the choice of the standard MX Peg or the Enduro Pegs. With a variety of riding coming up this year, we thought the Hollowed out Enduro pegs would be the go and they have certainly proved useful in the couple of mud rides and races we have encountered so far in 2013.

Keep an eye on the site for a full review on the Raptor Titanium foot pegs in the near future.

With the Opening round of the SA state titles over, our next event on the calendar was South Australia's current longest running motocross meeting, the King of the Gulf held at Port Pirie.

In the lead up to Pirie our last two major additions to our KTM arrived in the form of a Full Akrapovic exahust system from the KTM Power Parts catalogue along with one trick looking set of Orange SM Pro Platinum Wheels, set off with black spokes and nipples and a bright orange Talon Hub thanks to the guys at John Titman Racing.

With our bike looking a million dollars we rolled in to Port Pirie to some fine looking weather on Saturday afternoon, but that was soon about to change! As we set up camp for the night the rain started to come down and then continued on and off all night leaving us with a muddy wet track for the days racing. A stark contrast to our first race a couple of weeks prior!

Now used to the shorter gearing, my starts were much improved during the day at Pirie, jumping out of the gate well in every race. While the bike was more than capable of making it to the first corner in the lead, the rider was not quite as capable and I spent the day running in the back half of the field in the combined Clubman and intermediate class which consisted of only a couple of fellow clubman riders.

The good news was, I was able to qualify for the Clubman feature for the first time in a few years and lined up against a full gate of riders in the final 8 lap race. After feeling pretty good racing the short 4 lap heat races during the day, my lack of fitness came to the fore during the eight lap final!

With my first two races on our 350 SX-F under my belt and a lot of riding both before our first race and in the lead up to the King of the Gulf, I was keen to spend even more time getting to know our long term project bike.

However between work commitments and the begging of the 2013 Monster Energy MX Nationals ride time has really dried up over the past month. My first ride back after the Easter event was the second round of the 2013 South Australian MX Championship at Mount Gambier on the 21st of April!

Certainly not what I had planned.

With my next ride slated in for this weekend at round three of the South Australian titles I will leave the Mount Gambier run down our next update in a couple of week time and cover off both rounds two and three of the series in one hit.

While ride time has been limited of late, the ease of use and maintenance with the 2013 KTM has meant that there also has been little time spent in the shed working on our bike. Apart from fitting a couple of new parts all aimed at increasing my comfort level on the bike and a little colour! The most amount of time I have spent working on our bike has been cleaning the mud off after our last few rides which have all either been in mud or ended in mud!

Along with keeping our bike clean and looking great, it really has just been a matter of changing the air filter after each ride and replacing the oil as needed, though as with every bike I have had, Oil changes are always done more frequently than recommended and I may be doing it a little to regularly, as the Motorex oil that is coming out does not look to much different than when it is going in!

Think I might have to start opening the throttle a little more.

Check back in a couple of weeks as we get back in to some more regular riding and start trying a few things out on the bike in the lead up to Hattah, probably the race I am looking forward to the most this year. My entry is already and some much needed training for the race is under way!

Top Image: Our 2013 KTM 350 SX-F in action at round 1 of the 2013 Peter Stevens South Australian Motocross Championships at Whyalla
Credit: Geoff Pedder