06 300EC first ride impressions on 1st and 2nd gear.

[colinmc400]

Got my first ride on my year old 300EC yesterday. Overall i can safely say "why the hell didn't i do this before" We ran 2 @40 mile loops in fairly tight forest going. 3rd and 4th gears were a total revelation, as they were faultless and covered lots of what i needed. 1st gear was almost redundant, but 2nd was needed.

Both 1st and 2nd felt a bit "wooly and fluffy" at just a wiff of throttle opening and were not as precise as i would like for the really technical going, but cleaned up once the throttle was opened up. So i am thinking pilot too rich maybe?

It was @the mid 60's yesterday and a little humid. We were at maybe 500ft above sea level. I have been assured all the carb settings are stock. I ran it with BP98ron fuel and 40:1 Silkolene fully synth.

I do not want to mess with how the bike felt in 3rd and 4th, but would like to tidy up first and second. Any ideas on what my base settings should be? Please be gentle, i am a no-hope on jetting and all things carb related

 

[widebear]

Colin. It has been my experiance that there are no standard gasgas settings. You will have to remove the needle and slide and the two jets in order to understand fully what is going on . All of these components must be in sync to work properly and only then can you fine tune to get the desired results. Also i vigoursly reject any assertions that a certain wonder component will save the day , this is just plain wrong and ammounts to nothing more than biased and self interested product promotion. Let us know what you have in there and I promise the good people on this forum will help you achive your goals in the most entertaining and contentious manner.

 

[colinmc400]

Let us know what you have in there and I promise the good people on this forum will help you achive your goals in the most entertaining and contentious manner.

Ok that seems entirely fair. I will get the carb off and see whats in there and check what position the air screw is in and go from there.

 

[GMP]

While its off, check if the float is twisted and at the proper level, and the condition of the reeds.

Yes, there is no "magic"one size fits all jetting kit, Les himself will tell you that. Its just a better starting point in most cases. I just set up my '07 with what I thought would be rich for break in and it was spot on crisp. There all different.

 

[iancp5]

Some people are up in the 48's on the pilot while I am running a 35! So you can see how big the variation is. For reference I am setup as follows but as said you have to plot your own course on this one to get the best:-

35 pilot
#N1EF needle on 2nd clip
178 main
#7 slide
50:1 oil, high quality pump gas

I find the LTR needle, not sure which one I have, maybe the "0", works well on 2nd clip as well, probably cleaner as well but I get a slightly gentler transition from the N1EF needle. Idle is ok but not wonderful, never seen a Gasser with perfect idle but some say it is possible with a #9 slide. I also think our gas / petrol / fuel is more consistent in the UK. Most UK guys agree on jetting but there seems to be a wide variation in the US even at similar altitudes.

 

[colinmc400]

Some people are up in the 48's on the pilot while I am running a 35! So you can see how big the variation is. For reference I am setup as follows but as said you have to plot your own course on this one to get the best:-

35 pilot
#N1EF needle on 2nd clip
178 main
#7 slide
50:1 oil, high quality pump gas

I find the LTR needle, not sure which one I have, maybe the "0", works well on 2nd clip as well, probably cleaner as well but I get a slightly gentler transition from the N1EF needle. Idle is ok but not wonderful, never seen a Gasser with perfect idle but some say it is possible with a #9 slide. I also think our gas / petrol / fuel is more consistent in the UK. Most UK guys agree on jetting but there seems to be a wide variation in the US even at similar altitudes.

Is that Ian Packer lurking over there? Its Colin McCaughey here Ian living in sunny Aus, how goes it? You still got your 300 then?

I finally saw the light and bought a Spaniard. Its really nice, but not quite so sorted as my 250EXC in the really low revs in 1st and 2nd. BP do a 98ron fuel here in Aus and i have been using that, which might muck things up. I am going to have a play with mixtures and air screws this weekend and see if that helps.

See ya!

 

[wise old man]

Colin I'm in Aus. too and my 07 ec300 runs 42 pilot and 170 main with an LTR needle centre clip running BP 98 ron with 40-1 oil mix. Most of the GGs in this area run similar jetting sometimes going to a 40 pilot if running the standard N1EF needle. Just as you discribe my bike also ran pretty rough down low with the standard jetting but now runs very sweetly with the above combination. Andrew

 

[colinmc400]

Thanks Andrew, where abouts are you, just to compare temps and altitudes? I am in Perth, so its mostly sea level stuff and fairly low humidity. Not fussed if it doesn;t run so good in summer, as i will be tucked away in the a/c somewhere indoors

 

[wise old man]

Colin I'm in Cairns so yes we do have more humidity than Perth mainly riding sea level to 1000ft above. One thing I did notice just by putting the LTR needle in the bottom end cleaned up even with the standard jetting left in place. Must be something to do with the taper of the needle. Good luck it should be easy to fix with a few jets. And enjoy the ride.

 

[iancp5]

Is that Ian Packer lurking over there? Its Colin McCaughey here Ian living in sunny Aus, how goes it? You still got your 300 then?

I finally saw the light and bought a Spaniard. Its really nice, but not quite so sorted as my 250EXC in the really low revs in 1st and 2nd. BP do a 98ron fuel here in Aus and i have been using that, which might muck things up. I am going to have a play with mixtures and air screws this weekend and see if that helps.

See ya!

Hi Colin,

Good thanks but a bit limited by a broken finger at the moment. Should be all ok for the Welsh I'm hoping. How are you?

They have their quirks but the Gassers get to you. They just seem that bit easier to manage than other bikes but have lacked the KTM attention to detail. I'm considering stepping down to a 200 sometime. I seem to be doing mostly tight woods events and a 300 is just overkill. Can't make up my mind if I want to move the KTM 450 down to a 250 4T. Might be better to do that and keep the 300 for the more open stuff. I marshalled at Bagshot test ground recently and even when I tried a fast lap I don't think I got past 1/4 throttle on the 450. Well you know what it's like round here and the SEEC events. So the dilemma is 200 2T or 250 4T.

 

[colinmc400]

Hi Colin,

Good thanks but a bit limited by a broken finger at the moment. Should be all ok for the Welsh I'm hoping. How are you?

Well you know what it's like round here and the SEEC events. So the dilemma is 200 2T or 250 4T.

Ian, although i have only ridden this new 300 once, i still reckon its easier to ride than my 05 250EXC and that was a very nice bike for the SEEC. We have a loop in the forest here that includes a @1km sandy special test sort of circuit. It just seemed to go well on that, when every second counted, but as soon as we went back into trial mode, it lapped that up as well.

Seems to me you already have the 2 bikes everybody should have. I am still keeping my 06 450EXC that i bought new when i arrived here last summer, as there are some wide open spaces that the more relaxed and longer legs of the 4T take better. It would still be a big dilema over which to ride in a wet horrid Welsh

 

[iancp5]

Ian, although i have only ridden this new 300 once, i still reckon its easier to ride than my 05 250EXC and that was a very nice bike for the SEEC. We have a loop in the forest here that includes a @1km sandy special test sort of circuit. It just seemed to go well on that, when every second counted, but as soon as we went back into trial mode, it lapped that up as well.

Seems to me you already have the 2 bikes everybody should have. I am still keeping my 06 450EXC that i bought new when i arrived here last summer, as there are some wide open spaces that the more relaxed and longer legs of the 4T take better. It would still be a big dilema over which to ride in a wet horrid Welsh

For the Welsh I'm going 2 stroke. I tried the 450 last year and luckily it was dry. I remember when it was wet and Gerraint Jones had won the over 50's on a WR450. At the prize giving he said he would've preferred the 250 as the 450 was hard work in the wet. If he finds a 450 hard I think it says it all - I struggled to keep up with him when he was on a TTR125 once! Maybe I should get a 200 and just keep the 450 for trail riding but there's less and less every year. I definitely need something less powerful in the woods. The 300 is fine on tight going until you get tired then the torquiness just makes it worse - sometimes I get so tired I'm just trying to hang on and can't seem to control things. I rode a WR250F round a loop in the Hafren Forest and what I liked was I didn't have to think about the throttle, I just opened it and worried about the line. My test times have improved over last year but I seem to be doing worse on tight checks. Trying to get fitter too but breaking a finger knocked that back as well.

But as you can see not sure what I want.

 

[SpeedyManiac]

Hi Colin,

Good thanks but a bit limited by a broken finger at the moment. Should be all ok for the Welsh I'm hoping. How are you?

They have their quirks but the Gassers get to you. They just seem that bit easier to manage than other bikes but have lacked the KTM attention to detail. I'm considering stepping down to a 200 sometime. I seem to be doing mostly tight woods events and a 300 is just overkill. Can't make up my mind if I want to move the KTM 450 down to a 250 4T. Might be better to do that and keep the 300 for the more open stuff. I marshalled at Bagshot test ground recently and even when I tried a fast lap I don't think I got past 1/4 throttle on the 450. Well you know what it's like round here and the SEEC events. So the dilemma is 200 2T or 250 4T.

Go for the 200 two-stroke!

 

[Bearman]

Yeah they are a bit of fun. they only lack a bit of bottom end but its not too bad. if you know what you're doing you can make them work