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The Cone Valve is very good and works well, but I am pretty confident you can get away with stock valved stuff by the sounds of it.
Asterisk ZeroG Pant
Faast Co Torque spoke wrench
Yamaha Powertuner (For Yamaha owners)
VP T4E Fuel (Just coming out and is a great pump gas replacement fuel)
Works Connection Elite Clutch Perch
What is your opinion on 450s are too big/powerful/heavy and should/will they go the way of the 500s?
Could you tell us a little about where come from, your racing career and how you got into your job?
Thanks
I'm considering making the switch from a Yamaha to a new KTM and I was wondering, how does the AER suspension compares to the Yamaha? I'm also a larger rider so I was wondering how the KTM works for larger guys.
Thanks Kris, big fan of your work!
The Shop
Is there a particular reason that you don't really race any off-road events? In spite of your self-professed love for all things off-road, it seems to be that you largely stick to racing motocross. Thanks.
Thanks for the kind words, I appreciate it.
I don't think 450's will ever go away as they are a big draw and make too much money for manufacturers.
I come from Hesperia,Ca. and grew up riding in the desert with my family. My dad raced District 37 and we would go camp out in the dez and just enjoy riding dirt bikes.
My racing career wasn't that spectacular. My mom got diagnosed with MS when I was very young and my parents separated so I spent most of my time taking care of my mom. I could of just bailed and moved out and went racing, but I was taught to take care of family, so I had to balance being at home with my mom and traveling to races. I did a good job locally, raced AMA Supercross, Canadian Nationals, and spent a winter in Germany for the Supercross series there.
Here is the cliff note version of how I became a test rider. I always wanted to be a test rider and worked at a local motorcycle shop when I was in high school (Al Baker's XR's Only) as a shipper and ran into Karel Kramer from Dirt Rider. He needed a fill in photo model and asked me to help. He liked how I looked and tested and kept asking me back to do tests. That lead me into a Yamaha test riding gig with Ed Scheidler. After I found out Heather was pregnant I asked Yamaha to put me in house, but they couldn't so I went to KTM to help with their four stroke development. I then went back to Yamaha two years later after they offered me an in house job and finally I left Yamaha to work as an Associate Editor (now Test Editor) with Dirt Rider. I came full circle! I owe most of everything to Karel Kramer that day he walked into that shop!
Keefer Inc. stemmed off of my testing experience and the need in our industry to have a quality test rider test certain products for companies! There you go, that is the nuts and bolts of it.
Suspension goes to Yamaha.
Chassis goes to KTM.
Engine is great on both bikes.
If I was buying a bike I would buy a KTM FE 450 right now. I think the updated suspension spec, orange frame, and slip on Akrapovic muffler is worth the extra 1000.00 you will be spending. Good luck and have fun!
Both of them are fine and give me no problems to this day..
I love off-road. I grew up racing Hare N Hounds and Big 6.
I raced a WORCS race a couple years ago and have raced EX. I just really prefer moto as far as how much fun I have. I want to go back east and race a couple GNCC's. I just don't want to hold it wide open in the desert anymore. Too scary! I respect those guys so much and some of my best friends are off-road guys. Off-Road guys are more down to earth and easier to get along with! HAHA!
Yes, I want to so bad. I want to ride some east coast dirt. I am working on getting out there later in the year. Maybe North Carolina, Georgia and Florida is my picks.
I will be in Colorado in June though ripping it up!
Thanks for making bike tests interesting and informative.
After injuring your wrists, do you wear wrist braces? Do you recommend any brand or model? Thanks!
Really like what you bring to Dirt Rider and Pulp! My question is why do all the magazines do shootouts on stock bikes? If i had to guess 90% of magazine readers would never buy a bike and plan to leave it stock. So to me the mags are catering to the 10% of guys who buy a stock bike and put around like goons. How hard would it be to do a shootout and allow for 1000 bucks or so to be spent right off the bat on each bikes unique weakness. It would be interesting to see how the bikes stacked up if suspension issues could be fixed with re-valves and say if one particular bike was under powered a pipe could shoot it up a few spots. 90% of guys who ride are doing this why cant the magazines? It would def take allot of guesswork out for us true motoheads. Thanks!
Thanks for the kind words! Your question is valid and not a bad idea, but there are some things to consider.
Manufacturers work hard on their machines. Every part is tested and accounted for. It's not like they just throw on some POS part and say "let's sell it"! For example, most of these stock muffler systems are better than what some of these other aftermarket companies are selling right now. There are a few that take the time and sell a better product than stock, but it takes work to improve some things over stock. If we tested with aftermarket parts on them it actually would deface the value of each manufacturers R&D department so to speak. I would have to argue that your 90% is a little high on the amount of people that throw aftermarket stuff on new bikes. I would say it is more in the 60% range. Again I can't stress enough on how much R&D goes into every single part on a new bike.
However, I do feel there is something with what you are saying. There is a market (like you said) for a shootout with a $1000.00 or $2000.00 cap on each bike. Maybe we get one company to valve all the bikes and one company to supply the muffler systems, etc. But....... And this is a big BUT.... You really have to be careful and make sure to use the same company for each part used. If we were to spread it out between more than one company we wouldn't be getting an apples to apples shootout comparison. Shootouts and testing in general need to be "controlled" and not just a bunch of different parts and companies thrown at bikes. Each company has different testing parameters therefore this "Bike Shootout" would become a wild goose chase, because maybe one company had a better product than the other. That would make Bike "A" (which could be really good stock) not so good and bike "B" would be much better. It is just too hard to control. That is why we would need one company per part on each machine.
I would love to try your theory, but then I would end up pissing one company off that didn't get used and I would have to make several calls and apologies on why I chose company "A" over company "B". You see where I am going with this now don't you?
I hope this sheds a little light on your question and don't think doing what you're saying is out of the question, but it would have to be controlled somewhat. Cheers and thanks for the Q!
what are some of the most helpful parts for a 2017 CRF450R, and what are some things that wear quickly on it that you would have to check for?
Pit Row
What's it like working for Dirtrider? Are you required you to put in any time at the office, or do you do everything outside of the office and just send in your articles? Do they give you testing assignments, or do you pick and chose what you want to test? What was Dirtrider's initial response to your involvement with Steve and doing the Pulp MX Show? And would you say that you've had more freedom to be yourself on the show since Chris Denison left the magazine? Thanks.
However there are some things you can do to help the chassis feeling that I have tried.
I put on the RX engine hangers and really liked how I got a little more flex out of the chassis on fast square edge. You can purchase the RX hangers at your local Honda dealer if you want to try. The RX hangers are great on fast, choppy tracks and I like the standard R hangers at tighter, tackier, rutty tracks.
I also like Hinson's eight plate clutch kit. Just the overall life I get out of the clutch is better for me. I am a clutch dragger and go through clutches every 10 hours or so and going to a Hinson helps lengthen that time.
Suspension is soft for me (I am 172 pounds) so the easiest fix would be get it valved for your weight or just drop in a heavier fork and shock spring. This helps the bike from pitching on de-cel and helps balance the bike out.
As far as everything else, that would be just preference. I am running a Yosh muffler now, but am trying a FMF next week.
I hear all of these horror myths that "oh the Honda is breaking". I think most of that is false. Only thing that I have ever broke (and I ride a lot) is a clutch fiber because I ran the coolant too low at a sand track. So keep an eye on your coolant level and you should be good to go! Have fun!
Back to the 17' KTM 250SXF, what mods do you recommend? Ive got it dialed in with re-valved suspension, Ride Engineering 20.5 triple clamps, Rocket exhaust and PT fusion bars. (and run VP T4 all the time) Everything feels great just wondering if there is anything else you might have tested thats a must have. Thanks
I have been running VP's new T4E in the KTM's I have and it makes a difference in throttle response and pulling power down low. Maybe you can try a pail down the road and see how it works for you. Have fun on the orange brigade!
Im aware that you've been involved with the development of the Alta Redshift. I just bought one to replace my YZF250 for racing the 60+ vet class. I've only got a few hours on the bike and my only complaint is with the extra weight the forks seem to blow through the travel when landing which pitches the bike forward. I was wondering what your assessment of the forks is and your general thoughts on the bike for Vet racing? Also, I'm curious if you know if the bike Josh Hill rode at the straight rhythm used a stock battery pack or a lighter version developed just for 3 runs? No reason to run a stock pack as its the equivalent of racing a 10 minute Moto with a desert tank full of fuel!
Thanks in advance for your time.
Lisa Loeb "Stay" LOL.
How important is having a factory ECU for a pro? I am referring to the topic about Big James commenting that the Honda ECU is like cheating.
Are the pros running enough sensors everywhere on the bike that the mapping is adjusted real time on the track? That's the only thing I could think of.
Congrats on your purchase, the Redshift is a fun piece of machinery.
I am currently working on helping develop new fork settings with ALTA and they should be available soon I think? I also thought the fork was a little harsh for me because it rode low in the stroke. Stiffening only the compression made the harsh feeling worse. Best thing I could do was stiffen the fork and open up the rebound damping. This helps the fork move, but keep it up in its stroke a little more. For Vet racing I think it would be a great weapon on a smaller type of track. If it is too sandy or deep you might lose some time on gas powered machines. However, they are currently working on different battery packs and batteries that have more power/life. The battery is ever evolving and only going to get better.
I don't know which battery or if a modified battery was used in Hill's SR bike? Knowing the smart engineers at ALTA they probably came up with something that was lighter for him to use.
Have fun on the RS and hope to see you shredding it at the tracks soon!
I have a GET on my YZ450F and it is so easy to ride down low but broadens the mid-top end so much. It revs forever (even though I know I don't need to rev a 450).
There are sensors for the engineer to download the info once back at the truck, but it doesn't get adjusted in real time.
With stock ignitions they are mapped for sound and have safe engine parameter guidelines to follow. that way the customer can't blow up his bike and there are no warranty nightmares. With an aftermarket ECU I can control how much power I want and maybe get a little less reliability, but more performance. I have used just plug and play ECU's from GET and Vortex with pump fuel and have got great bottom end and over-rev gains without sacrificing much reliability. To me suspension, handlebars and a ECU is all I would take with me if I was going to race anywhere out of country.
Post a reply to: Vital MX Forum QNA: Kris Keefer