1994 KTM 300exc

[Higgsy]

1994 KTM 300exc?

Hi everyone. I am new to the forum and was looking for some information on a 1994 300 exc. I have one near by for sale for $2800 Canadian. Is that a good price or not? Seems a little steep for that year to me what do you think? If anyone can tell what kind of problems they have had with owning a 300 I would like to hear about it. I am just tring to find out as much info as I can before I think about buying it. I just don't what any surprises and regrets later on down the road. Thanx ;)

 

[JG614]

Higgsy,

I had one of those, probably the best woods bike I've ever owned very torquey would lug down to zero RPMs but would still rip on top. I did foul about a million spark plugs until I put in a leaner slide. Also to get at the spark plug is a major pain, I actually got real good at taking the seat and tank off in the middle of the woods. I even raced a couple of mx races on it although the suspension was a bit soft for that, it was great in the woods. look out for typical stuff like wheel bearings, swingarm/link bearings, fork seals, countershaft and shift shaft seals, the KTMs of that era seemed to eat them if you didn't pay extra attention. Other than that keep the filter clean and change the tranny oil and she'll run forever, kinda like an old honda XR. Overall I'd have to say It's a great bike. I'm not familiar with your exchange rate, but here in the states that probably a $1200-$1800 bike. hope this helps.


Jeffro :ride:

 

[Higgsy]

Thanx JG614, I just spent about 2 hours reading other posting on here and found out lots of good info about the 300. Why do they have problems with seals leaking? When replacing the seals is there better ones to buy that will last longer?

 

[Higgsy]

I snoozed the bike is sold. :yikes: I think when I was doing my research on the web someone else was loading it up to take it home and call their own. :bang: Oh well live and learn right, sh!t happens. :) I still would like some more info on the 300's if anybody's got it. This is what I think about keeping the two strokes a live and well. Less cost to re-build because it has a lot less moving parts. Easy as pie to work on the top end compared to a 4 stroke joke. No timing chain, gears or valves to replace, just a piston and rings and maybe an exhaust valve to clean up. I bet a complete top end on a 2 stroke which includes a new cylinder, piston and rings is almost half the price of a 4 stroke. Sure the 4"s have improved a great deal in the HP department but reving the snot out of an engine to get that HP everyone wants reminds me of my buddies Honda Civic with the bean can exhaust on the back, forget that. After The Fast and the Furious movie came out everyone want's to waste their money on temporary HP as I like to call it because it just won't hold up in the long run.The 4's with exhaust work are louder than any 2 stroker I have ever heard. And it just echoes in the woods worse than the 2 strokes. I almost bought a Honda 250 crf x and when I read about the life span on the top end it changed my mind because of the $ involved for maintainance to keep the 4 stroke going. If I was going to buy a high performance 4 stroke I think I would choose a Huseberg, Husky and then a KTM. They seem to have been doing their 4 stroke research longer then any of Jap manufactures. I think KTM bought Huseberg out just because of the engine development. Looking at the 2005 KTM line up they seem to be almost evenly divided between the 2's and 4 stokes. They have 13 models of 4 strokes and 12 models of 2 strokes. Maybe I am just from the old school were the geeks rode their honda KL's and XR's 4 strokes and the fast guys rode the IT's, KDX's and PE's and a little later on RMX's for trail riding and all the boys in moto X they would never even think of putting their a$$ on a 4 stroke to try and win at the track. For the young guys reading this sorry for rambling on but how many of the guys out there over 25 understand where I am coming from. Newer isn't always better, but that's just my opinion.

 

[xsnrg]

Higgsy, I've yet to read a post from a KTM300 owner that wasn't in love with their bike. I ride a KDX220, but the next bike I buy will either be a KTM300 2stroke or a CRF450X with a valve upgrade.

 

[Higgsy]

xsnrg the valve up grade? Can you tell me a little more about it. Are the first valves used in the crf's softer and wearing out quicker, is that the up grade installing a harder valve to last longer?

 

[xsnrg]

Do some searches...Rich Rohrich posted the specifics somewhere. He was saying that Kibblewhite stainless valves, and I believe some type of upgrade to the valve seats made the 450X almost as reliable as the older 4strokes. Although I still like KTMs, I believe Rich knows as much about dirtbike engines as anyone.

Ben - All CRFs both 250s and 450 wear the hard coating off the titanium valves which leads to rapid valve failure. There are lots of theories about why it wears off, (dust being one of them) but none of these theories hold up under real investigation.
The bottom line is the Honda OEM titanium valves wear quickly as do the valve springs. Keeping things clean will help extend their life but it won't cure the problem. Adding lead, avgas or any chemicals to the fuel will do nothing to extend valve life..

On the CRF450s the fix is to change the OEM valves out for a set of high grade one piece stainless steel valves and a high grade valve spring set. This gives the CRF450 the same valve life as the old XRs.

 

[Higgsy]

Thanx, that's good info to know.