2019 KTM 350 EXC-F Project Bike Riding Impression

Dirt Rider

A 2019 KTM 350 EXC-F with a souped-up engine, revalved suspension, trials rear tire, and more is a recipe for a fun time.  Check out the story at https://www.dirtrider.com/story/tests/ktm-350-exc-f-project-bike-riding-impression-2019/  Video By: Mason Owens  Read more from Dirt Rider: https://www.dirtrider.com/

Transcript

00:00 What's up everyone?

00:06 Andrew O'Leary with Dirt Rider here and we have a 2019 KTM 350 EXCF project bike built

00:12 by none other than Jay Clark.

00:13 Jay, tell us about this bike man.

00:15 So as you can see it looks amazing now but it really it wasn't always amazing.

00:20 When I got this thing I got a good deal on it.

00:21 The engine wasn't in good shape.

00:23 It had a big problem.

00:26 So it had run out of oil so we went ahead and we redid the entire engine.

00:30 So that was the main problem with the bike.

00:32 And so since that was the case we were down, we stumbled across some cool looking race

00:38 cases without the Kickstarter boss.

00:40 Some moto cases as you can see.

00:42 So we have those cases on here and Jamie went through, ported the engine for us, matched

00:46 it up.

00:47 We got the stock bore, stock compression, Wiseco in there.

00:50 And Jamie set up the engine, mapped it, all that.

00:53 And we have the SXF cams in there.

00:55 So the engine is really just like a moto engine.

00:58 You know so you got the good engine and it's all mapped and set up with the FMF pipe and

01:02 silencer.

01:03 So that's the big thing that we did to this thing.

01:05 And then of course suspension set up way more aggressive than a regular dual sport.

01:10 Absolutely, absolutely.

01:12 And we have some aftermarket pieces here.

01:15 I know you mentioned before we started filming the IMS tank obviously, IMS catch can in the

01:20 frame.

01:21 Oh yeah.

01:22 It's a catch can and is larger, kind of a must for big rides.

01:26 And the catch can in the frame fits in there so nicely.

01:30 That's a really nice thing to have from IMS.

01:31 So if you boil over, catches it in there and then puts it back.

01:34 So it's really nice and a cool one.

01:36 And as you said on the rest of the parts, it's kind of like what isn't on here.

01:40 There's everything on this thing.

01:41 Tako Moto is a good company out of Vegas who specializes in dual sports.

01:45 And they go through and did a lot of the controls.

01:46 You saw the start switch.

01:48 They have a backup so that you can actually bump start the bike.

01:51 You have a little generator kind of thing, a solenoid that will allow the thing to start

01:56 if your battery's dead.

01:59 Stock they won't do that.

02:01 He has a good piece here for the, where the fuel line goes in, a fuel filter.

02:06 A lot of little bits he did to this thing.

02:08 And they hooked up all the Moto minded pieces too with their, that raises up the readout

02:12 here on the bike and the Moto minded headlight.

02:17 They have all those pieces that are really nice to have.

02:20 The big thing is his blinkers.

02:21 His blinkers are next level.

02:23 They're pretty cool.

02:24 So, and so with the rest of our controls, I really liked the ODI Champ bar bins.

02:28 That's what we run on all of our Moto bikes.

02:29 And we've got those set up with the ODI grips and Enduro Engineering hand guards.

02:34 And then we got, I run just one mirror on the left side and double take mirrors are

02:37 so nice because you can just tuck them away like so.

02:41 Just great.

02:42 And then you can pop it back up when you, you know, in the situations where you want

02:45 to see behind you.

02:46 So while we had the bike down, we went ahead and went through the, had the radiator strengthened

02:49 up from ICW.

02:50 They're out of North Carolina.

02:51 They strengthened up the radiators at the rear of the bike.

02:54 We got our Pro X chain and sprockets on here with our Tusk wheels on the gearing.

02:59 We're running a 1451, which seems a pretty good compromise for what we're looking for.

03:03 Hunt Racing Products made a rear guard and a brake pedal tip for this thing.

03:08 And you can see our foot pegs are pretty gnarly.

03:10 These are actually stock pegs that are modified from Chuck at Metal Tech does this work.

03:15 UFO plastic, DecalWorks graphics, Moto seat, seat cover, all take care of the looks of

03:19 this thing.

03:20 CV4 hoses from Wiseco has the hoses that we're able to eliminate the thermostat built in.

03:27 So that's really nice to have.

03:28 We have the Recluse torque drive on here.

03:31 That's a really good feel.

03:32 We like that conventional clutch feel.

03:34 P3 skid plate gives us some good protection around the frame and engine.

03:39 So for the tires on this thing, we're actually fully street legal with our EN91 front tire

03:43 and a K950 Dunlop rear tire.

03:46 For the kickstand, we have the Fastway Pro Model Billet makes a really cool kick at kick

03:49 stand.

03:50 Really heavy duty.

03:51 It's a really nice addition to the bike.

03:53 I think that's about it, man.

03:56 Well shoot, man, that's a long list of parts.

03:58 I hope there's not going to be a quiz on it later because I would need some time to study.

04:01 But in the meantime, we're going to go ride this thing on the trails here and on the road

04:05 as well and see how it performs and get back to you guys here in a little bit.

04:08 Stay tuned.

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06:53 All right, so we just finished riding Jay Clark's 350 EXCF and what a fun day it was

07:05 and what an awesome project bike.

07:06 We rode it a little bit on the pavement here.

07:08 We also got some trail action, of course, as well.

07:11 And I mean, really, you know what a dual sport is for.

07:14 And on the trail, this bike, I definitely noticed the freer feeling in the engine from

07:19 the mapping that Jamie Ellis at Twisted Development did.

07:21 He did a killer job on that.

07:23 So the engine character was definitely freer and more aggressive than a stock KTM dual

07:28 sport.

07:29 And then suspension-wise, it was really compliant.

07:31 I mean, everything I hit, it was plush.

07:33 There was no harsh feeling or anything.

07:35 We didn't do any huge jumps or obviously big splatters or landings here, of course.

07:40 This is more of a dual sport/trail bike.

07:42 But everything that I hit on the suspension, it handled excellently.

07:47 Hand guards worked awesome.

07:48 We didn't really need to use them a whole lot today, but I know Jay is going to be riding

07:51 this bike in some gnarly terrain, so he's going to put them to good use.

07:55 The ODI handlebars, nice and neutral.

07:58 Seat was nice and grippy, too.

08:01 The trial style rear tire was hooking up awesome out there.

08:05 And same with the front as well.

08:06 So yeah, all in all, everything Jay did to this bike, I would say, was an improvement.

08:10 The stock KTM dual sports are great as is, but as always, Jay managed to make it even

08:15 better.

08:16 So thank you all for tuning in.

08:17 If you're watching on YouTube, be sure to like, comment, and subscribe.

08:20 And if you haven't done so already, be sure to check out the full test on DirtRyer.com,

08:24 and we'll see you next time.

08:25 [00:15:00] [END OF AUDIO]

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