2019 KTM 350 EXC-F Project Bike Riding Impression

Dirt Rider
Dirt Rider
  • last year
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.
04:09 [00:01:15] [music] [00:01:43]
04:29 [00:02:00] [music] [00:02:45]
04:57 [00:02:50]
05:06 [00:03:00] [music] [00:03:57]
05:28 [00:04:00]
05:37 [00:04:32] [music] [00:04:37]
05:59 [00:04:42] [music] [00:04:50]
06:23 [00:05:00] [music] [00:05:55]
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]