RUST magazine: Rust#4
RUST magazine: Two-stroke or four-stroke…? It’s the age-old debate that’s perplexed dirt riders the world over. So, armed with a KTM 250EXC and a Husky TE350, RUST decided to try and settle the argument once and for all. Find out what happened when they went head-to-head in a two-day French enduro. And if you’re looking for a compact Adventure Sport bike but don’t want to break the bank then this lightly modded Honda CB500X may be just the ticket.
RUST magazine: Two-stroke or four-stroke…? It’s the age-old debate that’s perplexed dirt riders the world over. So, armed with a KTM 250EXC and a Husky TE350, RUST decided to try and settle the argument once and for all. Find out what happened when they went head-to-head in a two-day French enduro. And if you’re looking for a compact Adventure Sport bike but don’t want to break the bank then this lightly modded Honda CB500X may be just the ticket.
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Enduro<br />
cially at the top end where the 350 just loves to rev on<br />
and on, and delivers decent power to the ground. In<br />
fact at the top end the motor’s lack of torque (obviously)<br />
and sensible amounts of horsepower make it surprisingly<br />
controllable.<br />
But whilst the top end is sufficiently thrilling and the<br />
midrange feels wonderfully alive, the 350F’s bottom<br />
end is surprisingly poor. Sure there’s a bit to keep you<br />
happy, but ultimately the motor needs to be spinning<br />
towards its midrange before it really comes alive. More<br />
250F than 450F then…<br />
Just occasionally this catches you out. I’ve mentioned<br />
before that in slow or tricky going the 350 can feel a bit<br />
of a handful. The engine isn’t particularly ‘cammy’ but<br />
sometimes it feels that way - thanks in part to the bike’s<br />
gearing. There’s quite a large gap between ratios lower<br />
down and occasionally you can get caught in no-man’s<br />
land (wanting a ratio in between first and second gear)<br />
simply because there’s insufficient torque at the bottom<br />
to pull the next higher gear; but when you drop down<br />
a cog, you can suddenly find yourself fighting the<br />
spiralling revs.<br />
I can remember discovering this at the launch of the<br />
350 in Sweden at a particularly bumpy and technically<br />
demanding test track, and in the Dordogne it happened<br />
again - albeit briefly - on both days. Where you find<br />
yourself in really tight going, though not so tight that<br />
you are ‘trials riding’, but where you desperately want<br />
to shift out of first gear to avoid the bike lurching on<br />
an open throttle. But as soon as you change up, you
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