Maintenance & Technical > KX500 Original

Power question

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vwcamper74:
Hi everyone,
I've been riding my 500 a fair bit lately and I always felt that it was strong.  Last weekend I went out for a ride with a friend that just bought a nice 06 ktm 300 exc.  I took it for a ride and it was a very nice bike with more power than I expected it to have.  After a bit of riding on the 300 I jumped on the 500 and took it for a blast to compare the two.  To me it felt so much faster that the 300 that I couldn't stop smiling.  When I got back he asked me if the 500 was heaps faster and I said yes.  After this we both went for a ride together.  Our track has some nice straights and we did some drags against each other.  The amazing thing was that although I got the initial jump, he kept with me and started to pull me in.  We did this a number of times and the same thing happened every time. My bike felt a lot faster but it wasn't at all.  To say that I was disappointed would be an understatement.  We both weigh about the same and the 300 was running stock gearing.  I wa running 15 - 46.  I thought my bike would blow his away but it didn't.
Has anyone had any experience against a 300 and am I correct in thinking that my 500 should blow the 300 away.  Maybe technology has caught up with the 500's or something is seriously wrong with my bike.  My bike always seemed to go well but but I often read that the front should lift up in any gear when it is pinned.  I have the throttle pinned a lot on our open track and it rarely wants to lift on it's own - maybe I am down on horsepower? Any opinions would be appreciated.

Danger4u2:
Cheap stuff first, I would check the compression, air filter........
I have a friend with an XR400, could not get it to run correctly.
His buddy has one also.  They traded carb, coil, stator......still ran bad when he
pinned it.  Turned out to be a strap from his pack he had on the rear fender.
It would suck in the intake snorkel at wide open.

vwcamper74:
Thanks Danger,
I'm planning on doing a compression check as soon as possible. 
Should the 300 be keeping up with me or should I be blowing it away?

Danger4u2:
Good tire on the rear wheel?  I would think you should pull away. I've seen a few KTM 300's but never ridden with anyone that owned one.  Last weekend seemed like half the bikes at Crosstimbers here in OKC were 2 strokes.

DoldGuy:
VW,
I raced against a late model KTM300SX model last month at the Sand Drags & I was on my KX250 which pulls fairly well. The only visible mods on this KTM are VForce Reeds & FMF exhaust & He was slowly pulling away from me  :x. I weigh in about 215 & this kid is probably about 130, but I really dont feel that was the difference as that bike ran VERY WELL. I did a little research on the KTM & found out it is making mid 50s in HP stock form, so a with just a little more tuning, I would think it could pull in a KX500 not running at its peak performance. Roost Daddy & Crew has a few KTMs running at their track, & should be able to give more feedback, but as it stands now I have more work to do on my 250 (& maybe lose a few lbs  :-o)
DoldGuy

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