Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1528780
22 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com Two Stroke Performance KTM Power Kit Two Stroke Performance KTM Power Kit Products Provided By Slavens Racing Products Provided By Slavens Racing By Kurt Flachbart By Kurt Flachbart In the never-ending search for perfec on, this old dog has been forced to learn an en rely differ- ent method of tuning. As a hot rodder at heart, I enjoy extrac ng the most out of my machines. To be clear, my goal today isn't really extrac ng maximum power; I've been there with toys of the past, and the end result is typically a rush, although mostly unusable. High-strung power plants are, for the most part, short-lived. The fact remains that today's fuel-injected off-road bikes are somewhat of a compromise as although the manufacturer knows the bike will be shipped to the US, they have no idea where it will end up, so the tune is sort of a one-size-fits-all scenario. As for the Austrian brands, gone are the days of swapping out pilot jets, main jets, needles and slides. All the tuning is now done through the Electronic Control Unit, or ECU for short, and the learning curve has been steep. My first introduc on to ECU tuning was with my 2019 KTM 300 XC-W TPI, KTM's first fuel-injected 300cc 2-stroke. Having been used to carbureted KTM 300s, the early TPI (Transfer Port Injec on) bikes were a bit weak at low RPMs compared to the previous genera on carbureted bikes. Where the fuel-injected TPI really shined was when pulling down low. They begged to be lugged while being almost impossible to stall. While discussing op ons with Alec Morefield at Slavens Racing, Alec suggested the GET ECU Race Kit, which not only includes a Wi-Fi module to make fuel and igni on mapping changes out on the trail but also relo- cates the injectors from the transfer ports to just ahead of the thro le body in the reed block. Like most older dudes, I'll admit to being more than a bit technically challenged. With some help from our friends at Slavens, I quickly learned how to adjust the mapping, fuel, and igni on. Surpris- ingly, I warmed up to the process, and now that I'm familiar with it, tuning is accomplished much faster than pulling the slide for needle adjustments and dropping the bowl for jet changes. In the end, I found the learning curve to be fun and exci ng. Although I'd bought a new '24 KTM 300 XC-W ear- lier this year, I found myself riding my "Comfy Old Shoe" '19 300 more than the new bike as it was