Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/241252
Suspension. XC 250 The fork springs on the XC are .44's and the shock spring is a .54. The XC-W by contrast, comes with .42 fork springs and the same .54 shock. As noted above, the big difference from last year is that the new 4CS forks are noticeably stiffer than the '13 model. Whereas last year a good A or B rider could get away with riding the stock forks in the technical, rocky terrain, this year will likely require a visit your revalve specialist. For those of you that ride faster terrain and found last year's suspension settings too soft, this year should be a pleasant change as the new valving specs are geared towards faster, chopped out terrain where bigger hits are commonplace - think GNCC or J Day grand prix style races. When we ran the XC though the rocks, we experienced deflection that hasn't been experienced in a few years. There was a noticeable improvement when we softened up the compression, but the plushness from a year ago is gone. The shock valving felt similar to last year and still produces a nice, smooth progression through the stroke while offering sound bottoming resistance. The linkage soaks up the harder hits nicely and is more settled than the PDS over the rough stuff - at speed. In fact, both the front and rear offer adequate performance and bottoming resistance for a hard day at the moto track. It's our opinion that the XC is the most balanced bike in the KTM off-road lineup. XC-W The XC-W still comes fitted with the open cartridge forks and is valved to soak up the technical terrain. The fork springs are .42 (compared to the .44 on the XC) and are supple off the bottom. The initial part of the stroke soaks up the trail junk nicely at slow speeds. There can be some mid-stroke deflection when noodling along but a little speed makes the transition into the mid-stroke much smoother. The sweet spot in the forks is to ride them a fun, trail riding clip, just note that the XC-W doesn't have the bottoming resistance of the XC. The XC-W also rides higher in the back than the XC. When KTM transitioned from the previous frame to its current configuration, they made the shock longer. The rear travel is over 13 inches where the XC offers just over 12 inches. The shock valving is also firmer, causing it to ride higher in the stroke. If the terrain were rockier at our test venue, we would have run even more sag - possibly as much as 120mm. The higher back end seems to put more load on the supple forks and in stock trim, I need to run the shock in the softer end of the compression settings while the fork settings are closer to firmest. Balancing the XC-W isn't a quick job like it is on the XC. It takes some time to find the sweet spot between the fork and shock. The sweet spot is there, it just December 2014/January 2014 11