250-500cc first ride report Kearney wr300

[Pinittowinit]

well to be honest im not impressed. it ran great starts on first kick. i added the pwk straight out of the crate. im still working on jetting. it runs crisp and snappy buy im gonna chalk up the lack of power to jetting as of now. the suspension straight up sucks. granted the tires are hard as a rock. and they are getting changed out asap to mt-16's. the rear seems to be good but slides out in turns with any touch of the throttle. no doubt the tires. the front washed out with minimal lean and got old real fast. and shagging ass down some old jeep roads the front end was all over the place. even with the compression and rebound on the softest setting. the clutch...well is stright up gnarly. im coming off a ktm with a juice clutch so i will need to get my left forearm strength back. thats all my problem right there and will be better with time. overall im happy but i have alot of proper setting up to do, but that is expected.

 

[krieg]

If you think a Husky 300 is down on power compared to a KTM 300, I'll assure you beyond any doubt that there's an issue with the motor. I allowed several KTM buds with pumpkin 300's to ride my '09 WR 300 and all of them said my bike made more power. Some of them whined about it being too strong. You've got a jetting issue or something worse going on. The clutch, that's another story. The WR's clutch is a beast for sure. No denying that.

 

[TROFFER88]

The jetting should be easy to figure out, whats in it. I would start with a compression check. The suspesion is most likely set up for a pro level rider. What were you expecting in an ex race bike?

 

[raisrx251]

Does your Kearney bike have the Cable routed the traditional way? Reason I ask is I have seen 1 of his bikes that had some crazy bend to the Clutch Cable coming out on the side. If it is this way you are better off running it in the stock position and lube the heck out of the cable. As far as suspension, I think you have the stock stuff which has never been ridden, it is in need of help. Find out as much as you can about the motor work and what has been done to it.

 

[Torrmentor]

How is the airflow into the carb? I second the comp. test & jetting.

 

[Pinittowinit]

Yeah it's the stock suspension. I think some of the problem lies in the tires. They are rock solid! Zero flex on the sidewall. So I'm swapping them today. I also came across the rear ohlins ttx for it. So that will replace the stocker. The forks I'm gonna either have Dave @ FBI work or get a set of ohlins.
The clutch cable looks correct but I have no idea. It does have the bend you speak of. I'm looking for a pic of the proper routing. Could always make a custom arm for it. I put the pwk on and just need to tweek it a bit.

 

[huskydude59]

Hi, guys forgive me while i add my feeling in their as well. I bought an 2010 model with the KYB 48's. Here is my spin on what i got from the crate. In std trim i found the tyre to be adequate, considering that the expert seems to ride theses ok... i just make sure i use the allowed pressure as stated buy Husky. I ran the rear at 8psi, no puncture I have now got almost a 10,00 k's on the tyres now.. i have ridden in all types of terrain and frankly find them to be very all rounder. you can run them as high as 18 and down to 8psi.. safely..Next thing i found to be a real pain is the lack of a decent factory manual.. if you have a race bike designed to be at the top end of its game why would you not have the best inforamation to give your pilots so they have the best hope of riding at there best.. dont figure that at all.. next... If you are going to state it as a race bike,, then at least make sure it delivers what you say it will. The suspension is nothing short of junk. Im no expert but i punt pretty and expect it too not try to wipe me out on a some small square edge wholes.. and lastly i have never never ever had a husky that head shakes...!!! The biggest reason i stuck with husky was because of there high stability.. not any more.. at full flight this bike is nothing short of scarey to ride.. Now i am going have to spend around $800 to fix suspension that on my last model WR250 2006 never had.. it never ever tried to kill me. If this is what to expect from a German owned company I will be moving over to GAS GAS next year...

 

[raisrx251]

The clutch cable should cross and go down the right side of the frame, down and run out on the left side of the engine then to the bracket hole in the case. If I were you I would not give up on the Sachs, in my opinion that is a great shock. I have a Ohlins TTX set up for my '10 TXC but to be honest I am scared to try it on how well my Sachs and KYB fork are working. Get some new tires you are familiar with and then judge it.

 

[Pinittowinit]

yeah tires are FIRST! then i will go from there. the Pirelli mt-16's are the shizzle out here. i was on the trail and let some air out of the tires using the one lbs per second rule of thumb. i had no guage. still hard as a rock. checked when i got home. 4 in the front and 2 in rear. with me sitting on them they didnt flex at all. once i change the tires i hope the headshake goes away. huskydude described it best. it was like it was trying to kill me. but i really think it is the tires. we shall see. and i had the rebound and compression all the way out on the forks.

 

[huskydude59]

Well guy I have just gone out to the garage and cranked some spring into the rear. I know the shock is too soft, but for the exercise i want to find out if the spring is the root cause to all my wows. Also how found a big problem in air supply to the monster 300.. I think i will be bangen some holes into the side plate like we used to do for the TE570's. I found the mid range pull was down... needs more air... then i'll tackle jetting. There one very strong component that this bike has got over my older one.. it love to tree weave.. even with that big engine, it loves it. I wonder if the news of the 340 will hit us and also e/start wound be real treat..

 

[huskydude59]

yeah tires are FIRST! then i will go from there. the Pirelli mt-16's are the shizzle out here. i was on the trail and let some air out of the tires using the one lbs per second rule of thumb. i had no guage. still hard as a rock. checked when i got home. 4 in the front and 2 in rear. with me sitting on them they didnt flex at all. once i change the tires i hope the headshake goes away. huskydude described it best. it was like it was trying to kill me. but i really think it is the tires. we shall see. and i had the rebound and compression all the way out on the forks.

Oh my gosh.. I tried the Pirellis, the only place to use theses cases is in extreme rocks. other than that bin em... these tyres can run on empty and still feel stiff. out in oz the big sellers are the michelins S12's for the forests. and in the harder terrain the bridstone are a better buy.. just remember to skrub the tyres in.. let em heat up before tare en up, reset you rear suspension too hook up the tyre,,

 

[windsurf]

Just changed the rear on my 300 from a Michellin competition 111 which gave great traction in most conditions but not great mileage, approx 500Ks. For some reason I thought I would try MX retread, although I was unsure I thought 'it's got to be worth a go'. Well it wasn't worth trying, no grip, bad headshake definately a bad move. Does anyone have any recommendations for mainly tight forest with steep rocky climbs? I don't really care about mileage so long as the grip is good and reduce the headshake.

 

[ray_ray]

IRC VE-33 is a pretty good all-around tire ..maybe a little soft and wears a little quick but good traction ... I was riding in a creek today with about a half-foot of water and 98% on the bottom was all round rocks of various sizes and it hooked up very well ... In soft dirt \ mudd, very good, and hard packed dirt, it is good there also ... Its sidewalls are very flexible also ... 4 the hShake, make sure your sag is set and maybe slide UR tubes down (up?) in UR triple clamps ...

 

[Sandgroper]

I had a teething period to get thru with jetting as well and now she makes my old 07 KTM 300EXC look like its standing still.
Mind you I have the race head and PWK fitted
Suspension took a while to settle in and now is easily as good as the KTMs.

Take the time to dial her in and let the suspension settle and tune it again.

The 09 300 has more power than any in its class and pulls hard from the bottom all the way to the top once jetting is sorted.

 

[muggsy]

Wow !......Interesting thread..... I have a 09' 250 and my buddies KTM 300 has nothing on it power wise.....and I'm still running the stock mikuni ! As for the clutch pull I'm using an MSR perch (looks identical to works connection with bearing pivot) and it's on par with my 07 ktm 200 for pull effort....just keep the cable lubed....I hear Terri-cable make a shorter cable that's supposed to lighten the pull also......The stock suspension on this bike is probably the best stock suspension I've ridden !!....I'm 6'1" 205lb and it works much better than my revalved 07 KTM on tight rocky singletrack. I can ride this thing pretty lazy......doesn't seem to require as much body english as my KTM especially in corners....I don't have to focus as much on weighting the front end to make it stick....It's really stable and works quite well !!!

 

[Pinittowinit]

does anyone make an extended arm for this this thing? the cable is routed correctly and lubed. just wanta make it a bit easier if i can. most of the places i ride im all up in the clutch for most of the day. makes my forearm feel like its gonna explode. lol i got a new set of tires and im gonna rejet this week and see what happens next weekend. i didnt get a chance to ride this weekend. Inlaws in town....

 

[huskydude59]

does anyone make an extended arm for this this thing? the cable is routed correctly and lubed. just wanta make it a bit easier if i can. most of the places i ride im all up in the clutch for most of the day. makes my forearm feel like its gonna explode. lol i got a new set of tires and im gonna rejet this week and see what happens next weekend. i didnt get a chance to ride this weekend. Inlaws in town....

If you want to get the best pull on your cable, try this.. go buy a feather lite, oil it with 5wt fork oil.. Trust me it will so lite you with thing your springs need replacing on your clutch. I can easily pull mine in with one finger all day...

 

[huskydude59]

I had a teething period to get thru with jetting as well and now she makes my old 07 KTM 300EXC look like its standing still.
Mind you I have the race head and PWK fitted
Suspension took a while to settle in and now is easily as good as the KTMs.

Take the time to dial her in and let the suspension settle and tune it again.

The 09 300 has more power than any in its class and pulls hard from the bottom all the way to the top once jetting is sorted.

I hopethat is the only problem i have... gunna get correct spring thow I think that is making things much worse. Time will tell.

 

[steadydirt]

If you want to get the best pull on your cable, try this.. go buy a feather lite, oil it with 5wt fork oil.. Trust me it will so lite you with thing your springs need replacing on your clutch. I can easily pull mine in with one finger all day...

A very fast clutch pull fix is to drill another cable end location more near to the lever bolt hole.
Make sure you open up the slit for the cable to have a straight pull. Eliminates arm pump.

 

[windsurf]

A very fast clutch pull fix is to drill another cable end location more near to the lever bolt hole.
Make sure you open up the slit for the cable to have a straight pull. Eliminates arm pump.

I think he is trying to reduce the clutch lever pull. Reducing the arm length by moving the cable closer to the pivot will increase the clutch lever pressure.
I have a 2010 300 a honestly dont think the pull is excessive. Our local area is mainly tight woods type riding with lots of steep technical rocky tree root sections and it is rare that you need to clutch the bike up them. Surely if you have to ride the clutch that much it might be worthwhile dropping a tooth on the front sprocket? One of the great things about theses bikes is the incredible bottom end torque making it almost impossible to stall them even without slipping the clutch.