The stock Honda headlight isn't worth a whole lot because the ignition has a hard time powering it and charging the battery. Even when revved, it's dim. When tweaked with a stator rewind from Baja Designs, it works much better. Bolt on a Diablo kit with the now-standard rectifier/regulator and you've got the dark handled. This kit shined just as brightly on the Honda as it did on other identically equipped bikes.
Compared with the stock X, the modified Honda simply improved on all the model's shortcomings and greatly enhanced its strong points. If you're going to improve a bike, this is how you do it.
Last on the tuning block is the lightly modified but highly fashionable KTM 250 XC-F. By taking a simple approach to improving its ride, KTM teamed up with its own Hard Equipment in-house parts department and built a rolling display vehicle of anodized goodies. With the old intent of the 24-Hour Torture Test set on testing (and reaching) a bike's breaking point, this isn't exactly a bad idea. If you leave a bike's engine stock (very durable, especially these KTM motors), add on control upgrades, place body armor on every weak link and snap on some pretty parts for good pictures, you just might come out of the Torture Test smelling like a rose.
The only modifications to the power-producing unit inside the only steel frame in this test were an FMF muffler and some jetting work. While the FMF Q2 muffler brought this bike into compliance with the sound and spark patrol, it does nothing new to a now-predictable motor. This bike still takes its time off the bottom and pulls well into the mid, and just about the time the upper-mid comes around, it climbs out of its lazy slumber and steadily blows everything else away. I wish there were dirt bike drag races, because I'd bring this bike to the show and win all day long. What the bike needs is some bottom-end; it needs a little something down low to keep the bike from suffering from its finicky jetting and to bring it into the realm of Honda's or Yamaha's broad usability. You can race the beans out of this bike and do quite well, but you'll be working yourself and the bike harder to keep ahead of the competition. The good news is the bike can take the punishment and actually likes being ridden hard, as we've seen nothing but strength in these machines from their clutch plates to their piston rings. Can you take it? That's the question.
We mentioned some finicky jetting before, and the XC-F models of KTM's '07 lineup are suffering from a problem. When new, they like to run with their stock jetting right out of the box but with the W's needle (OBEKT) for spark-arrestor riding. Then, around the 10-hour mark or so, the bikes undergo an attitude adjustment and, like teenagers dying their hair color, decide that stock "XC" jetting is the way to go. Call it break-in. Basically, you need to start with OBEKT-third and then switch to OBETP-fifth when the bike gets some miles under its belt.
The suspension on the mod KTM was delivered to the event stock as well. And as you've heard before, it's more than decent and versatile this way but could really use a fix. The initial stroke is haunted by a harshness that doesn't affect the handling but really taxes the hands. The KTM front end will have you feeling more of the trail, and that can be more than you want to feel. This is an acceptable compromise for some as the bottoming resistance and movement throughout the rest of the stroke is capable and smooth. Plus, owners generally get used to the extra jolts quickly.
Lighting up the night is sort of silly on the KTM considering it doesn't come with a headlight but produces plenty of juice to run a great light setup. So the company bolted on a stock E/XC headlight (just as our stock bike was allowed last month) and added the awesome HellFire HID light kit from NiteRider-a solution more than adequate and a little less expensive than the Baja Designs route.