My new ride

[TrentMember]

I’ve been cooking this up for a fortnight now but from previous experience of talking about something before its locked in and having it fall through I’ve kept it under lids which was bloody hard :blush:

I test rode a 2010 TM EN300 a month ago and loved it and planed to buy one in January next year when the next batch came in and then this bike popped up and I couldn’t knock it back.

Its an 09 model with 250kms on it, a couple of grazes and 2 minor pipe dings none of which will probably show up in these pics. It has the torque controller and ego hand guards and other than that it’s bone stock I guess. I’ve already ordered a carbon fibre bash plate and I’m tossing up which pipe guard to get but it’ll just be a light weight guard not a brace or anything. On top of that I’ll be ordering silver force radiator guards and probably get some pivot pegs and some race numbers once I work out how to pick them :dry: I was thinking the silver rad guards would be fine but looking at it now with the black hand guards I’m thinking black rad guards might look better. No rush there.

It was raining today so I only test rode it up the street and back and I’ve started it in my garage – not a good idea for a 2 smoker! It’s a lot louder than my 250 4t and I had to open the windows and garage door to let the smoke out :silly:

So now with the pics!

I’m really excited about getting it out in the bush and found out today that I could’ve ridden tomorrow but its too late now I actually missed last weeks ride because I was supposed to go pick this up and I was going to take it out but there was a stuff up with the revs check and I wanted to wait until that was sorted before I did the deal and it took till yesterday arvo.

I’ll post up more pics when I get a chance to take them and of course there’ll be a ride report ASAP. FWIW I wanted a change and going from a 4t 250 ktm to a tm 300 2t was as big a change as I was after. Really it was about trying 2strokes out and linkage plus when I read up on the TMs and took it for a ride it seemed like a fantastic bike to try and get out onto the track next year and do some serious runs. Of course I’ll still be doing as much trail riding too and I think this bike is going to be perfect for that mix. I was considering holding out and testing an en250 so that I could race in the E2 class but I figured I won’t be that serious yet and the 250 needs head work to get it up to scratch plus this deal was too good to miss.

Very happy for now and I expect I’ll be even happier when I get it dirty :p

[Dwayne OMember]

Sweet ride AB
Like a kid in a lolly shop hey :laugh:

Those guys up Cessnock have been selling a few of those lately, I actually had a look at a sponsored 450 from up there today at work, nice it was :woohoo:

Let us know your thoughts on it in the scrub asap

[alanMember]

nice bike Austblue its colour even matches your name rode one of them at catumble very fast :woohoo: bike also bloody hard seet :blush: reackon you will have heeps of fun with this one

[DeanMember]

Very nice Trent! welcome to the 300 Hungey club :woohoo:

BTW was this the one that was on Ebay? If it it was I was trying to talk Gili into it :laugh: starting price was $9000 from memory I knew it wouldnt last long.

Ollie

[MalMember]

Nice bike AB. I considered one when looking for my 2 stroke. A 2010 was fairly dear and there wasn’t any good used ones. You’ll have heaps of fun on it.

And as Ollie said welcome to the 300 Hungey club. :woohoo:

[TrentMember]

Yeah I came across it on ebay and spoke with Mal about it and then the bloke and had it taken off ebay the day I spoke to him

Funny you mention my name, the reason I couldn’t turn it down was because it matched “Austblue” and the nice smurf blue Thor gear I bought this year Well that’s not the real reason but it all works well so why not :p

I was a bit quiet about my test ride but I’ve written up a report that I sent a couple of blokes. Strange thing was I didn’t find the test bike to be any where near as fast as everyone made out and nor was it anywhere near as lethal as my mate’s crf450x. I told Mal this when I took it back and questioned if the jetting was right for such a hot day and he assured me it was spot on. I liked the power and felt that it would be controllable and it showed lots of grunt up a snotty hill and that’s why I bought it but I’m still wondering if this bike is going to be different to the demo!

Of course coming off a 250 4t it should be scaring the shit outta me!!!

[TrentMember]

2010 models are advertised at $12,900 on road but Mal and Simon seem like great blokes and were going to do me a great deal on one with all the bits I wanted.

Seat does seem hard and the demo bit me in the arse a couple of times and nearly knocked my teeth loose – bloody linkage :p I’ll give it some time and have a play around with it but I’m aiming to be an active rider so don’t want some cushie seat spoiling me into sitting on it all day.

Thanks for the welcome too guys

[alanMember]

thats cheaper than a new ktm300 the tm i rode was a bit hard in the suspension would have liked to back the clickers of a bit and try it (demo bikes )but the 250 was not as hard but basicaly the same bike just set up different i think (clickers again)

[DeanMember]

For trailriding you need a softish seat to enjoy your ride especially on multi dayers,doesnt matter who you are you will be sitting more than standing.
With the power thing,The crf450 and the WR450 for that matter are power monsters which is not necessarily a good thing when it comes to getting thru a good full days worth of riding. In my experience with the WR450 was it was great for about 3 hours then you start making silly mistakes from fatigue, whereas the the 300 and the rmx for that matter I can ride all day. The four strokes have it all over the 2 strokes on the longer more open trails in my opinion,fortunatley I prefer single track. Champo just changed the gearing on his TM and rode it on a couple of big rides. :ohmy:

I look forward to going on another ride with you in the new year Trent

Ollie

[PaulMember]

Nice one AB, it will be a good bike I’m sure of that.

I rode Champo’s old one and it was really nice for a 2T but i prefer the power band lower in the rev range than his was but that is a minor thing really, one does adapt of adjustability is not available.

What is the torque controller? How does it work?

Also, the shed looks a bit messy, maybe offer Eagle some beer if he comes round to clean it up for you

[Dwayne OMember]

WikdBeemer wrote:

Quote:

Also, the shed looks a bit messy, maybe offer Eagle some beer if he comes round to clean it up for you

:laugh: There`s only one thing I would like to clean out of that shed, and that wouldn`t make AB very happy at all

One of those shiny TM`s would look good in anyones garage :woohoo:

[glennMember]

EAGLE`02 wrote:

Quote:

WikdBeemer wrote:

Quote:

Also, the shed looks a bit messy, maybe offer Eagle some beer if he comes round to clean it up for you

:laugh: There`s nly one thing I would like to clean out of that shed, and that wouldn`t make AB very happy at all

One of those shiny TM`s would look good in anyones garage :woohoo:

starting to think beemas got a fettish with clean sheds beages ? :laugh:

[Dwayne OMember]

Yep, I do believe you are correct Boonster
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[Adrian LeeMember]

Sweet looking ride AB can you do a review on your triton im thinking of buying one :laugh:

[TrentMember]

Anyone that’s ridden with me can attest that the triton is too bloody high to load with the 2″ lift and 33″ tyres! Other than that its a great car. Mine has 80k on it and its more car than I need but still drives nice even with the tyres.

I hear what you’re saying Ollie. Time will tell I suppose but I’ll look into what’s available anyway. There’s a fair amount of exchangable parts with other bikes so that may be one of them.

Shed is a bit dirty. If you look closely the stuff that’s spread around on the ground is bike related – I finished working on the KTM and it’s sat that way since. Here endeth my confession :p When I get the chance after christmas I’ll be spiffing it all up and setting up my new work stand I got through Suttos.

Regarding the power, I originally didn’t want to buy a 300 because I thought the power would be similar to the 450 and I don’t like that at all – well I do but not for my only bike, maybe if I had a bike for each purpose We’ll see how this goes and if it does have too much poke for me I’ll ask nicely for my balls back and if that doesn’t work I’ll get the 250 and go from there.

TM is about $1k cheaper than the KTM and you could put that down to the lecco start that I didn’t really want. Not that I wouldn’t like a magic button but I wouldn’t want to pay for an unreliable chunk of weight and would prefer a lighter bike. Re-sale will probably never match a KTM but I didn’t buy it to save money – I bought it because it’s a quality purpose built bike with all the fruit and it’ll push my improvement along plus suit the race track down to a tea.

[Author]

Posts