VOLUME 57 ISSUE 15 APRIL 14, 2020 P39
ting a six-speed in an XC-F. Here,
we avoid the compromises that
it brings and choose 500 EXC
every time.
Still, the debate on what you
need or what works will rage until
robots ride our bikes for us.
What's hardly debatable is this:
KTM's line of off-road machines,
plastered with license plates or
not, set benchmarks in perfor-
mance. They set the street-legal
dirt bike bar so high that the
response from brands they don't
own continues to be less-than-
competitive in most areas. They're
not the most comfortable, true.
But Austrian-built "dual-sport"
bikes are the favorites in any
performance matchup we can
foresee, weak comfort/road man-
ners and all.
What the EXC-F Has/
XCF-W has not
The EXC is more regulated than
an XCF-W with a perforated end
cap added to the final muffler tip
and corresponding fuel/ignition
map tuned for the exhaust sys-
tem. Therefore, it has lower total
power and sound output. We can
safely assume this is the result of
hitting the drive-by sound emis-
sion regulation target. The same
goes for the Continental TKC80
stock tires. They are remarkably
quieter at a decent clip or while
accelerating on the pavement—
where the sound test is taken.
The EXC also has the blinky
bits for turning, a sweet horn,
a wiring harness connecting
that stuff to a bar switch, some
reflectors for being seen, terrible
stock mirrors, and a license plate
bracket you'll probably break off.
For a $500 premium, that's the
stuff you get along with 50-state
street legality.
Our 2020 KTM 350 EXC
weighs 253 pounds full of fuel
with Dunlop AT81s in place of the
Continental TKC80 stock tires
and the addition of the KTM Pow-
erParts plastic skid plate.
What the XCF-W
Has / EXC-F Has Not
KTM's new XCF-W line is more
aggressive than the EXC but is
still 50-state off-road legal all year
long (California green sticker). Its
power output isn't stifled by the
final perforated muffler screen,
and it has its own mapping to
