(Right) All the
fun is right here,
all 300cc of it.
(Middle) The
XC is fitted with
WP's Xact AER
pneumatic forks.
WP hasn't given
up on air forks
and their work is
paying off.
Suspension duties come from
KTM's SX-model specs of WP
Xact 48mm AER fork and Xact
shock. The air-spring fork fea-
tures some significant updates
for 2021 that you can feel in
most impact situations as a big
improvement. The lightweight
benefit of them is undeniable,
but many still want the softer ini-
tial stroke of a spring fork for off-
road. I tend to agree. The AER
system is better than ever and
hasn't beat me up at all, but for
hidden rocks and trail obstacles,
I'd prefer a little less feedback
before the mid-stroke.
The XC power comes straight
from SX bikes. Or at least they
used to. Back in the day the
XC two-stroke had the engine
character of an SX tuned
down a bit, but with the ad-
vent of TPI fuel control, that
trend has somewhat shifted
in the 250 and 300 mod-
els. Here, both the XC and
softer more compliant XC-W
trail weapons share engine map-
ping/tuning. This means your XC
is more aggressive everywhere,
except in the motor department.
Is that a bummer? Sort of. It's sup-
posed to be the leading edge of
off-road, open-course racing, and
it shares engine tuning with the
trail bike/headlight model?
Slap on some
numbers and the
XC 300 TPI is ready
to race.
P74
QUICKSPIN I 2021 KTM 300 XC TPI
