Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/471913
2015 KTM 250 XC-F VS. YAMAHA YZ250FX SHOOTOUT P46 "tasty" motorcycles, and we will tell you right now, we'd be com- pletely happy living with either one. Still, there is a question to be asked: which is the best bike for your tastes? But first, you have to ask your- self a few questions: What kind of riding do you do most? Do you race or are you a weekend warrior? If you race, is it strictly desert, GNCC or enduro? May- be it's WORCS style with a hint of moto. If you don't race, what type of riding do you do? Moun- tain single-track or wide-open deserts? What's the terrain like: rocky, sandy, hard-packed, roots or trees—or all of the above? We found that each bike handles these types of terrain very well but in their own way. In the off-road racing world, KTM dominates the scene pretty much without argument. The Austrian manufacturer has such a wide off-road line, from 125cc two-strokes to 500cc four- strokes, that it's hard to keep track of them all. Lately, how- ever, we've been logging quite a bit of time on KTM's 250 XC-F, a California red-sticker bike designed for GNCC-type rac- ing. Basically KTM took the 250 SX-F and gave it, among other things, a six-speed wide-ratio transmission, an 18-inch rear wheel, a larger fuel tank, and dif- ferent mapping and suspension settings to make off-road savvy. In December, Yamaha sur- prised us when the company revealed its all-new YZ250FX. We were expecting an all-new reversed-cylinder WR250F, which we indeed got (more on that bike in a future issue), but along with it, came the YZ250FX, which, like the KTM 250 XC-F, is a California red- sticker bike tailored-made for GNCC racing. Like the KTM, the YZ250FX is modeled after its motocross cousin, the YZ250F, and features many of the same off-road mods as the XC-F. It too gets a six-speed wide-ratio trans- mission, an 18-inch rear wheel, and modified mapping and sus- pension changes. Yamaha did all the things—and then some—that you'd do to a YZ250F to make it competitive for off-road rac- ing. Good luck installing a sixth gear and electric starting to your YZ250F, or to your 250 SX-F for that matter. So when the FX arrived, the first natural question was: how would it stack up to the KTM, its nearest—and pretty much— only real class rival? We soon found out. G E T T I N G D I R T Y The KTM has a sleeper engine. Like the motocross model, the KTM produces gobs of horsepower, but does so in a somewhat mellow manner; don't worry, that's a good thing. Initial power delivery is noticeably softer than the FX, but the KTM is by no means slow. There's a noticeable ramping up from the engine, but it actually pulls longer and harder into the top than the FX. It has a nice broad powerband that is effective on the tight trails and when things open up. Long periods of time spent testing on our well-used The Yamaha YZ250FX is a new challenger for the KTM 250 XC-F.