That's my personal thought, I would have been better with a used $7k KTM. Too many Chinese issues on these for the price and GPX seems to have moved onto Kove. Probably find these for like $3-4k used next year.
I've been eyeing up the 300 since it was released. But seeing a lot of vids of people with initial issues, seized engines, carb issues, etc is really off-putting. I have a 2021 TSE250R that hasn't given me any issues. I did upgrade the carb to a lectron so I don't have to mess with it, and went up a tooth on the front sprocket. Almost 200 hours on it, outside of general maintenance and top ends, it's been solid. I did tear the bike apart when it was new, loctite everything, greased everything, torqued everything. Sure that went a long way towards reliability.
I saw enough 'hidden issues' where you could get a 'running engine' that isn't running at full potential which is what bothers me. Internal stuff that isn't wrong enough to not work but isn't 'right' either and de-powers the engine which...I didn't pay for a half-ass KTM engine...even though I felt like I kinda got that at the start.
Thanks for the free content. Like the bike, I just think they are way over priced now. I bought my kid an SSR SR 300s about a month ago and it was 5k out the door. Considered the GPX fse 300r until I saw the price tag. Good luck with the bikes, keep the content coming.
Before you sling a bunch of money into your suspension on this thing, after watching your riding video , I tell you sure that your whole bike is set up to tall by the way the tip One way or the other Every time change direction slightly. Your front end deflects like some sort of 1960s chopper, and that is because the compression dampening is either set to high , or your fork oil is too thick , It could also be that you just have too much fork oil in the forks... lowering the fork oil level will allow the forks to sit lower in the stroke while writing giving you better steering control and better steering angle, and will also make the fort plusher in the upper stroke because the air in the fork won’t get compressed as fast. I also feel that you don’t have quite enough pre-load in the rear end ,which is causing a drastic shift in the steering angle of the front end every time you give it gas ,changing your expectation of directional control ,which makes you ride the bike in an uncontrollable Swervy fashion... If you’ve been riding that Rocky 2 track terrain like in your other video most of the time ,I would say your suspension is plenty well broken in by now... that being said I would back off the compression dampening on the front end and maybe drop the clamps on the forks a good little bit changing the steering angle of the bike and the seating angle of the bike ...that may solve your deflection problem and your squatty rear end problem, it may not though. I’m not familiar with that fork so I can’t comment on where the dampening circuit actually begins to take affect on the fork, but it looks like you’re having a compression problem at absolute impact instantaneously at the front end so that says to me that you probably need to drop the fotk oil level in the fork first ,and and if you are only running a few clicks of compression upfront or haven’t even made it to half of the clickers yet I would definitely drop the fork oil viscosity to the next lower viscosity..
Good info but on those Xplor forks they were basically turned out almost max, I could have changed fork height a bit or fork oil but eh, got different carts in there now that I like more. Think I might have been like 2 clicks in from max or something on them most the time. These videos would have been with OEM suspension and what I find on Chinese stuff is it's entirely hit or miss coming from the factory, you can rebuild it and it can be decent but from the factory....eh. Heard one guy got his shock rebuilt after 40-50hrs and had 50psi of charge in it, who knows if it was like that from factory or just leaked. I wanted to try KTech ORVs in these forks but wasn't in the cards with GPX. The squatting rear end might have just been the OEM shock, I have sag set around 35-40mm and rider at ~115-120. Also have no idea when the OEM shock really blew out, I really felt it at like 45hrs going up Red Cone pass, felt like a pogo-stick in back but maybe leaking before that. Will be revisiting these notes again though since I've been diving into suspension a bit more lately for the new year and setup is always important.
Hello, can you explain to me in writing how you solved your cracked crankcase problem, because I don't speak English very well but I can translate your text with Google translator. Thank you from France.
Hello, I didn't actually fix that engine with the broken case. I have thought of trying to find a good welder to see if they'd give it a try but I don't know how well any fix would hold up. I think any welding fix would make it so my cases wouldn't match as well for the main case gasket sealing surface. The 'fix for me' was getting a second engine from GPX and swapping it in. I use the broken engine really just as some emergency spare parts.
This is after, the original engine wouldn't run at all, about the only thing my first engine could do is leak coolant on my garage floor. 2nd engine had issues as well that I had to fix, it would run but not well until I fixed it. Since rebuilding it the last time I haven't seen/felt any issues and close to 50-hours. Can't say I'm that impressed with these engines, I've been curious to hear what the next batch looks like because I have no idea if they've corrected all the issues I've seen or not, I'm doubtful because there were enough issues. In the back of my mind worried on Bendix breaking and timing keys sheering since seen that happen on others.
Thanks for the video. Seems like there’s a basket full of issues with these bikes that it’s still better going for a used ktm.
That's my personal thought, I would have been better with a used $7k KTM. Too many Chinese issues on these for the price and GPX seems to have moved onto Kove. Probably find these for like $3-4k used next year.
I've been eyeing up the 300 since it was released. But seeing a lot of vids of people with initial issues, seized engines, carb issues, etc is really off-putting. I have a 2021 TSE250R that hasn't given me any issues. I did upgrade the carb to a lectron so I don't have to mess with it, and went up a tooth on the front sprocket. Almost 200 hours on it, outside of general maintenance and top ends, it's been solid. I did tear the bike apart when it was new, loctite everything, greased everything, torqued everything. Sure that went a long way towards reliability.
I saw enough 'hidden issues' where you could get a 'running engine' that isn't running at full potential which is what bothers me. Internal stuff that isn't wrong enough to not work but isn't 'right' either and de-powers the engine which...I didn't pay for a half-ass KTM engine...even though I felt like I kinda got that at the start.
I have the 300 2T, I can't complain about anything .
Thanks for the free content. Like the bike, I just think they are way over priced now. I bought my kid an SSR SR 300s about a month ago and it was 5k out the door. Considered the GPX fse 300r until I saw the price tag. Good luck with the bikes, keep the content coming.
Prices I've seen on new big brand bikes right now, I agree. Think this thing needs to be like $6k.
Before you sling a bunch of money into your suspension on this thing, after watching your riding video , I tell you sure that your whole bike is set up to tall by the way the tip One way or the other Every time change direction slightly. Your front end deflects like some sort of 1960s chopper, and that is because the compression dampening is either set to high , or your fork oil is too thick , It could also be that you just have too much fork oil in the forks... lowering the fork oil level will allow the forks to sit lower in the stroke while writing giving you better steering control and better steering angle, and will also make the fort plusher in the upper stroke because the air in the fork won’t get compressed as fast.
I also feel that you don’t have quite enough pre-load in the rear end ,which is causing a drastic shift in the steering angle of the front end every time you give it gas ,changing your expectation of directional control ,which makes you ride the bike in an uncontrollable Swervy fashion...
If you’ve been riding that Rocky 2 track terrain like in your other video most of the time ,I would say your suspension is plenty well broken in by now... that being said I would back off the compression dampening on the front end and maybe drop the clamps on the forks a good little bit changing the steering angle of the bike and the seating angle of the bike ...that may solve your deflection problem and your squatty rear end problem, it may not though.
I’m not familiar with that fork so I can’t comment on where the dampening circuit actually begins to take affect on the fork, but it looks like you’re having a compression problem at absolute impact instantaneously at the front end so that says to me that you probably need to drop the fotk oil level in the fork first ,and and if you are only running a few clicks of compression upfront or haven’t even made it to half of the clickers yet I would definitely drop the fork oil viscosity to the next lower viscosity..
Good info but on those Xplor forks they were basically turned out almost max, I could have changed fork height a bit or fork oil but eh, got different carts in there now that I like more. Think I might have been like 2 clicks in from max or something on them most the time. These videos would have been with OEM suspension and what I find on Chinese stuff is it's entirely hit or miss coming from the factory, you can rebuild it and it can be decent but from the factory....eh. Heard one guy got his shock rebuilt after 40-50hrs and had 50psi of charge in it, who knows if it was like that from factory or just leaked. I wanted to try KTech ORVs in these forks but wasn't in the cards with GPX.
The squatting rear end might have just been the OEM shock, I have sag set around 35-40mm and rider at ~115-120. Also have no idea when the OEM shock really blew out, I really felt it at like 45hrs going up Red Cone pass, felt like a pogo-stick in back but maybe leaking before that.
Will be revisiting these notes again though since I've been diving into suspension a bit more lately for the new year and setup is always important.
The only thing that differs from a KTM300 ( 2017-19) is the clutch.
Except lower quality and when you fix this engine you use KTM parts because the China parts are lower quality and don't last. ;)
@@SCakey So far, no issue at all. The good thing is a can get KTM parts, or cheaper and faster delivery from GPX, here in Mexico.
Do you recommend replacing the stock muffler?
would a ktm fmf pipe and silencer fit this bike?
Hello, can you explain to me in writing how you solved your cracked crankcase problem,
because I don't speak English very well but I can translate your text with Google translator.
Thank you from France.
Hello, I didn't actually fix that engine with the broken case. I have thought of trying to find a good welder to see if they'd give it a try but I don't know how well any fix would hold up. I think any welding fix would make it so my cases wouldn't match as well for the main case gasket sealing surface. The 'fix for me' was getting a second engine from GPX and swapping it in. I use the broken engine really just as some emergency spare parts.
@@SCakeyWhat did the new engine cost?
Was this before the coolant/broken case issue?
This is after, the original engine wouldn't run at all, about the only thing my first engine could do is leak coolant on my garage floor. 2nd engine had issues as well that I had to fix, it would run but not well until I fixed it. Since rebuilding it the last time I haven't seen/felt any issues and close to 50-hours. Can't say I'm that impressed with these engines, I've been curious to hear what the next batch looks like because I have no idea if they've corrected all the issues I've seen or not, I'm doubtful because there were enough issues.
In the back of my mind worried on Bendix breaking and timing keys sheering since seen that happen on others.