Torture Test
TORTURE TEST
CW COMPARISON
100-Hour Enduro Shootout: who's tougher, KTM 450 E/XC, Yamaha WR450F or us?
JIMMY LEWIS
IT’S 3 A.M., WHERE ARE MY TESTBIKES? WHO’S UP NEXT? ON WHICH VAN door should I knock to find another rider? If I ride now, who'll wake up the next guy? Why was everyone so mad I didn’t bring coffee?
Endurance testing is fun-for those lucky souls who get to ride when traction is perfect, the weather is nice and normal sleep cycles remain uninterrupted. Finding guys who say they want to ride in the wee hours of the morning isn’t that hard, either; it’s getting them to do it that’s another matter. The Yamaha WR450F and KTM 450 E/XC were winning this comparisonthey had the upper hand. Then a body staggered over to the fire and asked amidst a yawn, “Is it my turn yet?”
For headline value, we drummed up a “100-hours” theme for this year’s big enduro comparison. Two all-new models would go head-to-head for Best Enduro Bike honors, each getting 25 hours’ running time on two separate occasions to give us those double goose eggs. The usual, oft-done 24-hour test favored by certain other magazines? Just a warm-up for us!
We ran the bikes in two vastly different Southern California locations: the tight, technical mountain trails of the Keysville Special Management Area and the fast, rough desert of the Dove Springs Off-Highway Vehicle Area. All this after spending time for break-in and setup, plus snapping a few pre-comparo photos for insurance-between weather, tip-overs and darkness, we might not get another chance...
We rode the bikes hard the whole time-all in the name of reader service, you understand-and pit stops were as NASCAR as possible, with a crew of helpers to refuel, look over the bikes and make whatever adjustments or repairs were deemed necessary. Except at 3 a.m., of course.
Durability being one of the most influential factors in an enduro buying decision, we charted what we could and took a good look at the bikes before and after each outing. We wanted to evaluate the bikes box-stock, but you can’t ride the Yamaha that way-it comes off the dealer’s floor with a throttle restrictor, baffles in both the airbox and muffler, and an alternate ignition curve to help the bike pass sound tests. We removed all of this stuff, clipped the gray ignition wire to de-activate the bogus mapping and replaced the exhaust baffle with a Yamaha GYT-R insert to keep the noise level down to 96 decibels. We didn’t have to do a thing to the KTM. It’s sold as a closed-course competition vehicle, yet passes the emissions standards necessary to obtain a California green sticker. Though you really don’t need to do this, we vented the KTM’s crankcase breather to the atmosphere instead of the intake tract to let the engine run a little more freely. And we installed handguards on both machines to protect our delicate fingers.
Our highly official Atomic Radio Synchronized Digital Large Display Battery Operated Clock (ARSDLDBOC) read 10:00 a.m., signaling take-off time for our first segment. We were going to gun the bikes for 25 hours non-stop and do whatever it took to keep them running. We had a back-up Yamaha and KTM for spare parts, and the usual crash-related items in case of emergency. A measured quick-fill can would help us keep track of fuel consumption, as would logs to document rider changes, times and whatever work we performed on the bikes. Twelve riders were on the team to keep it all going, with abilities ranging from Novice to Expert, yet all were old enough to race Vet, a few even eligible for the Senior class. Hey, young hotshots have a way of pile-driving anything into the turf after a few hours-we were testing reliability here, not ease of post-crash repairability.
Keysville was in perfect condition for our ride, thanks to recent rains. The terrain is quality dirt with its fair share of rocks, upon which we laid out AA and B loops. The harder of the two required a ton of fancy clutch work to ride up a 2000-foot climb in just a few miles, and came back down just as quickly-national enduro third-loop stuff. The B loop was similar to a GNCC course, flowing and technical, with lots of small elevation changes. The average speed of the combined courses ended up being 17 mph.
Despite originally billing our test as “100 Hours of Death & Destruction,” things shaped up a bit differently. A whole lot of good riding without much trauma, was more like it. It was four hours before someone finally crashed the Yamaha and stepped on the starter button while picking up the bike. So we replaced the broken switch, adjusting the chain and lowering the brake pedal at the same time, and off the bike went.
After most of the riders had a stint on each bike, we started fiddling with the Yamaha’s chassis setup, looking for a bit more response out of the front end, which felt heavier than the KTM’s. We made sure rear sag measured near the recommended 100mm, then worked toward getting a more-forward weight bias. Opening up shock rebound damping and adding a bit of compression helped, as did taking some compression out of the fork, but the most effective change was to add a little high-speed compression to the shock-that got the WR as good as it was going to get.
Which is pretty damn good. So improved is the 2003 WR450 that it blows away the older WR426 by leaps and bounds. Starting with electric starting and right down the list, every sour point is now sweet. It’s slimmer, lighter feeling, torquier and stronger running. Our WR450 took a while to really break-in and run free, a good sign for longevity, plus little things like the case guards and tough brackets show this Yamaha is built to last. As nice as the air filter’s no-tools access is, however, the element itself is still a little flimsy.
YAMAHA WR450F
$6399
Ups ▲ Lighter, faster, more effective than WR426 A Suspension that knows what it was built for: Enduro! A Don’t forget, electric starting Downs ▼ Heavy steering, you pay for the stability ▼ Steel handlebars, flimsy air filter, no handguards, plan on spending $200 here T Needs unplugging, but at least keep it quiet, please!
When night fell, we were prepared. Both bikes’ headlights were pumped up with brighter bulbs-and in the case of the KTM, an upgraded lens-from Baja Designs (www.bajadesigns.com). Also, the good folks from NiteRider Technical Lighting Systems (www.niterider.com) let us sample some of their helmet-mounted Headhunter HID systems. What a blast night riding is when you have the right illumination!
Things went smoothly until midnight, when the KTM’s kickstand bolt snapped during a rider change. Our Yamaha’s exhaust-tip insert also came loose, and was tightened back up. We also had to shim up the WR’s headlight to get the beam to throw far enough ahead. And for our last little folly, leave it to another strange WR crash where the choke lever got pulled out and bent into the “On” position, giving us all a scare when the bike blubbered into the pits sounding sicker than it was. A quick swap with a spare and we were golden.
Performance-wise, the KTM got the nod at Keysville. Bonus points were awarded for the silky smooth operation of its hydraulic clutch and the tighter spacing and wider variety of gears, but its lighter han dling and sharper turning (limited only by a too-soon steering stop noticeable mostly when trail riding) were the only real standouts over the Yamaha.
Suspension action on both bikes was great, especially the Yamaha. Even with more aggressive settings than in the past, the KTM is still plush. It will blow through the stroke sooner than the WR and bottom easier, the low speed-only compression doing little to stop this.
Yamaha went for more of an East Coast, tighter-terrain setting and it shows, without the mid-stroke harshness of older WRs. It seemed to bottom less than even our YZ45OF motocrosser-strange but good.
No one voiced any concerns about power. Though the WR is a bit snappier, quicker to respond to throttle inputs and has a big top-end surge, the thump and smoothness of the KTM were great, as well. And the orange bike was a bit faster in roll-ons and drag races, unless the Yamaha was already wound up-then it was a tie.
1 41114114 W4~ ancauy WOUIIU Up-UlcIl IL W4S 4 Ll~. At the conclusion of the first full 24-plus-i, the KTM had covered about 440 miles, whereas the Yamaha had clocked 430, factoring in correction for the odos. The KTM used approximately 16 gallons of fuel while the Yamaha used 17. Of the 1050cc of oil that each took at the beginning, the Yamaha didn't use a noticeable amount, but the KTM lost about 150cc.
Back at the shop between outings, we filled the bikes with fresh 20w50 and replaced oil filters (which were still surprisingly clean), rinsed the air filters and replaced the worn-out stock tires. We opted to go with Kenda Carisbads due to our past luck with longevity and decent performance when the knobs wear down.
One week later to the second, we shot off for our second phase of testing. This course, running through the high desert, was very fast, and had a few real rough sections-completely the opposite of the week before.
Surprise! The bikes acted differently here. Where we dabbled with the Yamaha suspension the first week, this time we were tweaking the KTM to try to get some sta bility. We lowered the rear end and tried everything else, suspension-wise, without much luck. Our summa tion was that if we were going to do any desert racing on the E/XC, we would buy a steering stabilizer ASAP.
We thought gearing would be more of an issue, mostly for the five-speed WR. But it wasn't-well, as long as you didn't mind the sound of a bike buzzing at 9000 rpm-plus most of the time. The WR went plenty fast with its standard setup, whereas the six-speed KTM allowed lower rpm running, and arrived at a higher top speed on the faster sections of the course. The GPSindicated top speed on flat dirt was 98 mph for the KTM and 91 for the WR. Yet even though it was limited slightly in outright mph, having the WR spinning closer to its peak power during on/off throttle didn’t hurt it around the 25mile loop. Average speed for both bikes over the second 25 hours, in case you’re keeping track, was 40 mph.
KTM 450 E/XC
$7198
A Austria wrote the book on fully equipped enduro Thumpers A Ready to rip right from the dealer A Light and flickable like a motocrosser `owns v Twitchy at speed, you pay for the flickability v Could use a full-protection skidplate v Where are the handguards7
Like our first outing, we again had only a few minor slowdowns. The KTM had some issues with gas-cap venting, which caused some funny running, and even possible fuel boiling in the tank late in the afternoon when the weather warmed up and the fuel level was low. Late at night an exhaust spring disappeared, and by morning we’d broken a spoke. Not too bad for 1000 miles of hard running.
The Yamaha did just as well, save for the GYT-R exhaust insert. Due to its aluminum-and-steel construction and the incredible amount of heat it is subjected to during constant high-rpm running, it came apart. Twice, actually, before we got our hands on a Baja Designs insert that worked better than the Yamaha version and stayed put for the remainder of the test. Close to the end, the WR’s chain-buffer pad on top of the swingarm needed replacement, and one flat tire courtesy of a nail slowed progress for a few minutes. With the drier, dustier conditions, each bike had its air filter changed at around 8 p.m., and that was it for maintenance. We even lessened our Oh, sh*t! factor at night thanks to some super-cool NiteRider spotlights, doubling up on the helmet-light brightness for the high-speed desert running. In all, really a gas-and-go experience-keeping the riders fresh was harder than keeping the bikes running!
Tallied up, the KTM ran 1115 miles to the Yamaha’s 987 miles in our desert 25 hours. Fuel consumption was 31 gallons for the KTM, 33 for the Yamaha. Again, the Yamaha didn’t use much oil, just lOOcc, whereas the KTM was down 300cc. Valve lash over the 50 hours had the KTM’s intakes tightening up to almost no freeplay while its exhaust valves didn’t change. A simple screw-type adjustment had the KTM back to snuff. On the Yamaha, intakes went from .004 and .003 to an acceptable .006 (we didn’t really want to mess with the shim-under-bucket adjustment, at least not in a hurry out in the field), while the exhausts tightened up just a bit.
Where does this leave us? Simply put, the KTM shines just a little bit brighter than the Yamaha. And it isn’t in performance, where we’d call it a dead-nuts tie for all-round riding. One, the Yamaha, is clearly better at higher speeds and stability; the other, the KTM, turns circles around the other in the tight stuff. The difference is in the features:
First, the KTM’s six-speed gearbox is just a little bit more versatile, especially on dirt roads, allowing the bike to cruise and get good gas mileage. Also, the E/XC is 100 percent rideable in stock trim, with no baffles or funny stuff to remove. And you can get a green sticker in California, meaning you can ride it year-round here as opposed to just part of the year as is the case with the red-sticker Yamaha. Lastly, little things like the hydraulic clutch, standard oversized aluminum handlebar and trick electronic odo/computer seal the deal, albeit at an $800 premium over the WR. Yamaha’s off-road team did everything short of making their bike orange to try and stop KTM, and to their credit they came very close. But it seems that KTM has a stranglehold on the enduro market across its lineup, and the 450 E/XC is the one bike that can do it all. And do it for a long time, as far as we’re concerned. □
