KTM 125XC Long Term Update

After 87 hrs of beating I check in on the 2021 KTM 125XC to see how it has held up under a fat man like myself!
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[@defconsupply3990]

Getting the jetting right on my 125XC was the hardest part about mine. Took a full day of tuning and testing to get it to be smooth without flat spots. I have won my class twice this year in my class with my 220 pound self on it. I use it on XC races that have flat fast terrain. I run a 200 Beta on the more technical stuff

[@bradsanders6954]

4th piston at 87 hours? Whoa. I ran my 200 KTM's to 200 hours on a piston easily and it still looked good. Ive been told, to avoid honing at all possibility with a plated bore, that bore is super,super thin plating.

[@highlandcycles]

Number of pistons had more to do with testing than need. Also you can flex home that plating. It’s very strong. If it were to flake upon honing then it was getting ready anyway

[@bradsanders6954]

@@highlandcycles A diamond hone is what they use, just one quick pass. A normal hone wont touch a plated bore...............I would guess a 150 doesn't last much longer than a 125 in the same conditions?.....................its funny but back in the day I raced an air cooled RM 125 and did good on it. We werent changing pistons every 30 hours. I hoped new 125's went longer.

[@highlandcycles]

@@bradsanders6954 they will last longer for sure. I never NEEDED to change it. I’d say 50-69 hrs would be fine if you’re revving it like I was (high revs) but probably 70-80 if you’re not pinning it.

[@bradsanders6954]

@@highlandcycles Can a 125 really be got much of anywhere with out pinning it?

[@WujoCaZa]

How many hours you would put on piston if you wouldn’t be racing? In my old 250 2stroke I usually Change piston around 80-100mth.

[@highlandcycles]

My 300 I go 150 hrs. I’d probably do 50 on the 125 if I were just trail riding

[@th1npower]

.. how about a video on hones and honing cylinders? ...

[@Jake-rp9cv]

I second this!! So many people say "cant hone a nikasil cylinder" blah blah. Obviously if you sit there with a hone for 10 minutes you will do some damage, but if youre deglazing a cylinder and doing a few passes it does no harm.

[@highlandcycles]

I have shown it before but yeah, I’ll do one.

[@bradsanders6954]

@@Jake-rp9cv Even a quick pass with a hone, removing any material, that plated bore is really thin............the resulting surface can wear a ring quickly.

[@Jake-rp9cv]

@@bradsanders6954 Have you actually tried honing a nikasil cylinder before? I had a spare junk cylinder laying around and decided to take a ball hone (not a flex hone) through it, and it did just fine. I made 5 passes in total and the cross hatch looks just fine and there is no nikasil missing. The cylinder is junked due to a broken cylinder mount.

[@bradsanders6954]

@@Jake-rp9cv That plating is very, very thin. I had a mechanic hone a DRZ 400 cylinder just cause he thought it was the thing to do....a diamond hone is the only thing that can have any effect...a ball hone wont touch it at all. The diamond hone is one quick pass, most mechanics dont do it....if damage is evident in a plated bore, its unlikely honing it will fix it.

[@adamlesny8928]

I just reached 40 hours on my 21 KTM 125xc. I checked the compression and I have 140 psi. Would you recommend a top end rebuild? Do you know how much compression the bike had new?

[@highlandcycles]

I don’t know for sure but probably around 170. Probably time If you ride it hard

[@adamlesny8928]

@@highlandcycles what top end kit would you recommend? Vertex? Wiseco? Oem?

[@highlandcycles]

@@adamlesny8928 vertex

[@teach1644]

Don’t change anything just let the pidgin grenade then put in a new engine.

[@hello-dirt]

The frequency of tearing apart that engine to replace cylinders and/or top ends tells me why I wouldn't want to own a 125. That is way too much work! You make it look easy...but I don't have all the tools, space, or great work space.

[@highlandcycles]

They do take more maintenance

[@jokris0755]

@@highlandcycles do you really have to change 4 pistons for 87 hours? If you ride it mountains in middle rpm's do you still have to change 4 pistons?

[@highlandcycles]

@@jokris0755 No. Not at all. I did that because of how hard I have been on it and because two of them were single ring pistons.

[@teach1644]

You don’t need to do this at all. Those who pretend to ride like that take 1000 milligrams of viagra and still can’t perform the deed… this is all fake toxic make bull…

[@bradsanders6954]

@@jokris0755 A 125, even in the mountains needs to be kept singing hard, or you end up pushing it up hills or cliff climbs. Typical trail rides here would mean a piston every 4 rides. Higher compression than stock means the rod, etc, is taking a harder load every revolution, more heat is made

[@scottphillips445]

What is your weight?

[@highlandcycles]

185