2022 KTM 300 XC-W vs Electric KTM Freeride E-XC | Off Road Test

we're back with another head-to-head comparison test gas versus electric this time it's the 2022 ktm 300 xcw versus the ktm freeride exc now the 300 is one of ktm's premier flagship motorcycles this is the ultimate rocky mountain single track machine it is a tpi fuel-injected two-stroke and it's an amazing motorcycle i've been riding xcws out here for the last six years and i absolutely love these machines i think they are one of the sharpest tools for rocky mountain riding but on the other hand we have the ktm freeride exe and range aside i've been riding both of these bikes out on this type of terrain quite a bit and i do feel pretty fast on the freeride exc so for my curiosity alone i'm trying to do a bunch of these head-to-head comparisons to see how close i can get these bikes i think this is a very fair comparison these are two enduro machines on an enduro trail so you guys know the drill i'm gonna use my lip pro gps tracking device i'll go do one warm-up lap and then i'm gonna lay down five of my fastest laps on the ktm 300 i'll then go back out on the ktm freeride exc i'll lay down five laps on that bike we'll compare and contrast and see what we come up with all right starting out on the ktm 300 xcw already warmed it up don't worry all right so if you see my videos in the past you've probably seen this track before it's pretty tight and kind of technical it's a good enduro loop and this is arguably the best enduro bike that money can buy it's a ktm 300 xcw and it has been a stable in ktm's lineup for many years my last bike was a 2015 and that was back when these were carbureted and the old frame design these bikes have come a really long way the geometry is improved suspension's better and these tpi bikes are pretty incredible because they're fuel injected and that means they run really clean there's no bog [Music] like i had on my 2015. it's butter smooth [Music] this is only my second ride on this bike [Music] it's technically broken in to the point where i can ride it as hard as i can ride it at least on this trail [Music] yeah if you haven't ruined one of these fuel injected two strokes yet [Music] i highly recommend it they're pretty amazing and the 300 is an incredible bike it is so easy to ride in the low rpms it just lugs and then when it revs up it makes a lot of power there's a reason that this is one of ktm's flagship bikes and a reason why out west you see a ton of guys riding these [Music] this is pretty much the same bike as last year this is a 2022 and in 2021 it's basically the same bike just different plastics and seat and some styling things there but outside of that pretty much the same [Music] bike [Music] [Music] [Music] um i've heard people refer to this bike as having an electric feel which is good probably a good comparison for the actual electric atm there's plenty of ignition changes and power valve changes throttle changes that you can do to this bike that i'm still going to be figuring out i've got everything just set neutral right now the way that it came [Music] but it's almost like a little too mellow off the bottom which is great for hill climbs and that type of thing but takes a little bit for the bike to wake up [Music] that might make it faster though because they're not spinning out either way [Music] the power is more mellow than you'd expect for a 302 stroke like i said it does liven up when you grab a handful but it's pretty manageable otherwise the reason i wanted to do this is because this is like the best dirt bike that you can pretty much buy for the type of riding that i'm doing out west and i absolutely love this bike already but i feel pretty fast on the free ride i've really gotten to know that bike pretty well [Music] and i'm just curious for myself how fast i can go or what the time spread is rather between the two bikes so this bike's completely stock i put a skid plate on it just to protect it from the rocks up here but i haven't done anything to it this should be a good benchmark [Music] i would have thought i'd start there [Music] i was a little apprehensive about the cpi at first because one of the beauty of two strokes is that [Music] they're simple but man changing elevation like we do up here it's pretty awesome to not have to mess with the carb [Music] i know this channel is about electric motorcycles but man this is such an excellent bike i do have to be honest in that i ride a lot of gas bikes still and i love them [Music] you just can't do the rides that we do out here on electric quite yet i'm looking forward to the day that you can but if you want to actually ride out here [Music] you gotta have a gas bike all right guys just finished up my laps on the 2022 ktm 300 xcw and i gotta say this is an absolutely fantastic motorcycle uh i love it i mean i've been riding a 2015 xcw for the last six years so i feel pretty at home on this bike immediately but the improvements that they've made on this bike is incredible uh it is such an awesome machine so i'm pretty psyched with this thing stock there are a few things that i would change the power does seem to come on a little slow on this bike the way that it comes from the factory which is good for hill climbs and that type of thing you get a ton of traction it kind of tractors up stuff but for some of the corners and that type of thing i want the bike to liven up a little bit quicker so i'm going to mess with that you can change the ignition on it you can change the power valve delivery and then you can also change the throttle assembly they give you one that hits a little bit harder so i'll probably mess around with those options but stock form it's actually riding really good the suspension feels really good i'm still going to change it because i'm pretty picky when it comes to suspension but this stuff is working awesome usually at this point i would give my lap times but i don't really want to know what my lap times are on this bike yet i'd rather just go out and do the five laps on the freeride exc and then check them both at the end and compare and contrast so that's what i'm going to go do i'm going to go swap the 300 for the exc swap the two stroke for the electric and we will see what we come up with on the free ride all right ktm free ride exc gonna run it in power mode three here get the most out of the bike i'm just going to do this first lap kind of like a sight lap get used to the bike because they do feel very different right off the bat it's very obvious that the free ride feels a bit smaller which isn't such a bad thing in this tight terrain it is pretty easy to throw around but despite the great job the full factory did on the suspension on this bike you can also immediately tell and in my opinion the suspension is just undergone still on this bike 43 mil stanchion forks you've heard me complain about it before i wish that these were the full 48 mil forks that you get on the 300xcw as well as the full-size rear shock i'm sure there's plenty of reasons why it's not that way but that's a complaint of mine yeah you're just always in the right gear on this bike it's definitely pretty noticeable i said that there's no real bog on the tpi two-stroke but there's definitely no bog on the electric linear power all the time another weird thing to get used to is the rear brake being up where the clutch is on the 300 it's nice because you can keep your foot on the pegs or feet on the pegs rather but it's kind of hard to modulate another thing i've complained about in the past another thing that i will be fixing or changing rather on this bike but haven't had the parts to do it yet everybody tells me why i shouldn't do it but i like having a foot break but despite all those things spike is quick so i should reiterate that this bike is not completely stock i have had the suspension run through by full factory does have an xc gear mako 360 var clamp oversized rear brake kit different tires and i think that's about it those are at least the big things but nothing too crazy biggest thing is definitely the suspension which i will be doing to the 300 so i might have to do another comparison when that happens one thing that's super noticeable but i have to point out right away is how much more i can focus i feel like i can talk to you guys way easier on this free ride because i'm not worried about what gear i'm in shifting just twist the throttle which is pretty sweet and yeah the haters are gonna say well you don't have the range that you have on the 300. that's true you don't but we will at some point so this is where this free ride feels at home to me and it should be where the 300 feels at home too so this is a pretty good lineup for a bike comparison electric verse gas same manufacturer same discipline i know people have said in the past on these bike comparisons that it's not fair to ride one bike after another because i'm probably tired by the time i get to the second bike but i'm on the second bike right now and i can straight up tell you you might be able to tell by my breathing that i have a much lower heart rate on this bike for whatever reason i'll tell you right now on feel alone no data which we will be checking but on just the field that i'm feeling right now i feel faster on this bike i think it's because this is such a tight track and it kills your momentum that this bike can just get out of these corners way quicker i feel like i'm wasting way less time the more laps i do the more i get used to the rear brake being up on the bars but still not my first choice the 300 is amazing but man i love this bike i really really do really love this bike when i was riding the 300 i was thinking man this is the best bike ever the 300 is my favorite bike but now that i'm spinning laps on this thing i might be changing my thoughts range weren't an issue it would be hard to not consider this bike [Music] still reaching for the rear brake i just did it i've got so many hours on this bike still i reach for the rear brake with my right foot i guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks all right guys just finished up on the free ride and yeah a total reminder that this bike is also a blast to ride uh it's honestly kind of hard for me to pick which one i like more because they're both extremely fun to ride you know the elephant in the room is always the range issue the range on a electric dirt bike like this freeride exe is not nearly what you can get on a 300 and not nearly what you can get if you just keep refilling the gas tank on the 300th so uh really no comparison there the 300 blows the free ride out of the water in terms of range you know hopefully these bikes will get there but in the meantime we're just considering you know practice loop style riding which bike's more fun to ride it's a it's a hard hard decision there because they're both a blast in their own respect but on the flip side my lap times are interesting i got a uh a three minute and two second lap time on the 300xcw that's completely stock and i was expecting to do better on the free ride after putting down a couple laps it just felt like i was going a lot faster on the free ride than i was on the 300 but i pulled up my lap times on the free ride and those were three minutes and five seconds was my best lap time on the free ride so uh yeah kind of surprised to be honest with you three seconds a lap slower on the free ride and that seems pretty consistent i was consistently faster on the 300 so cool to have the data because if you were to just ask me i'd be like oh yeah i'm faster on the on the electric but apparently i'm not so um should be interesting when i get that 300 set up better than i have right now if i can even cut those lap times down even further but um yeah kind of a shocking result there cool to do these tests i know that uh maybe they they seem a little repetitive but it's curiosity for me a huge reason why i explore these ideas is because i personally want to know when is it time that electric is going to be just as good if not better than a gas bike for my own personal reasons and that's why i do these tests because to me a 302 stroke is like the epitome of the perfect bike for colorado and so uh testing the free ride against that is something that i'm really interested to explore and uh yeah glad we did another one of those so i think i'll do some more tests with it i'm not quite convinced yet um we can do some bigger loops can do some hill climbs and that type of thing see how those bikes stack up but uh yeah interesting result thanks for watching guys see ya

Channel: Electric Cycle Rider

Views: 252,893

Rating: 4.8335295 out of 5

Keywords: ktm, free ride, electric motorcycle, electric dirt bike, 300xcw, 300 xcw, xc-w, enduro, offroad, new, 2022, ktm freeride, freeride e-xc, ktm freeride e-xc review, ktm freeride e-xc test, 2020 ktm freeride e-xc review, freeride e-xc review, electric ktm, electric dirt bike vs gas dirt bike, electric dirt bike review, electric bike, freeride e-xc 2020 review

Id: DgjhPWul4Yg

Length: 22min 56sec (1376 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 01 2021