The Husqvarna TX300 two-stroke is probably the most versatile dirt bike in the world. It’s had amazing success as a motocrosser, a desert bike, an EnduroCross bike and a hare-scrambles bike. Last month we got to ride one that was specifically tailored for the forests of Oregon. Dallas Nyblod came down from the great Northwest with a couple of interesting project bikes. One was the Honda CR125M Elsinore that he built for Broc Glover. That was was featured in Two Stroke Tuesday a few weeks ago. Another was this 2020 Husky TX300, the bike he rides himself. By comparison to the Elsinore, Nyblod’s Husky is a fairly conservative project, but it’s a great showcase of how you can personalize the TX300.
The motor was stock aside from the Pro Circuit exhaust and the Rekluse Radius CX automatic clutch. That’s the top-of-the-line Rekluse product which combines the auto clutch technology with the Core friction plates. The best part about this clutch is that you can use it like a manual clutch, or you can completely ignore the clutch lever without any issues with stalling. When you use the clutch manually, you have much more control over engine rpm. The engagement doesn’t feel exactly like a manual clutch, but it’s very close. Riders have been known to ride the bike using the clutch without even realizing that it was automatic.
Drew Smith at WER used K Tech hardware to rework the Xact AER 48 air fork and WP shock on the TX300. To do this, he used two separate K Tech kits for the fork–a spring conversion and a piston kit–as well as a bladder conversion kit for the WP shock. In addition to the installation, Drew revalved both ends with his own specs for woods racing and used K Tech springs.
The Xact air fork was rework with a coil spring and a new piston.
WP has the best air fork on the market. Still, an air fork requires some maintenance for each and every ride, and some riders still feel the performance can’t match coil springs. On a separate note, the 2020 and earlier Xact air forks have a somewhat simple valve design that could be improved. The 2021 version of the fork addresses this with a new mid-valve design, but there are still hundreds of earlier versions in the U.S. population of Husqvarna and KTM off-road bikes that could use the update. The K Tech spring replacement and the K Tech piston replacement work together to address both issues.
In the rear, the WP shock uses a floating piston, which works well but makes maintenance difficult. Bleeding the shock after an oil change or a seal replacement requires special tools and technique. The K Tech bladder kit eliminates the floating piston and makes shock bleeding possible for the average person in an average garage. The shock also got WER’s revalving.
We got to ride Nyblod’s bike back to back with a standard 2020 model. The biggest advantage was that the K Tech bike was ready to ride on tight, rocky trails immediately. We have a loop with miles of rocks and low-speed trail obstacles, and while it isn’t Oregon, it has many of the same elements. The modified TX was turn-key and plush. The stocker, on the other hand, was far too stiff with the stock air pressure. We reduced it to 127 pounds to get the initial compliance that we wanted, but at that level it had very little bottoming resistance and too much movement. More compression and rebound damping helped, but after a few hours of chasing settings, we never got the bike to work as well as the K-Tech bike on that specific loop. In the rear it was more click chasing. In general, suspension tests are never conclusive because each rider’s needs are different. But, the mechanical changes offered by K-Tech are well engineered and solid. They must be combined with a good suspension tuner who can tailor the valving to your needs. The K-Tech prices start with $495 for the spring conversion. For everything that was done on both ends of our test bike, including springs and labor, the total was around $1600. For more specific itemization, contact Drew Smith.
ON TO IRONMAN
Brandon Krause slogged through the mud at Loretta Lynn’s last week to capture some incredible images. Now, the series moves on to Indiana for the Ironman. Here are your points standings:
250 NATIONAL POINTS
1 Dylan Ferrandis 90
2 Jeremy Martin 84
3 Alex Martin 71
4 RJ Hampshire 70
5 Shane McElrath 69
6 Cameron Mcadoo 61
7 Justin Cooper 40
8 Mitchell Harrison 38
9 Carson Mumford 32
10 Mason Gonzales 32
11 Derek Drake 30
12 Jett Lawrence 29
13 Nick Gaines 28
14 Stilez Robertson 27
15 Pierce Brown 27
16 Brandon Hartranft 23
17 Lance Kobusch 18
18 Ezra Hastings 14
19 Jo Shimoda 13
20 Hardy Munoz 13
450 NATIONAL POINTS
1 Zachary Osborne 88
2 Marvin Musquin 69
3 Justin Barcia 59
4 Jason Anderson 58
5 Adam Cianciarulo 51
6 Blake Baggett 51
7 Eli Tomac 48
8 Broc Tickle 48
9 Max Anstie 47
10 Chase Sexton 44
11 Christian Craig 40
12 Joseph Savatgy 36
13 Dean Wilson 32
14 Cooper Webb 29
15 Henry Miller 21
16 Jake Masterpool 19
17 Fredrik Noren 18
18 Justin Rodbell 18
19 Justin Bogle 15
20 Coty Schock 14
NATIONAL ENDURO
Josh Toth is now a three time winner in the National Enduro series and leads the series despite scoring no points in round one. Here’s how that series stacks up.
- Josh Toth 115
- Grant Baylor 108
- Ben Kelley 102
- Steward Baylor Jr 91
- Thorn Devlin 77
- Ryder Lafferty 68
- Cody Barnes 62
- Craig Delong 52
- Vincent Smith 37
- Andrew DeLong 35
NATIONAL HARE & HOUND
The National Hare & Hound series resumed last week and Joe Wasson was the winner on his Beta. The points are now very close, and veteran David Kamo is in front by two points! Wasson is next ahead of teammate Zane Roberts by four points, followed by Dalton Shirey, Axel Pearson, Preston Campbell and Jacob Argubright.
WORLD ENDURO RETURNS
Racing is very slowly returning to planet Earth. The FIM World ENDURO GPs will kick off in France on September 18. Check out https://www.endurogp.org/
See you next week!
–Ron Lawson