#adventure #outdoor #offroad #dirtbike
For a long time, our favorite size for an off-road four-stroke has been the 350. We didn’t really care which 350. All of the offerings from Austria were light, easy to ride and had tons of power when you needed it. The differences were noticeable, but not dramatic enough to give one a significant advantage. Now that’s changed. For 2023, KTM has a new platform for all its competition bikes. GasGas has stuck with the previous version, which gives us the opportunity to compare them back to back. We have a 2023 KTM 350XC-F and a 2023 GasGas EX350F just for that purpose.First of all, you can’t ignore the fact that GasGas is seen as the more affordable line of the two. The price certainly isn’t low; it’s $10,799, but it’s less than $11,399, which is what the KTM costs. For that difference, the KTM gives you handguards, a skid plate, a map switch, machined triple clamps, a few name-brand parts and a resonance chamber in the exhaust headpipe. If you wanted to buy all those items for your GasGas, they would cost way more than the $600 price difference.Much more important is the KTM’s new chassis and motor. Almost everything is different; the frame, the motor, the rear suspension, the bodywork, even the wheels and axle sizes. The only carry-over is the WP Xact air fork. Even that is different between the two bikes. The GasGas has softer valving and less recommended air pressure.There’s a net weight difference between the two bikes. The GasGas weighs 224.8 pounds without gas on our scale. The KTM is 232. Part of that is the handguards and accessories, part is the fact that the new chassis is heavier. Just looking at the frame you can see how beefy it is. KTM paid a great deal of attention to frame rigidity and flex characteristics. The top of the KTM motor looks completely different, particularly in the valve train area where it’s wider and more squat. The cams are new, the piston is new, the crank is new and the compression ratio is higher (14.6:1 vs 14.2:1). KTM also messed with all the gear ratios in the six-speed gearboxes, the primary drive and the final drive. Bottom line: the overall gear ratios are more spread out on the KTM. First gear is about 12 percent lower. Second through fifth are lower as well, but by lesser amounts until sixth, which works out exactly the same as the GasGas. The biggest difference between the two bikes is the feel of the chassis and suspension. You would never guess that the suspension is made by the same company. The GasGas is a more cushy, plush motorcycle. The KTM feels hard-edged and stiff. You can feel the Supercross influence in the KTM’s new chassis, whereas The GasGas is truly a more comfortable trail bike. When you’re riding hard through big whoops, the KTM takes the hits slightly better and goes straighter. Does that mean the KTM is the better cross-country racer? Maybe, but we think you’ll have to work on the suspension to get the most out of it. The GasGas’s flexy frame is very forgiving of suspension. By taking some of that out of the picture, the KTM reveals some shortcomings of the WP Xact air fork. That fork’s greatest assets are adjustability and light weight, not comfort.



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