Listen, we all want to pretend we have heroic motorcycling skills. That we, if given the chance, could hang with the best of the best. I mean, we've been riding motorcycles forever! We can wheelie! We can slide the back end out! We can hit 100 mph!
At least, that's what we tell ourselves. But if you actually put us in those situations, we'd crumble like stale biscuits. That's just the honest truth and it absolutely applies to me.
For example, I'd love to head over to the Erzbergrodeo or Romaniacs events. I'd love to try my hand at those hard enduros using something like KTM's new 300 XC-W HARDENDURO dirt bike because it has all the specs to win those events. But despite everything that KTM threw at the bike, and its absolute real potential to win those events outright, I couldn't do it.
The bike, and those events, are too much for me. And they're likely too much for you. Don't believe me? Allow me to illustrate with just the specs.
From the get-go, KTM states, "Having already clinched victories in the first two rounds of the 2024 FIM Hard Enduro World Championship and achieved three consecutive wins at the Red Bull Erzbergrodeo with Manuel Lettenbichler at the helm, the KTM 300 XC-W HARDENDURO stands as a formidable competitor. Through Lettenbichler and other pro racer’s feedback, the 2025 KTM 300 XC-W HARDENDURO is engineered to provide the ultimate READY TO RACE Enduro package."
That's right, it's the same package that Manny Lettenbichler—the most winningest rider in the history of Erzberg—used to achieve that result. So you and your schlubby ass are already at a detriment, cause this thing is tuned for a proper racer.
The new hotness on the bike is spring preload adjustments on the base valve of the 48 mm WP XACT closed-cartridge springs, which allows for on-the-fly adjustments allowing the rider to tune as they hit the trails. Likewise, KTM made small updates to rear shock, chain slider, and fuel tank mount to better handle whatever rigors you find yourself in, i.e. Dakar.
KTM's 300 XC-W HARDENDURO also features a factory racing seat, engine mapping select switch, frame protectors, D.I.D. rims, hand guards, a radiator fan to keep shit cool, anodized machine triples, a skid plate, floating front brake disc and disc guard, a solid rear brake disc and guard, a Supersprox rear sprocket, and clutch slave cylinder protector.
And that doesn't even cover the engine, which is a 293cc single-cylinder 2-stroke making 49 horsepower. A 39mm Keihin throttle body is said to keep power on the ready throughout the rev range, while the 2-piece sprocket just grips and rips the Dunlop tires front and rear. All of which is to say that there's plenty of horsepower to hop over whatever terrain in front of you, i.e. rock gardens or full-size tree stumps.
Not that I'd know how to do that, though I'd love to try and fail spectacularly.
As for price, the 2025 KTM 300 XC-W HARDENDURO will set you back $13,299, which isn't all that bad for something you could, conceivably, hop onto and go run a hare scramble or hard enduro. Sure, you'd probably crash it and be out $14,000, but come on, you've been riding forever.
How hard could it be?
