Enduro21 tests the KTM 350 EXC-F Champions Edition – a “quick test” on a rapid turnaround over one day of Sprint Enduro but it was enough to get to grips with the special edition model.

KTM sent us a message: do you want to test for the 350 F Champions edition for the weekend? Answer: Sure thing.

Wanting to get back on a four-stroke and to get a chance to see what one of the Champions models was really about, we got stuck into a round of the British Sprint Enduro Championship for a day. Then basically washed it and put it back in the van to KTM again.

So while this might have been hastily arranged it did a taste of the bike and gave chance to prove the value in turning up at the races with a stock bike and having a blast – a Vets class podium on a stock bike says something.

Big show-offs

Trading on their history, and the fact they currently having world’s best enduro riders onboard with Josep Garcia and Mani Lettenbichler, KTM’s Champions Edition 350 EXC-F brings something a little more exclusive to the model range.

Like other special editions like the Six Days models or previous, but now extinct, Erzbergrodeo or WESS editions, the Champion Edition models are a little more exclusive to the standard EXC-F with a sprinkling of parts from the catalogue for a little extra money. Money spent at point of buying the bike versus money spent on aftermarket products, you decide.

For 2025 model year this includes the 250 and 300 EXC two-strokes plus 350, 450 and 500 EXC-F four-strokes. In North America they are the 300 XC-W and 500 EXC-F models.

Stand out like a factory guy?

The Red Bull graphics kit is the most obvious difference between the Champ and the standard edition 350F, the orange frame is also a giveaway. If you’re a fan of a bike which stands out, or rather shouts loudly “look at me!”, then this is one for you.

In truth it doesn’t go an awful lot further than the graphics and orange frame, at least not in a meaningful way in terms of performance – it’s more about making it a better package for the customer, adding some parts from the catalogue to make it more useful.  

We’re not going to ignore the often pointed out cynical point of view which says, “these parts should come as standard anyway, like they are on other bikes”. We get that and can easily point at the skid plate as an example of something which should probably be fitted as standard on an enduro bike costing as much as they do.

KTM will argue there’s more to it than that with that parts bin raid delivering a list of useful bolt-ons, things like a fan, map switch and the Supersprox Stealth (tougher steel teeth) rear sprocket.

KTM EXC Champions Edition additional parts:

• Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Graphics
• Orange Frame
• Frame Protection Set
• Grey ODI Lock-On Grips
• Orange Factory Racing Seat
• Map-Select Switch
• Orange Front Axle Puller
• Semi-Floating Front Brake Disc
• Supersprox Stealth Rear Sprocket
• Skid Plate
• Radiator Fan
• Michelin Enduro Tyres (in Europe)

For the record we also fitted lower footrests, an FMF exhaust system and Powercore 2.1 muffler which we have and need to put hours on for a tested review, and medium mousses inside the OEM Michelin Medium tyres.

Hard testing

A baking hot day, a bike with under 10 hours on it, a great venue and eight Sprint Tests to get stuck into was a good day on a bike.

One of the positives of the latest generation EXCs is having a bike more capable out the box, at least for our level of riding.

The easy suspension adjustment via clickers for compression and rebound, front and rear, means meaningful changes on the XACT WP suspension compared to the previous models which had limited range on the Xplor kit.

It’s still not perfect admittedly, and there are standard bikes on the market with better standard equipment suspension, but the EXC range is not the poor relation it used to be and if we can put this bike on the podium in Vets, it can’t be too bad.

WP suspension on the latest gen Austrian bikes is the shorter, stockier rear shock and closed cartridge forks. Having spent a bit of time on the 2025 GASGAS EC300GP model with its open cartridge forks, it was easily better on the KTM’s XACT 48mm closed cartridge forks.

Along with the new-gen shock, they make the bike more stable and capable to hit the bumps and holes without getting out of control. A feature of riding the EC300 was its tendency to try and throw you off the track if you start to push them too hard, or kick off a log like the one shown above. This 350F was more easily controlled and stuck to the line.

Balancing the stiffness of the suspension against feel, especially on a tricky and technical terrain we rode, was an interesting way of passing the time between tests too. Our default is to go to standard “sport” setting given by the manufacturer and try that before adjusting from that point only after some riding.

For once that didn’t quite work and felt too harsh – although worth noting the ground was baked like concrete in many parts of the course and finding feel to go faster on the choppy off-cambers was not easy.

We dropped the forks to the second ring in the clamps to lower the front a little for more feel, plus checked the sag was at standard (it was, 38mm) and came back a couple of clicks on compression.

Getting more used to the bike by the third of eight tests, but still not feeling it totally comfortably, we gave the rear shock a couple of turns on the preload adjuster and gave it more sag.

That did the trick, dropping the rear a little more to have more feel for a track which had a lot of standing-up riding, and not much sitting down.

From that point forward it was a case of forgetting about the bike set-up and getting on with trying to piece the track together better.

Final drive gearing of 14:46 as standard proved good for this test and in terms of the transmission and gearing this 350F is happy to stick in one or two gears all day long. Call it being lazy with the throttle if you want but the beauty of the 350 is having that all-round ability.

We tried the mapping, traction control and even the quick shifter but it was a day and conditions for standard mode to be perfectly honest. It was one of those rides where the quick shifter option actually felt like a negative – so many tricky, narrow lines through trees, choppy, off-cambers and a lot of moving around on the bike made it too easy to catch the gear lever with the end of the boot and change gear too easily when it wasn’t necessary.

Other points worth noting, especially when you’ve been riding a 2T more often than a 4T lately like us, include a heavier clutch lever pull on the weightier four-stroke, the narrowness of the bike without the expansion chamber sticking out and that touch more weight.

Most of all with a 4T you have engine inertia, an obvious thing, but it takes a minute to get used to after having spent a lot of two-stroke time just lately. If you tune in to using the throttle to roll on and off the torque it is an easy way of riding.

Brembo brakes on a floating front disc are also benchmark equipment it must be said and bring bite and feel, even on this hard-baked ground. With medium softness mousses fitted to the Michelin Medium Enduro tyres grip was at a minimum for everyone in some parts of this stone-hard test but we noticed the Michelin/Brembo combination helped with confidence on this bike test.

Retail prices:

250 EXC £10,599/11,369,00 EUR

300 EXC £10,799/11,819 EUR

300 XC-W 12,099.00 USD

250 EXC-F £11,099/12,479 EUR

350 EXC-F £11,299/13,219 EUR/13,149.00 USD

450 EXC-F £11,699/13,540 EUR

500 EXC-F £11,899/13,749 EUR/13,599.00 USD

Enduro21 verdict:

Is it worth the extra money? For some, yes, because they like the factory look and the more exclusive nature of a bike like this. It’s why KTM continue to push out special edition models every year.

You can look at the additional parts list, total it all up individually, and find you’d pay more than the retail price also if you did it all individually. The option is yours to take it or leave it.

There are undoubted problems with parts supply at the moment with the Austrian bikes at time of writing, so opting for the extra bits on a tried and tested 350F model could be a sound way of getting and riding a new bike right now and until the supply chain kicks back into gear – especially with the 0% finance options floating about.

But are there cheaper new bike options out there? Yes. Did we have a blast riding this bike and did it fulfil the billing of “ready to race”? Yes, and yes.

It did all that and the 350F remains the benchmark for a bike which welcomes you in and encourages you to just ride. The extra colours and graphics happen to make it look different to the rest of the bikes in the line if that’s your thing. The extra parts make small but real differences in the tests and though we can’t all afford this kind of money for a new bike, those who can enjoy the extras in life. Thi sis a KTM 350 EXC-F with a little ’extra’.

Photo Credit: Matthew Rudd + KTM | Arnau Puig