We had a chance to briefly go over Dante Oliveira’s, the 3x and defending National Grand Prix Champion, factory KTM 450 XC-F that he’ll be running in the NGPC Series as well as the AMA West Hare Scrambles Championship. In speaking with mechanic Bobby Dawson, testing the new machine was fairly smooth, but the biggest hurdle they and a lot of other teams are facing right now is a lack of parts. Several companies don’t have all of the parts designed for the new bike just yet, and some of the factory parts are on the lean side as well. Check out what makes this bike so special and all of the little intricacies that go into a factory prepped machine.
The team has been on FMF for an eternity, and continue the longtime partnership for 2023.Dante is running a solid top triple clamp with no split through the center.The motor internals are said to be very stock according to mechanic Bobby D. KTM does all of their ECU tuning in-house which, in conjuction with different FMF exhuasts, makes up a lot of the engine character on the bike.
Dante runs the WP XACT Pro components front and rear.
Dante gets the factory Brembo rear caliper.They’re running a fan to keep things cool – atleast for Round 1 in the mud.
The oil sight glass is mostly protected from some plastic to avoid breaking from a rock or roost.It’s all in the details.
This Zip-Ty Racing tank breather is clean and easier to work with than the standard IMS one.The team now uses a Hunt Racing Products Rear Disc Guard rather than the Zip-Ty product used for the last several years.IMS handles the fueling duties for the team.
Another detail that didn’t go unnoticed.
This Nihilo Concepts starter button is in place as a spare if anything were to happen to the bar mounted button.No sight glass on this master cylinder.The screen helps keep bushes and rocks out of the louvers.The modified pedal tip paired with a brake snake is both function and fashion.Wire-tied spokes is a tried-and-true precaution factories use to keep broken spokes from causing more damage.A 14T up front.A 51T out back. The larger sprockets front and back space out the gears more and can help chassis feel when it gets rough. A TM Designworks Slide-N-Guide Kit is coming soon, but the team doesn’t have those parts in stock yet.This WP Holeshot Device is a pretty cool piece used by all of KTM.Dunlop MX33’s are pretty standard front and rear for Dante.A stock caliper protected by a KTM Power Parts Front Disc Guard.The team no longer uses an Acerbis Skid Plate, instead opting for the Power Parts option instead. Add in the team using KTM Handguards and there is almost no Acerbis presence on the new bikes.A thing of beauty.
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