2023 TM EN 300 Dirt Bike Full Review - Stud or Dud?

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It's time for the full review of the TM EN 300 ES FI 2T.... yep that is a mouthful. Lots of good stuff here, but could it ever really be a KTM killer? I doubt it. It's a good bike, but doesn't really light my fire in a substantial way.

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[DirtBikeChannel]

So sorry I forgot to talk about engine vibration. Epic fail! So here we go: This is NOT a counter balanced motor in the same way as KTM/Husky/GasGas. It vibrates more. It feels like the "counter balanced" Sherco and Beta, which is to say it MIGHT vibrate a little less than the 2016 and older KTM bikes, but its nowhere near as smooth as the counter balanced Austrian brand. It's not a reason to NOT buy the bike, but just know it's gonna vibrate a fair amount more than a 2017 or newer KTM.

[johnbajada]

If you were to ride this bike in the manner it was probably designed for, fast solid single cut or deep sand you’d have a very different take on it, the Tm isn’t build for hard enduro, the harder and faster you can push it the better it gets. Having owned ktms, huskys, betas, ridden shercos, I’d never buy any other bike again except for a TM. Has the best suspension on the market, amazing frame, a motor every other brand would die for, billet wheels standard, excellent brakes and clutch, I’ll admit the air filter change is a pain, but no worse than a yz250, yea the clutch is a tad heavy, and the pv issues is a pain in the arse till you fit the arming switch. Has the best balance shaft in the 2t class hands down.

[kelvynbettridge]

Every enduro guy worth his salt knows to install a brake snake to avoid a DNF

[ktm-bcdw]

It’s a professional bike out of the box. Like their go kart engines hand made not for slower riders

[ogmKrl]

Nice review...after 7 KTM, 2 Betas, this is my perfect bike, love it go and get one.

[cavanon]

Nice review! Thank you Kyle. Just some few points to mention, TM Racing comparing with other brands is like comparing a Ferrari with a Volkswagen. They produce 3000 bikes while KTM per year, most of the bike is hand made with 90% of the parts coming from Italy and the rest from Taiwan and Japan. EnduroGP racers who use TM are mostly stock because these bikes are ready to race while Josep Garcia KTM or GasGas from Andrea Verona both have Factory custom race machines. KTM group build their bikes ready to ride by the normal end-user and no other brand does this job better than them. The important thing in the end of the day is to just enjoy life riding them.

[cw]

Always hated mixing fuel, glad for the oil pumps today.

[grantlandis]

I have a 2022 carb 300EN (no oil injection). I love it. I run 50% 110 race fuel/50% pump gas. 100% pump gas did not work well for me. The bike is a tractor, if I'm on the throttle it just doesn't stall. It feels like it has three speeds. Low speed, med, and high. Jumping up a speed has a big hit. The carb seems to be set well. I love this bike and ride it over my 2022 KTM 300 xcw. The sound is really cool, way different than the KTM. I think Kyle is spot on, the forks felt brutal hard for me (250lbs). I put everything full soft and its decent but the KTM is way softer. Ill get springs some day. The power feels crazy to me, but I'm a newer weekend rider. I love the kickstand, and I love the e start and kick start. The Nissin rear brake feels fine to me. The front brakes are awesome. The headlight is really nice, the cyclops look is fine for me. KTM wins on air filter access. I get my parts from cross shop USA in California. They take a week to ship, but they have alot of parts. The kill switch is kinda weird, you don't use your thumb. It's been super reliable for me, I'd buy another one.

[rhinogames]

My sons 07 KTM battery lost a cell and wouldn’t hold a charge while on a trip. Was great that he had a kick start he was able to ride with us the rest of the time. He would have had been stuck with the truck for the next couple days. He would love it if we won and we could upgrade his bike. Great review on the bike. I always enjoy your info.

[slidewide]

You should try a Rieju MR300 Kyle! Older tech but nicely equipped. I really like mine.

[BSm]

I think people get unrealistic expectations of what a bike should be. At the end of the day I'd be happier than a clam to get a new bike! Yeah the bike isn't perfect, but if a bike like this came up and you were in the market it would definitely be worth it!

[bridez]

Mine was sadly a lemon; 4 top ends and a cylinder refinish in under 60 hours… piston kept sticking. Weirdly wouldn’t e-start pointing uphill. A failed coil had me leave it in a canyon overnight. Nicely the dealer sent me parts off his own bike to get it out.
Sold it back to the dealer. Looking back I woulda tried switching from a smart carb back to stock and try different premix, but it was too frustrating. Strong engine when it worked. Racey chasis. Closer to an XC than xcw.

[matterwin]

Thank you for your honest review. I owned a '22 en300 2t fi and was extremely disappointed by all the "details" that TM just overlooked. Mine came with a faulty fuel tank (leaked gas from the filler area)", Changing the air filter is real pain in the neck, the plastics that wrap around the rear of the tank is secured with a zip tie from the dealer, changing the oil is another pain in the neck, the clutch chatters really bad when lugging up a steep hill, the hand guards are basically mountain bike grade and last but definitely not least is that stupid power valve issue. I helped the same dealer Kyle went to realize that an arming switch could be cobbled together by buying parts from amazon after he convinced me that the PV issue could be resolved by installing a different map. Wrong . That really hurt my feeling after spending way too much for an "exotic" dirt bike :) I finally swallowed my pride and sold the bike for a big loss but thats ok because I finally rid myself of the illusion that this was a good bike and I should just live with all of it's short comings. I've never been a KTM fan boy, quite the opposite as a matter of fact but I drank the cool aid and purchased a '23 KTM 350xc and have never looked back. All the details seem to have been sorted out by the KTM folks. I'm extremely happy with my new bike after seeing the errors of my ways. 👍

[dalepellerin]

I've never been a fan boy of any brand but damn the Italian bikes are good looking.

[jonruger]

I’ve always wanted to try one the frame is like the older Hondas that I always loved. I’d send the suspension off to get it revalved for what you want to do and it would be perfect I’d imagine.

[BrentSullivan-vi]

Great review. You say that suspension is too hard. I have heard you in the past on how happy you were with the gas gas suspension which was really soft and I have ridden one, but where I live, the gas gas suspension couldn't get any worse, soggy soft and terrible. Sand whoops and flat open desert they just couldn't hold up. So it is always interesting for a manufacturer to set a standard setup for everyone. All bikes I have owned have always been too soft, however when I rode in the mountains, it was perfect. Which is unfortunate. Just means we always need more than one bike! Would be great if you revisited the beta 390 again. I'll keep watching.

[Dashriprock]

If I'm not mistaken the EXC line of KTMs have the auto retracting kickstand. Sign for the Husky. I believe it's required for Road registration in Europe

[kelvynbettridge]

So many of. the niggling issues are hangovers from 20 years ago. It helps you appreciate the constant small iterations that take place with brands like KTM.

[ShawnBlais]

People don't think the oil pump will fail "all the time" it's just one more part that _can_ fail. Which by definition is less reliable, and the downside to it failing are huge. Good idea to replace the pump with each top end, but an extra $100 each time is a bit of a bummer.

[unmybwj]

Bro you need to learn how to adjust that suspension. If the forks are still too stiff then get lighter springs. Send that suspension out to get done and it will make night and day difference