Factory Bike Friday: Mike Lafferty’s KTM 350 XC-F
Mechanic: Cody Richelderfer
Mike Lafferty announced his retirement over the off-season and after several years on a Husaberg, he will be back with KTM for his final season. For the opening round of the 2014 Kenda AMA National Enduro Series, Lafferty chose to ride KTM’s 350 XC-F, and we checked in with Lafferty’s mechanic, Cody Richelderfer, to get the details.
It’s widely known that Lafferty is tough on rear brakes, and according to Richelderfer, there are a few little things that Mike likes to do to head off brake problems before they strike.
First of all, Lafferty uses an older rear brake caliper, one off of a 2013 model, which has a larger piston that will apply less pressure on the pads than the smaller piston on the stock unit. The caliper also has a quick release pin for fast brake pad changes between checks.
Mike likes to run his rear brake pedal as low as it will go so that he doesn’t accidentally ride the brake, and he even goes so far as to take the tip off the end of the pedal and mount it underneath the pedal instead of on top of it to give him a little bit more room. He also runs two return springs on the pedal.
The rear rotor is a solid Galfer “mud” model. The front rotor is a non-floating Galfer model.
The wheels are Excel A60 with oversized steel spokes.
The clutch master cylinder is a “hard-to-find” older Brembo that has a 9.5mm piston instead of a 10mm piston, which allows for a little bit easier pull.
The triple clamps are supplied by XTrig, and they are 20mm offset instead of the stock 22mm offset, which helps in the tight stuff. Mike also likes rubber-mounted bars.
A WP tech comes to the races to help the team set up their suspension and Richelderfer says that since Lafferty is a big guy he likes his suspension to be on the stiff side, and he likes it to ride relatively high in the front and low in the rear.
All of the KTM factory Enduro team bikes run an add-on radiator fan with a thermostat switch welded into the radiator.
In addition, the radiators are 10mm wider than stock to help with over-heating, plus they also run a catch bottle for overflow coolant. The radiator louvers are off an older model and they’re a little bit longer than stock to protect the bottom of the radiators. The radiator neck is also reinforced.
The exhaust system is an FMF and the team goes to California to test with FMF, so these units are specifically make for the KTM team. Lafferty was running more of a straight header for the South Carolina race, rather than the “low boy” header.
The clutch is stock with a Rekluse clutch basket.
As far as the engine goes, KTM’s Factory Services does the engine work and Lafferty’s bike has a different throttle body that is 2mm small than stock, which gives a higher velocity and more bottom end, according to Richelderfer.
Mike also prefers a “faster” cam in the throttle assembly.
The sprockets are Renthal with an RK chain.
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