http://www.adbmag.com.au SEPTEMBER 2019 | 59
The team
manager
GLENN KEARNEY
“Milner’s KTM 350EXC-F is a work of art,
Mick Carusi does a tremendous job in
preparing Milner’s 350 to the highest
standard. The stock 350 is a great base
to start with and Daniel knew exactly
what he wanted from the bike.
“Mick, with the help of our head
engine technician Danny Apro, were able
to get some more horsepower out of the
motor and, more importantly, move the
power and get more torque exactly
where Daniel rides the bike.
“Anthony Giles from Choice
Suspension has worked hard with Daniel
to get the WP Cone Valve fork and the
WP Trax shock tuned to the point where
Milner can put the bike exactly where he
wants at any speed.
“The standard KTM is so strong and
reliable that all we do is refine a great
package to personalise it for Daniel.
Basically, we throw the KTM Powerparts
catalogue at it, which adds extra
protection, performance and reliability
as well as looking awesome.
“The season has started well, with
Daniel winning the opening rounds of
the AORC and he looks every bit as
fast, if not faster, than he did last year
on the 500EXC-F.”
Milner runs the brake pedal high, Braico drags hisMilner has the pedal set so high that I
couldn’t even use it. I am a brake
dragger so I run mine lower than most
people but Milner’s pedal is above the
footpeg so I don’t know how he rides it
like that.
With the pedal lowered, I could go
out and have a dig at the track. Right
away I felt comfortable, the levers were
a little lower than I’m used to but,
overall, the riding position was quite
neutral and the way the power is
delivered gives you plenty of confidence
to push hard.
The motor is a very nice package. It
comes on smooth and strong and is
torquey enough that you can short shift
through the gears. I found myself riding
it more like a bigger-bore bike and using
third gear a lot. It is more than happy to
handle that but if you decide that you
want to get aggressive and rev it like an
MX bike while burying it in a sand
berm, it is happy to do that too.
The power delivery, even when
revving it and being aggressive, is still
very rider friendly. The bike won’t rip
out of your hands but you can be sure
that it is getting the power to the ground
and that you are getting from corner to
corner as fast as possible.
It has a very broad power spread too.
Solid bottom-end through to the
mid-range and then it just keeps on
pulling up through the gears. This is
great news for Milner as some of theAORC tracks are quite high speed and I
have no doubt the 350 can hold its own
against the bigger bikes.
It’s interesting to note that while this
is a full-blown race engine, even a
trailrider or an old fart like my old man
would very much enjoy the power it
produces. And if Dan, for whatever
reason, needs a bit of a change to the
power to suit a different track or terrain,
the Vortex allows the guys to play
around with the power and customize
the delivery to whatever he wants.RIDING ON A CLOUD
When I rode Milner’s AORC-winning
450EXC-F a few years back, the team
was still running the drool-worthy
factory WP 52mm Cone Valve fork.
Those things were extremely nice to
ride on. Fast forward to this year and,
unfortunately, KTM Australia no longer
uses them. They are now using the WP
48mm Cone Valve fork which is
available to the public.
They look awesome too, with a black
and red finish, and they just scream
factory. The shock is the WP Trax unit
which also has a black and red colour
scheme. So, the suspension looks cool,
but does it actually work that well?
Short answer? Hell, yes. Milner’s
setup was damn near spot on for
what I wanted. I know that the KTM
team has been doing a ton of testing
with suspension over the years andVortex ignition gives team options to suit terrainOdi Podium handlebar and soft handgripsFACTORY TEST I KTM 350EXC-F