Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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Xer nicely. Coming out of the turn the KTM's explosive power would rocket the bike forward without too much fishtailing. In the rough stuff however, the bike felt very harsh and tiring. The rear shocks were transmilling the shock of hitting the whoops through the bike clear up 10 the handlebars. With the throttle wired to the stops the bike would stay straight and never displayed any tendency to go into a tank slapper but still the effect on the rider was exhausting. Bush explained that the shocks were brand new with zero hours of time on them and that probably the seal drag was still quite high and would get beller. We ran several acceleration tests against a new Honda CR 250 and .a Yamaha YZ 250 and the tltree bikes seemed very close in overa II power bu t with the KTM gelling perhaps a slight edge on the top end. Mid range was a different story though as the bike would not drive crisply from turns if _ the selected gear was a notch too high. Fortunately the KTM clutch proved very strong and a quick fan of tlte lever would launch the motorcycle down the track in shon notice. When the engine was kept in the proper rpm range it felt more like an Open class bike than a 250cc. Or more like a I25cc with a hormone problem. The engine rpm builds 50 quickly when on the powerband one might mistake it for a smaller sized motor but the speed at which the scenery nies past tells you different Iy. With the KTM's great speed a good set of brakes is needed to slow for the next turn and the Austrian engineers have provided them. Many bikes have good front stoppers and the KTM is as fine as any, but the back brake is where this bike really shines. Control is light and positive witl) good feedback and we never experienced any challer or untimely lockups, The rider could dive very deep into turns before hilling the brakes' and still have complete control. Even in panic type stops the brakes always worked well. After appraising the individual parts we decided to see how they would work under real race conditions and entered a Junior class moto. The rider's instructions were to compare the bike 10 those around him and judge strengths and weaknesses comparative to the other bikes on the track, After just a few laps it became clear that the bike was very competitive, being able to turn inside every other bike on nat tight turns. Corners with a single line - usually a berm - ~ere a problem though as Suzukis and Hondas were able to get a much beller drive coming out of the tufn. Halfway down the next straight however, the KTM would be charging past because of its' superior lOp. end speed. The KTM passed severaJ bikes going into tight turns by waiting to brake until tbe last second and then stuffing the bike inside. The post race evaluation nOled that the rear shocks were beginning to work much beller but were still very harsh even when landing off some large stadium-type jumps. Another small complaint was that the fins on the right side of the engine stuck out 50 far they hit the rider's leg as he slid forward for tight turns, and broke his concentration. The rider praised the light weight and almost nex-free front end and wished that there was more time to ride the bike. In retrospect we feel that the folks at Kronrief and Trunkenpolz Motor Fahrzeughau KG have done their homework and have produced a bike which is capable of competing in stock form and winning. The bike's strengths far outway its weaknesses and we feel the KTM must be added to the list of MX bikes that will be seen in • a lot of winner's circles this year. II