Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

th e fork sag to nearly mid-stroke, causing the harsh ride over rocks and small bumps. KTM offers heavier fork springs ' which should smooth o ut th e for k ac tion. The rear sus pe ns io n, on th e other hand, is dia led in much better th an th e front. You can hold the throttle wide ope n over the gnarliest terr ain and not worry abo ut th e back end swa pping o u t o r kicking badl y. In stead , you can co ncen tra te on other things li ke keep ing an eye on your route shee t a nd tim ekeeping eq ui pm ent. Both the for k and sh oc k requ ire a lo ng break-in p eriod, accordi ng to KTM . 'Overall stra ig h t-li ne stability is' first-rate, even when jam ming over big rolling wh oo p-d e-docs, so co mmonly found in sandy terrain. Plus, both th e fork and shock work well The overall package weighs a claimed 224.8 lb. dry. Trailin' We first rode the E/Xe 'a t the Tecate 250K Enduro in Baja .California, Mexico, and after completing the 145 miles of muscle-cramping, tight, twisty a nd rocky trails, we were nothing less than impressed. Its potent motor left us in aw e. Not only does the 248cc two- stroke powerplant turn out exceptional low-end horsepower, it also produces strong pu lling power from midrange on up. The E/Xe has plenty of power throughout the powerband and delivers it in a smooth and predictable manner. On tight and twisty trai ls, second and third gears are usually all that's needed. Between thes e two gears, the KTM will cover p lenty of ground slowly or quickly. The motor has so much bottom end th at yo u ca n ' almost ride it like a four-stroke by letting it chug its way ' in and out of the turns. You don 't need to keep the motor revving all th e time by fanning the clutch and keeping th e rear tire spinning like you do riding a motocrosser. But if that's yo ur style of riding, the KTM will handle it. It can be either ch ugged or revved. When th e trails open up th e EI XC really flies . It's a very fast motorcycle wh en you get th e cha nce to open up the thrott le a nd you will probably never hav e to gear it hi gher for most en d u r es. At the other' extreme, we found first gear to be extreme ly low and only useful for th os e trials-like , leg-paddling sections. Throttle resp onse is cris p y clean and th e motor seems to be very reliable. At th e Tecate Enduro, all but th first tank of gasoline is supplied by th e host motorcycle club, and the gas they were forced to use was low-grade Mex ican Pemex gasoline, pre-mixed with Maxima oil. Despite the low-octane gas, our KTM ran like a charm. It didn't ping or suffer any of the side -effects of th e low -grade gasoline. As far as gas mileage, th e KTM went prett y far on th e stock 2.6gallon fuel tank. Just as th e fir st ga s stop at th e T ecate Enduro came into view a t exac tly 46 mil es, our KTM ro lled to a sto p with a dr y tank. Not bad. Not o nly did th e motor survive th e low -octane.fuel situa tion at T ecate , but it also endured th e unusually dusty cond itions there. Despi te th e air filt er be coming co m p lete ly clogged with dirt, which made the motorcycle run ri ch er, in tum clogging uhe spark arrester, th e E/ X e keptmotoring along with authority. It did, however, lo se . some of its throttle response off the bottom of the rpm range. Nonetheless, it pulled through with flying color s. Because of the tr actor-pull in g engine, yo u can almost ignore th e clutch. But if you do find yourself in th ose slow-go ing situa tio ns whe re th e clutch is a must - su ch as when you 're stuck on the side of a rocky hill or in th e mud - th e clutch seems to be stro ng enough to get th e job done. We did use th e clutch a lot a t T ecate and in another enduro , and we never saw any signs of it o verheating or fading. The clut ch lever has a light pull for o ne- or two-fin ger operation. The five-speed gearbox worked well. It shifts smooth ly and easily, although we did find a n occasiona l fal se neu tr al , a nd it would also occasi onally produce a noticeabl e " clunk" wh en sh ifting under a load , a nd wi thou t the aid of th e clutch . All in a ll, we had no real complai n ts about th e transmission. The sus pe nsion was ca pable of handling anything th e trails co u ld di sh out, but the fork co uld' ve used some help. Up front, o ur KTM felt a little harsh over rocks a nd th e tire would reg u larly contact the fender near the bottom of its stroke. T he fork springs are too soft, which let best out-of-the-crate off-road bikes we've ever ridden, it's in the same price category as its main Japanesem ade co m p e ti to rs, th e Yamaha YZ250WR a nd th e Suzuki RMX250. And not only is it priced rig h t, yo u don ' t need any aftermarket add -ons to mak e it com pe titi ve off th e showroom floor (well, hand g ua rds would be ni ce). You also might want to consi der th at KTM will be offering a fai rly exte nsi ve contingency program for KTM riders a t many selected events, su ch as Nati onal hare a nd hounds, end uros, hare scra mbles an d ' th e Casey Folks' Best in T he Desert Series" Overall , the KTM E/Xe is a well ro u nded pa ckage for both th e seri ous and casual off-road motorcycli st. It handles well , has good sus pe nsion, in fast- and slow-speed situations. Although the front en d feels a little heavy, th e KTM steers well through corners. You can flick it from turn to turn with ease and th e Metzeler front tire sticks well to a variety of terrain. Slowing down for turns is simp le. Both th e front and rear brakes are very strong and progressive. Those wh o like to drag th e rear stopper through th e tu rns sh ould kn ow that it will survive th e beating. On th e extremely twi sty trails at the T ecat e End uro, where the rear brake was used constant ly, we expe rienced no hint of fading or losing stop p ing power. The KTM E/Xe isn't exac tly a light motorcycle, bu t" it' s not what you would call a porker, either. It 's a well-bal anced machine th at won 't wear th e rid er down prematurely. Much of this also has to do with its com forta ble layo u t. The seat is firm , th e Arrow handlebars a re easy to reac h, th e Magura levers fit like a glove, the handl ebar grips do th e job, a nd th e overa ll feel is slim a nd narro w. It is a comforta ble motorcycle. As fa r as re lia b il ity goes , we covered a p p ro xim a tely 250 miles worth of good , hard enduro trails o n the E/Xe a nd the o nly thing that came loose or broke was th e kicksta nd (wha t else is new on an end uro bike?), which fell o ff aft er we'd tallied 120 mil es. Everything else stayed intact; all we did was lube th e cha in ' a couple of times a nd clean the air filt er o nce and th e KTM rim grea t. The on ly modification we. made was th e in stall ation of a set of a ft er mar ke t Bark Bu st er s h and guards . It co uld use a new rear tir e now , though. And one last bonus - the easyto-use odo meter wa s spot o n at both end uros th at we rode th e KTM . th e mot or is fantastic, a nd it seems to be very reliable. Thank you, Mr. Gl over a nd Mr. Wicksell. A job well done. • 250 miles later If you are in the market Iora new . off-road m otorcycl e, yo u sho u ld defini tely consider the KTM 250 EI Xc. Not o nly is it o ne of, if not th e

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