Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127364
GBEHIND THE SCENES ArK factory eN By Donn Maeda earl y 10 years ago, an Aus tria n na med Hor st Leitner packed his bags and headed for an unfami lia r co untry to purs ue that " American Dream " of someday livin g a rich and prosperous life. Armed wit h a slew of inno vative ideas, Leimer traveled to America with plans of entering the Ameri can mo torcycle industry. In 1983, Leimer team ed with Ca lifornian Dall as Baker to produce th e first prototype ATK motorcycle. The early ATK 604 four- str oke attracted mu ch a uen rio n with i t's uniqu e chassis design, which included a single side-mo unted shock, linkage-less rear suspension , and chain torqu e eliminator. . The following year , ATK produced 200 units and they were sold to diehard thumper fanatics and those wh o desir ed to be a bit different, An ATK a llo wed a rid er to make a statement abo u t himself - to be or iginal and stand o ut from the other 20 g uys on the trail or start ing gate. By 1987, production had decrea sed to o n ly 25 un its. At that tim e ATK began to receive funding from Ken Wilkes, owner of Ken pak In corporated , a firm that manufactures medical packaging machinery. Wilk es had purchased hi s fir st ATK in 1985 and soo n becam e one of the com pa ny 's biggest enth usiasts. " I began to invest in ATK because I felt that th ey had a really good product," sa id Wilkes, " I wanted to make sure that the com pany stayed in business and continued to produce." Wilkes played a key part in th e int rod uc tio n of the new ATK twostro ke line, which lik e the four-stroke Austrian-m ad e Ro ta x featured eng ines. Wilkes provided the necessary fu nding to make the develo pmen t Owner Ken Wilk es (ri ght) an d Genera l Vice-President J ack Ro ten keep th ings running smoothly at the ATK factory in the City of Commerce, California. 28 An American dream Eve r y ATK motorcycl e is hand assembled including the 604cc four' strokes shown above. The process takes two to three hours to complete. and production possible. As he continued to invest, Wilkes began to gain contro l of ATK. · Later that year, Leimer resigned from ATK to form AMP Research, based in Laguna Beach ,' California. " Ken and I had som e differences of o p in io ns ," said Leitner." I am not a 'co rpora te' guy , and my int erest lies in th e engineering of a motorcycle." Wilkes has brought many cha nges 10 ATK , n ew mod el s h av e been released, dealerships have increased, and th e factory ha s mov ed from Laguna Be ch to the City of Coma merce, closer to th e heart of Los Angeles. "Join the American Revolution " becam e th e new advertising slogan, em phas izing patriotism and American quali ty. Eight people man the production line at th e new facility, which expects to produce nearly 1800 units this year. "In 1987, only 25 motorcycles were made, " said Wilkes. " We now have a full line of eight basic motorcycles that range from motocross to dual sport, " AT K current ly offers motocross, cross co untry, desert, and dual sport mo torcycl:s in both two an d four-stroke versrons. An ATK begins with the Austrianmade Ro tax motor, lo ng known for its quality and reliability. While th e four -stroke motors ar e left basically stoc k, each two-stroke motor is com pletel y disassembled and modified to su i t its specific a p p lica tio n. The cylinder head is modified , the cylinder ported, and a specially tuned exhaust system is added to each motor. " Wh ile d ifferent models may use th e sam e basic mot or," says Wilkes , "each mo tor is tuned di££erentl y. Thusl y, th e powerb and of a motocross model wou ld be rad ically different tha n that of the cross cou ntry version." T he mo tor then reaches the production lin e, where wor kers hand assem bl e th e rest .of the mo torcycl e. Althou gh o ne cou ld pi ck out many various ' for eign parts: an Austrian