Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) On tight trails, shorter riders may wish for a lower seat height, but apart from that It's herd to fault the ATK. (Right) Apart from color, the rear fender and side panels are Identical to those of a KTM. The Cobra exhaust kIleps the noise level down. (Below left) The aluminum rear brake lever Is a work of art and, oh, yes - It also works great. (Below) WP's IBS Inverted cartridge fork handles the front s uspanslon chores. Stock spring rates are perfect for most riders. "We want there to be enough shops that any customer will have a place to get a bike, without the dealers cutting each other's throats," says Frank. "Righ t now we're examining which dealers we want to add, and we hope to eventually have about 700 ou tlets throughout the States." POUNDING THE PATRIO T Right off the bat, we should mention tha t the ATK is an expensive motorcycle, as it always has been. We tested the electric-start 6OSCCES, which goes for a hefty $7295, or $900 more than the man ua l-s tart ve rsion. For comparison, a Honda XR600 costs $4299, and Kawasaki's KLX650R has a $4899 retail price. "Our target customer is prob ably a little olde r than average," say s Frank. " We don 't sell too man y bikes to teenagers. ATK buyers know wha t they want, and they're willing to pay for it. Somebody who wants an XR probably wouldn't want an ATK." The electric-start (ES) 605 is not only mo re expensive, but also weighs 15 pounds more than its manual-starting counterpart. Is worth it? That 's probably best left for the individual to decide. We also got the chance to ride a manualstart ATK, and found it to be one of the easiest-starting four -strokes we 've ridden. Almost without fail, a single kick would have the big 605 purring, despite the fact that the lever is mounted on the left side. We were even able to easily start it while sitting on the bike, kicking with our left leg. On the other hand, it sure is nice to simply jab a bu tton with your thumb, and hear the ATK quickly snap to atte ntion.. It should be mentioned that during our testing, a ground wire came loose on the .ES, leaving us wi th no electric-start cap ability. We we re forced to use the kickstart lever, and found the ES much harder to kick to lif e than the Cc. According to ATK, that's because the ES was brand-new, while th e manual-start 605 had several hours on it. Appa rently, the Rotax motor becomes ea sier to start as it is broken in. At a claimed 275 pounds dry, th e ES is not a lig ht motorcycle by any mea ns, tho ugh the XR and KLX are in the same range. Some rid ers ma y feel th at trimming the weig ht to 260 pounds would be wort h losing the electric-start capability, while others (like chronic brake-draggers and stallers) w on't mind liv ing with the extra tonnage of a battery and starter. You make the call. The weight of the 605 is probably our biggest co mplaint, and the tall seat height only serves to magni fy the problem. Most of our testers have long legs, so we were less concerned with being able to reach the ground than with the high center of gra vity . Once the ATK starts to tip over, it's hard to change its mind, especially for shorter riders. If it sounds like we're sniveling too much, don't worry. Apart from weight an d se at hei g h t, we really have no ma jor complaints w it h the 605CCES. The most impressive aspect of the bike is the motor (though it's probably largely re spons ible for the wei ght) . The Rota x offers plenty of power across a broad range and, like most thumpers, it's a very tractable type of power. The Cobra silencer wo rks, emitting a .very quiet exha us t no te that is in no way offensive. We haven 't yet tried ATK's d ual sport bike, bu t it's hard to imagi ne it being any q uie ter than the CCE S. With the Cobra, the ATK is perfectly suited to trail-riding, as it makes for an easy-to-use p owerba nd that still has plen ty of punch. The power is also very well suited for enduros or tight hare scrambles, where hooking up and maintaining fo rw a rd motion are more important than eye-watering top end. We applaud ATK for selling a compeli- liv e four-stroke wit h a qu iet exha us t silencer. However, for those who want to race Baja, or perhaps even motocross, we strongly recommend trying a Supertrapp silencer. We tried an older-mod el ATK that was fitted with a 'trapp, and despite the fact that it was worn o ut and "only" 56Occ, the bike was a veri table rocket! No, it didn't lug down nearly as well as the Cobra-equ ipped bike, but we were hard-pressed to find a hill it wouldn't climb . As could be expected, however, decibel level was much too high for use on public lands. Finally, before moving on to other areas of the bike, we ha ve to wonder why the bike is called a 605, when it's displacement is 59&c. Another of the ATK's strong points is its suspension, which is great for a fourstroke, or any bike for that matter. The 605 tracks well, soaks up rocks without deflecting, an d even han dles whoops and jump landings fairly well. Our theory is that the ATK's weight may actually benefit it in this department, as the differen ce between sprung and unsprung weight lets the suspension work while

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