Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Cycle News 1995 06 14

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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pulled over. They'd just as soon s lap a license pla te on th eir RMX, KDX or E/XCs and rid e them to and from their fa vori te riding spots if they could. Oh well. Unfortuna te ly , to accommodate b oth sides, th e ma nufacturers h a ve been d esign ing dua l sport bikes with both ty p es of rider in m in d . Bu t w hat has ultimately hap p ened is in s t ea d o f p leas ing ev eryone, th ey' ve en ded up pleasing no one, at lea st no t comple te ly . Of the two sides, however , the people wanting more street-oriented d ua l sport b ikes have been getting their way, as they have a wid e v a r ie ty of, in my opinion, marginally dirtworthy d ual sport bikes to choose from, unlike tho se who want honest-to-good n e s s, barely s treet- legal d irt bikes. But even those who prefer p a v em ent ad mi t wa nting dual sport bikes with bet ter off-road capa bilities. Luckily, the off-rea ders' screams for se rious dual sp or t b ikes were finally heard, in Aus tria, and, as a result, about this tim e last year KTM introd uce d two ve ry dirt-competent dual s port bikes, the LC4 400 and 620 R/ XCs, which are derived from the com pany's strict ly offroa d and very capa ble LC4 E/ XC fourstrok e mod els. Both R/ XCs a re as cl os e to bein g barely stree t legal as we have ever see n, at least in this country, or should we say in most of this country . You see, Californians we re deprived of the all-new KTM dual spo rt bikes due to the fact that neither m achine co uld p ass Ca lifornia' s extremely tigh t EPA standards. As a result, the R / XCs were available in every s ta te exce p t Ca lifo rnia . Bu t that has all cha nged, as KTM has risen to the task of meeting all of the Golden State's no-tolerance emission standards w ith its new '95 models. "Basically there are two main differences between California's stan dards and those of the rest of th e co u ntry, whose standards are al ready to ugh to ' meet," said M ike Rosso, p residen t of KTM America. "While the othe r states require five grams of hydrocarbon per kilometer, Ca lifornia a llows only one gram, plus California req uires an evapora tive re co ve ry system ." Basically, it was those fou r pesky grams that kept the R/XCs from being sold on Ca lifornia soi l. But now, thanks to an all-new, American-ma de carbu re tor, the R/XCs can be legally sold in California. Even if you don't live in California, you should still b e in te rested in t hese m o d e ls , because, w hile KTM still offers the 49sta te R/XCs, don' t be too surprised if the California, or 50-sta te R/ XCs replace a ll of th e 49-s t a te KTMs in th e near fu tu re. The main difference between the two versions c the 49-sta te models and th e 50 -sta te mo dels - is t he carbureto r . Wh ile the 49-sta te mo dels use Dell'Orto mixers, the 50-sta te models use - no, no t a Mikuni or a Kei hin - but flat- s li d e Q u ickSilver II carburetors, w hich are made in App le Valley, Cali fornia. Evidently , the Dell'Ortos cou ldn' t be jette d lean enough to pass California' s emissions test w ithout los in g d riva bility. The QuickSilver II carbs are built by the sa me company that ma de Lectron carbs many years ago and , like the Lectrons, Both 1995 400 and 620 RlXC California models offer counterbalancers and a clutch-cushiondr ive systems, neither of which are found on the '95 49-state models. While riding on the trails, we usually removed the mirrors, which explains their absence in these photos. the Quickfiilvers have no pilot jet, nozzle or main jet, ins tead using a needlemetering system to balance the fuel! air m ixture. Sin ce th er e are n o jet s, t he Qu ickSil ver carb is d es igned to autom aticall y com pensa te for altitu de cha nges. Anothe r d ifference be tween th e 50sta te mo dels and the 49-state is that the California models come wi th vibrationreduci ng counterbalancers, while the 49sta te models do not. Up until now , KTMs have been one of the few manu facturers left that do not use any ki nd of clutch-cushion sys tem to help red uce shock to the entire drive (trans mission) system w hen you open and close th e throttl e while riding on pavement. Ins tead, KTM has been relying on a rea r-w heel-cu shion syste m. However, the 50-state R/ XCs now come with a rear- wheel and a clu tch-cushion system , u nl ik e th e 49-state models which still rely solely on the rear-wheelcush sys tem . The R/XCs we rode came with nickel -pla te d exha ust-pipe headers, but many will come with traditional black pipes. "It depends on inventory as to which bike gets which pipes ," says KTM. This is prett y m uch it as far as the differences between the 1995 49- and 50state model R/ XCs. O therwise, they still come with the same single-cylinder, sohc, four-valve, liquid -cooled motors as b efore (except for the counterbal ancers on the California bikes), as well as chrome-moly frames; quality internal Bleed System WP suspension compon ents; Brembo d is c bra k es; DOTstamped knobby Pi relli tires; a -ring chai ns; and 3.0-gallon plastic gas ta nks. O bviously, n oise is a big concern these days and keeping the R/XCs within the acce p ta b le lim its are Stea lth silencers fi tte d w it h U.S. Fores try Servi ce-a p p roved Supertrapp s park arresto rs . Th e s ilencer inte rnals an: mad e up of a se ries of baffles , which m ea n it n e v e r h a s to be repac ke d. There's also a noise-reducing can ister in the exhau st pip e where it crosses over behin d the rear shock, and it's packed with steel wool. On ce again, the R/XCs incorporate a cen terstand just like they d id last year. We like this d esign because it keeps the rear w heel off th e ground and makes tra ilsid e flat-tire rep airs that much easi- er to perform, as long as the ground is flat and level. KTM invited us to thei r offices in San Diego to show off th eir new 400 and 620 Californi a R/ XCs, and after a short technical briefing, KTM 's Scot Ha rden, a longti me ve tera n of th e off-road racing sce ne , led us on a 160-mi le ride in the mountains and canyons so utheast of EI Ca jon. A fte rward , H arden was kind enough to let us hang on to one of th e 400s for further evalu ation . "Go ahead and hammer it," he said. We have since com piled many miles on the "lit tle" 400. Mos tly off-roa d miles, of course . My first e ncou nter with t he 400 wasn't exactly a positive one, tho ugh, as it was reluctant to start. After a couple of minutes, I was gasping for air and we hadn't eve n rid den a single foo t yet. But I had beenforewarned abo ut cold-starting the R/XCs. According to Harden, the choke on the QuickSilve r carbs is too rich and there is no easy way to adjust the idle. On the bikes we rod e, the on ly way you could adjust the idle was to hold the throttle wide open - with the engine turned off - and reach in with a needle-nose pliers to turn the hard-toget-at idle screw. At this point you can fire it up and see if you have it right. KTM is currently working on a remote idle s cr e w adjustment system that should be ready by the time you read this and already installed on the production models. . The starting procedu re on our bike was fairly ex tensive: Turn on the igni tion as well as the on / off switch located next to the throttle ho using on the handlebar, open u p the choke (on the carb itself), pull in the compression-re lease lever, kick the engine through at least five times, tu rn the choke off, pull the compression release lev er in u n til it stays in on its own, kick slowly until the lever pops out, bring the kicks ta rter lever back to the top of the stroke, and finally give it a good, healthy kick with no throttle. Repeat, etc., etc. The whole cold-starting process is ma de difficult since you can' t easily turn up the id le when the engine is cold then tum it down once warm, and the overly rich choke doesn't help either. But KTM says tha t with the rem ote- idle- scr ew adjuster, cold -starting wi ll be much easier . After the engi ne is warm, both bikes are simple to start, as sim ple as any off- road four-strokes we've ridden . At le ast ones without electric starters. Bei ng right- handed, or right'footed in this case, I had no problems kicking over either the 400 or 620 with my left foot w h ile straddling the motorcycle. As is usually the case with dual sport rid es, our adventure started out on pavement before turning off on a di rt road, and it didn't take long for me to realize that the R /XCs certain ly won' t challenge a Ho nda Gold Wing as far as comfort on the o pen h ighways . In th e weeks to come, I avoided the hard stuff as mu ch as possib le on the 400. The seat is firm and narrow , it vib rates like a dirt bike, the exce ptionally tall knobby tires offer nothin g less than a bouncy ride, the sus pension is set u p on th e stiff si de and the single-cylinder engine lab ors at freeway speeds, despite the fact it's geared quite tall. But all of this is just fine with me. After all, isn' t this how a d irt bike should feel on the street? I mean, th e qualities tha t make motorcycles good in the d irt aren't the sa m e qualities that . make them good on the street, and I'm glad KTM basically left the R/XCs the way they were originally d esign ed - as dirt bikes. Only now they' re stree t lega l. Dirt roads and single-track trails never come too soon while riding th e R/XCs. Unfortunately, many of those items required to ma ke mo torcycles street legal rear th eir ugly head w he n pavement turns to dirt. Neither the 400 and 620 LC4 E/XCs are what you wo uld call light motorcycles in the first place, but when you sl ap on a huge a nd restrictive exhaust system, a battery, taillights, blinkers, chain guards, mirro rs, you ca n't help but gain some weight, something the R/XCs have a lot of. An d to make matters worse, many of the engine modifications KTM was fo rced to make in order to get th e R/XCs to pass emissions wound up costing horsepower, so now you have a heavier and less powerful motorcycle . tha n you started wi th . The 400 R/XC is, well, I hate to say it, slow. At leas t feels slow. It has a su perflat, linear powerband, and the extra- tall gearing leaves it p an tin g on the long hills - on the street or dirt - bu t, again, this really isn 't KTM's fau lt. We already kno w tha t the off-road-only E/XCs produce good p ow er , so you can' t blame the factory for the 400 R/XC's leth argicfeeli ng motor , but yo u can blame th e EPA if you want. The tall gearing does ease the pain on flat, open roads. (KTM was forced to u se such tall gearing for emission reaso ns - few er rp m equals fewe r hydrocarbons ). _ Still, the 400 R/XC makes enough power to have fu n on , as d oes the 620 R/ XC. The 620, in fact, hi ts signifi cantly harder than the 400 but not as hard as what you would expec t from an all-d irt big-bo re thumper. If ho rsep ower is 21

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