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/127960
RIDING 1999 KTM 125 SX IMPRESSION r-----"- - -- By Kit Palmer Photos by Kinney Jones 'r he KTM 125 SX is proof positive that racing - or, mor e spec ifically, winning - se lls m ot or cy cle s . In KTM' s case, however, it's the o pposite that appears to be true, at least when it comes to mo tocros s. KTM is a small com pany, rela tively speaking, so w hen it comes to racin g on the national level, KTM simply does not h a v e t he b u d g e t to h ir e th e Rick y Carm ic h a els or Joh n Dowd s o f t h is world , u nli ke the Big Four mot orcycle ma nu factures in Jap an . Big (not to men'tion expensive) names equal high exposure, and high exposu re usu ally equ als high sales. Bu t wit ho ut those big names and the subseq ue n t high visi b ility , sales suffer, no ma tter how good you r pr od uc t is. Here' s where th e KTM 125 SX comes in. 42 Th e ' 98 125 SX is , rig h t out of the crate, as strong as an y 125cc production MXer ou t there . Und er the right talent, it has the poten tial of win ning a ational, bu t you d on ' t see peop le lining up outside KTM dealersh ips to buy one. That's because the KTM doesn 't have a Suzu ki, Honda, Kawa saki or Yama ha d ecal on th e tank or a Reynard , Lam s on , Carmichael or Dowd on the sea t. But tha t d oesn ' t bother KTM, really. They sold en ou gh of these fire-br eathing tiddler s to keep them happy, and, after rid ing the '99 125 SX, we believe they' ll be even happier next year. The 125 SX had to.be the surprise bike of the year in 1998. After d isappearing from the scene for a while, the KTM reem er gedin '98 with its mu scles flexed and ready to brawl. KTM en gineers in Au stria breathed new life into what had been an ane mic 125cc powerp lant , and the end result was one of the most powerful 125cc motocross bikes we'v e ever ridde n. But not everyone liked tha t. - -- - -- - - - - - - ' Fas t gu ys, of co u rse , loved th e ' 98 KT M 's hard-hitting a nd p ow erfu l motor, bu t less-experienced riders had a hard er time com ing to terms w it h the SX's on / off and exp losiv e powerband. On ly th e ex per ts co ul d rea ll y tak e ad vantage of what the '98 KTM had to offer. For '99, though , KTM tried reaching more of a mid dl e grou nd wit h the 125 SX b y boost ing midran ge and smoothing out the transition from middle to top. To accomplish this, KTM's engineer s felt they on ly needed to make a few changes: They impl emented a new reed-block d esign , went to a more sensi tive reed -pedal materia l, and read justed ignition timing. That's it. We're certain the new SX motor will (Above) KTM smoothed out and br oadened th e powerband of the new 125 SX. It's still plenty fa st but a lot easi er to ri de, (Left) The KTM 125 SX might no t be as popu lar as the other fou r comparab le bikes fr om Japan , but it performs at least as go od as thein . It's a bike wo rt h c hec king ou t.