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/127964
RIDING KTM200EIXC IMPRESSION ~~ By Ki t Palm er c... ~ ~ 00 0\ 0\ ..... ~' ..... ... (l) ..0 o .... u o 44 0 say that tha t the 200 E/XC is one of th e best-selling motor cycles in KTM's off-roa d lineup - as the Austrian company claims - is like saying it's close to being the best-selling bike in th e wo rld 's off-road line u p . Afte r a ll, KTM already produces some of the most pop ular trailblaze rs in the world , suc h as the 250 E/XC (a bike tha t seemingly wi ns off-road awards yea r af ter yea r), th e 300 E/XC an d the 380 E/XC. So being a top-selling motorcycle in KTM's off-road lineup is quite an acco mp lishment and an honor. Heading into only its secon d year of production, the 200 E/XC has alrea dy mad e a big im p ression in the off-roa d a rena , and fo r good reason . Th e 200 offers everything off-roaders want: light weight, stable handling, plush-but-sturdy sus pe nsion, su fficient power across the board, comfort, painless starting and reliability. Throw in the small stuff such as a n od ome ter, a lighting sy s te m, a durabl e O-ring ch a in, a n d a USFSapproved spark arrestor , and you have a machin e read y to zero checks right ou t of the crate. The inau gural 1998 200 E/XC was so good th at KTM mad e only a few chan g e s to th e '99 m od el ; a n d the y d idn't mak e the se cha nges just for the heck of it. They were welcomed one s. If there was one ar ea tha t defi nitely needed upgrading, it was the 200's rear sus pe nsio n. Despite feeling fairl y plu sh overall, the back end of the previous 200 simply lacked sensi tivity ove r the smaller bu mps, holes and ruts. This problem was n't relegated to jus t the 200, eit he r. All of th e KTM models suffered th e same shortcoming with the company's new no-lin k Progressive Damping System (PDS). As a result, WP completely re d es ig n ed the shock's in ternals by tweaking on the high- and low-speed transitional da mping, which was made possible by redesigning the positionsensitive need le of the PDS and increasing the diameter of the bleed orifice. The shock also has a wider range of external adj ustment possibilities an d a new progressive spring rate. Did these fixes wo rk? Yes, very much so, just as they d id on KTM's SX mo de ls tha t we 've rid d en so far. KTM took a hu ge step in the right dil"ection with the WP shock, proving to many - includ ing us ~ that their PDS no-link rear-susp ension con cep t actu ally does wo rk . N ow the back of the 200 is far mor e complian t than it used to be; you can actually feel the shoc k absorbing the hits and bumps just like man y of the other bike's linkage sys tems do. The KTM 200 ElXC reigns as one 01 KTM's top-selling moto rcycles. Once you ride it, you 'll know Why. ~_ _--'