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/128012
Riding Impression Shane Watts' 1999 KTM 125 fIXe By Matt Freema n Photos by Rick Menapace and Matt Freeman n the lat e eighties Paul Edmon dson rod e on e to ISDE a nd FIM World Enduro fam e . Th e ea rly nin eties saw the little bike pr evail at the Best in the Dese rt Laugh lin U.s . Hare Scr ambles desert race. The year 1998 came and so di d an ISDE ov erall win. Alt houg h th e KTM 125 E /XC h as unde rg one much scrutiny from America ov er the years, it has a pretty good track record . Sh ane Watts' w in at th e ISDE last yea r proved that the little enduro bike was capable of big , if not the biggest, of victories. After all, the ISDE is arguably the ultima te test of man an d ma chinery. To cap tha t off, the Au stralia n came to America to race the presti gious GN CC seri es full time aboa rd a 1999 125 E/XC and for so me reason his 250cc-mounted se ries regular co m petitors were su rprised wh en Watt s won four of the firs t five r ounds . Wall s a lso too k AMA Na tio nal Hare Scrambles , Enduro and FIM World En d uro w in s on th e ' 99 mod el befo re blowing ou t his knee at an Aus tra lian Na tiona l Enduro in Ma y. Th e ru mors a re tru e. Sh a ne Wat ts d oes race an almost s toc k motorcycl e. He so me times shows up on the starting line with severely used tires, a nd he does s leep on th e grou nd und er the KTM box van th e night bef or e a race instead of sleeping in a plush hotel like the res t of the GNCC regu lar s. Worse ye t, h is so-ca lled mecha nic, Steve Kuczk o does co mpete in th e morn in g GNCC ra ce instead of fine tuning Sha ne's bike up u ntil the start of the Pro eve nt. So, wh at is Walls' secre t? At the Silver Sta te evada 200 Trail Rid e Cycle News learned that the winning co rnbi- m m m ~ - N N '" E '" 0.. .s:J '" UJ 24 nation is not necessarily the ultra trick bik e that Wa lls races mi xed wit h a little ou tback talent. After rid ing a nearid entical repli ca of Walls' 125 E/ XC on a n d a ro u n d th e sa n dy s lo pes o f Caliente, evada, we carne to the realizat ion tha t there is nothin g ultra tr ick at a ll abou t his ra ce b i k e a n d th a t Walls himself is mor e than a littl e talen ted. We like the E/XC's brother , the 125 SX. Dur in g our '99 125cc Motocro ss Shoo to u t th e SX p erform ed we ll i n man y areas . It is light. nimble, comfortable, ha ndles great and its mot or wa s rated in the to p three in our shoo tou t. The 125 E/XC that Watts rides is basica lly th e s ame mot orcycl e as th e SX, onlv a few off-road /enduro-like refinemen ts make the E/XC more a t hom e in the middle of nowhere. It has the obvious OEM add-ens like a headligh t, taillight, 18-in ch rear wheel, larger fuel cell, kick stand, and suspen sion sp ring rates and va lving for off-ro ad races. A wi de-ra tio transmission and meatier flywh eel -weight make the E/ XC eve n easier to rid e in off-road co n d itio ns . For cl o sed -cours e ra ces Watts and Kuczko scrap the E/XC spark arres tor and bolt on a stock SX silencer. The swap gives the bik e m ore sn a p, which is needed on the E/ XC. Sim ply put, the 125 E/ XC is the best off-road co m pe titio n motorcycle in its cla ss . How ever, ev en th ough it is the best lightweight off-roa d competitor out of the box, that does not mean the motor is anywhere near tha t of a Team Suzuki Off-roa d RM2 50 li ke cu r re n t G N CC cha m p io n Rodn e y Sm it h rid es . It d o esn' t e ve n m ean th a t the E /XC's motor is equ al to the s toc k Ya ma h a YZ125 engine, beca use it isn ' t. Gra nted, the tw o beasts are design ed for tw o diffe re n t ty pes o f ridi ng , but for a fe w thou sand bu cks the YZ125 can become one hell of a off-road ma chine. In Watts' case ho weve r, beating the factorv-backed 250cc a nd ev en 600cc machi~es a re more of a co ncern tha n anyt hi ng. Tha t's exactly w hy we can not figure ou t w hy he insists on racing wit h a stock E/XC motor. The fact th at he chooses a 125 over a 250 does no t COt!cern us. Man y rid ers fed more a t home and even go faster on a sma ller moto rcycle because the power does not tire them out and a 125 is lighter. Although the 125 E/XC that Watts races is fast, it