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
Believe it or not, the bigges t change Walts makes to his own 125 ElXC is to the fork. Walts prefers WP Extreme 50mm forks. We rode with the stock Magnum 45mm fork (s hown) and coul dn't have been happ ier. co uld be fas ter, not to me nti on tha t he eve n has a 200 E/ XC in the KTM line-up to ch oose fr om . We ca n sc ra tc h o u r head s over this one un til we're bald , but Walls holds the win records to prove us wrong or a t least ru in our argument. Wh at works for one guy ob viousl y does not always work for ano ther. Watts ge ts by on the E/XC by taking advantage of momentum , some thing that we all mu st d o while rid ing a 125. He just d oes it be tt er. He al so claims that he does not use the clutch tha t mu ch, relying on the motor to get him ou t of a tum and down the trail. Iron ically, the KTM' hyd rau lic clutch can u ndergo all kinds of abuse without fading, bu t Wa tts knows Test rider Russell Pearson, (above and left) rode a 125 ElXC of his own to a gold medal last year at the Australian ISDE. On the Walts replica, Pearson demonstrates how fun and how versa tile the Iiltle 125 is. The bike really is race -ready right out of the crate, and Walts ' record is so lid proof. tha t fa nning and fea thering th e clu tch kills the m om e n tu m of the bi ke and slows you down in additio n to tiring you out qu icker. Scientifically it makes sense, but try shifti ng and using mo re throttle con trol ins tead of u sing the clutch so mu ch the next tim e ride a 125. It's not easy by a ny mea ns. Somehow, Wa tts ma kes it look real easy . ot to say tha t the 125 E/ XC mo tor does not wo rk for us, it just wo rks for Wall s a lot better. Th e m o st sign if ica n t d i fferen ce between th e bike we rode an d Wa tts ac tua l race bike is' the fo rk. Th e stock mot orcycle KTM relies on a 45mm Mar zocch i Magnu m. Af ter many m iles of testing and racing, Watts decid ed to go with a 50 m m WP Extre me fo r k. We wer e p leased w ith the Marzocch i for k that we used (combined with the stock WP PDS shoc k) and were su rprised that the suspe nsion wo rked so we ll in such a w ide variety of terrain . Aft er encountering sand, hard -pack fire road s, bowling e ball size rocks, de p w hoo ps and mu d it is hard to imagin e a mo re versa tile fork. Still, we woul d like to ge t ou r hand s on Watts' WP for k jus t for kicks. Wall s is a factory KTM Sportmo torcycle racer eve n thou gh h is bike looks a nd is pretty much stock. To give the E/ XC tha t fac to rv loo k a nd feel a KStyle grap hic kit is'ad ded to the seat and rad iat or shroud s. O the r cha nges tha t Wat ts makes to his race bike a re tru ly odds and ends . O n race day, a To maselli handlebar is held d ow n by a K-Style top triple clam p and a clear fue l cell with a dry brake is ad ded for quick pit stops. Watts sta rted out the yea r in th e U.S. racing wit hout hand gua rds, how ever it wa sn 't lon g b e fo re kn uck les w ere bash ed a nd Ace rbis MX hand gua rds were install ed . The bik e we tested was eq ui pped with hand guards , the graphics kit and the SX silencer, but every th in g els e was stock, p re tty much the eN way that Walls himself likes it. 1999 KTM 125 E1XC Stock Specifications Displacement Bore and stroke Transmission . _ 124.8cc 54.25 x 54mm 6·speed Final drive 13:50 Chain 5/8" x 1/4 " O-ring Fuel capacity 2.53 gal. Fue l .. . .92+ octane unleaded mixed 32:1 Carburetor Keihin PWK 39mm Clutch Wet clutch/hydraulic Ignition K okusan digital 2K-2 Mainframe Chromoly S ubfra me Aluminum Fork Magnum 45mm Shock .wP-PDS Wheel travel Front 11.2 in. Rear 12.6 in . Wheel Front Excel 1.60 - 21 Rear Excel 2.15 · 18 Brakes Front .Disc/ 260mm .Disc/220mm Rear Wheel ba se 57.6 in. Seat Height 36.4 in. Ground clearance 14.9 211 .2 Ibs. Claimed dry weight MSRP $5148 25