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/128103
KTM LC4 Adventure 640 and LC4 640 Bv CHRIS J ONNUM PHOTOS BV J OE BONNELLO/KTM II TM got it a ll wrong . Ra llies, you ii see, a re not fun. Even the (com pa ratively ) s ho rt, s ix-day , 1700 -mile raid in whi c h we o n ce c omp et e d offe red all the jo y of a congre ssi onal filibuster , a n d Da k a r h ero e s like J im m y Le w is s a y th at t h e bru t a l Afr ican a n d Middl e E a s t e rn raids deterio ra t e into m on ot o n ou s , pa in indu cing , sleep-d epriv ing, h ig h-r isk ord e als a fte r the first few days. So when KTM's U.S . importer celebrated tak ing th e top-five pos itions at th is y e ar 's Da k a r Ra lly by th row ing a moc k ra id for m e m be rs of the m oto rcycling press, the lack of authe nticity was glaring. You see, the happe ning, a th re e-d a y, 6 00-mile jaunt d ubbed Mojav e Madness , was more fun than a barrel of m on ke ys - a nd th e re fore nothing at a ll like a ge n uine rally. We' re not compla ining . The thing is, journa lists a re le ss a de pt at st ifling wh in e s d uri ng un -fu ri acti vities , s o KTM was pro ba bly astute not to fo llow th e Da ka r script too fa ithfu lly. Bes id e s , t he Aust rian ma nufacturer did n't ha ve to prov e its a bility to suck u p ad versity dur ing tr y in g p erio d s . Prio r to the 200 1 Dakar dom ination by te am riders Fa brizio Meon i, Jordi Arcarons , O sca r De Gav a rd o , ls idre Esteve Pu jol and Alfi e C o x , KTM plug ged away at the event for severa l fru itless years , with bac kbreak ing 26 MAY 9 , 2001 • cue I e la bo r yie ldi ng o nly hea rtbreaki ng re s u lt s . Per haps KTM felt they deserved a bit of fun . They certa inly had the right re cip e , as fun was the name of the game during this functio n. The ride started in Victorville , Ca lifornia , and le d to Las Veg as , Nevada, b efo re returni ng t o the sta rt point, with navigation done pr im a r ily by GPS (Lew is himse lf, along fo r the ride representing Cycl e World, de term ine d the coordinates). A bevy of 2001 KTM LC4 dual -sport bikes were provided, including 400s , What's the best way to test KTM's640 Adventure (above) and 640 LC4 (left) du alsport bikes? Ride th em on a threeday, 600-m ile mock rally in the Mojave Desert. That was t he task of our reporter (to p, right) who, along w ith Jerry Bernardo (top, le ft) and several other members of the motorcycling press, partici pated in KTM's M ojave M adness press Int rodu ction. n e vv s 640s a nd Ad ve nt u re s , a s well as a s uper -tri ck Meo ni-replica Ra lly model. We didn 't spend mu c h time on t h e 400 (having eval ua ted t he 2000 mod el during another exten s ive Nev a da ride approximately one year ag o ) , but after ridi n g t he 640 a n d Adv ent ur e fo r t h ree days a nd 6 0 0 miles (the perfe ct c ut -off point be fore the fun turns to dr ud gery ), we ca m e a wa y wit h a k now le d g e o f ( a n d a ppreci a tio n for ) KTM's two big -b ore d ual -s p ort m a ch in es - and eve n a b rief-but -inv ig o rating stint on t he rea l-live ra lly bike (se~ s idebar). DAY 1 We s pent the firs t p o rt ion of th e ride on a 640 , th e bre ad -and -butter in KTM ' s du a l- spo rt lineup . In c ase y o u ' re wond ertn q , these bik es are