Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

KTM 's Stefan Pierer most critical issue i s th e co nt ro l t ire rul e , w hi c h rem oves th e im bal an c e be tween th e tire co m panies' m ost favored team s and the rest. I had a good discussion with Mr. Fl am m in i at the begi nning of J uly , whe n he tol d m e about his plans , which I fully support. Hear ing of th is m ad e it eve n m or e attrac tive for KTM to beco m e involved in Superbike raci ng , havin g at th e same time decided for other reasons to pull out of Mo toG P. Havin g a single m ak e of tire will limit th e cos ts dram at ic all y for everyone - tires are so expe nsive, especial ly in ro ad racin g , as we' ve dis cov ered this season . s pea k i n g of w hich, KTM 's participat ion in 12 5 GP racing was always presented as part of the learn ing curve in preparat ion for going Mot oGP racing w ith the f our-stroke . Now that you're not doing that , will you still remain in 12 5 GP? Yes, defin it el y - thi s road ra c e segment is a ve ry import ant lon g -t erm proj ect for KTM . On the o ther hand , we still h ave quite a lot to do to reach the pod iu m in 12 5 GP rac ing , but we'r e still c onvinc ed we 're go ing about this th e right way , and ste p by ste p we 'r e now improving. Next year we wi ll for sur e con ti nue w it h a tw o-rider facto ry GP team, but we also wa nt to set up a substructu re, whi ch will see a KTM team co mpet ing at National level, an d we' re thinking very strong ly about participating in the Germa n 125 Cha m pionship . F ir stl y , this w ill a ll ow us to p i ck so me yo u ng riders with g o o d pot entia l fo r the future - th is 12 5 series is really cro wded, with a lot of good prospects - and seco ndly it will gi ve us an ongo ing tes ti ng structure , wh ich w ill allow us to tr y out new things for th e fac tory GP te am . Th en for th e 200 5 season we w ill prod uce a cust o mer 125 GP rac er o n th e ba sis of the works bike that we'll be ra cing next ye ar, and I'm sure our experien c e in developing this will all ow us to offer a very co m petitive and attractive pr oduct. We' ll also offe r a simil ar backup deal to sat ellite t eam s, as we p rese ntly do in off-road racin g, wi th the chance to have th eir bikes prepared here in Mattigh ofen and raced wit h fac tory sup po rt . T u rn in g to d irt bi ke s , how do you fe el tha t KTM i s do ing? Mu s t y o u now l o ok to wa rd ex pan di ng you r ta rmac ra nge to bro ad en th e c o mpa ny's base? lt' s a tough battle to fig ht, t o k eep o ur off -ro ad mark et sh are. In Eu rop e we're a lready th e l ea d er , but in th e Stat es we ' re be hi nd t he t wo biggest J apanese co mpanies, Yama ha and Honda , and though we' re ahead of the other tw o , that's a big cha llenge for us . We always have to rem ember tha t this is o ur m ain p roduct sector, where all the profit tha t funds o ur other activities, includ ing the development of V-twin road bikes, is co m ing from . So we have to keep focused on that. If y o u' re rea lly honest , do y ou t hink K T M cam e too late to the 250cc four -stro ke m ark et? You raced a p rotot ype just once earlier t hi s year , w hi ch hasn 't reappeared - and m ean while all the Japanese and t he It ali ans , too , are hitting the m arke t w ith 250 fo ur- strok e p rodu ct s . Have you m i ssed the train ? No , no - we were and still are the m ark et le ade r in the 125cc two -stroke segment eve rywhe re in the w orl d , includ ing t he USA . So fo r us th e best str ategy was to focus on that product , even wh il e all the others were sho wing up with 250 four-strokes . As soon as we join th em, we ri sk losin g fo cus o n the 125, and th e fact that o ur tw o -str oke sales stay so strong and are co ntinu ing to increase sho ws th is is the right stra tegy . Okay , for next yea r we will be pa rticipating at th e factory level w ith a new 250 four-str ok e - the first on e we m ade didn 't work, so Q A Q A we rest arted the pr oj ec t, and now we are ready. To make sur e we sta y foc used on th e 125 , nex t ye ar we will have tw o fa ctory teams, with fou r rid ers - tw o w ith tw o- stro k es and tw o wi th fo ur-s tro ke s. My per sonal feeling is t hat a 125 tw o -stro k e rid er will win the world titl e! Looking at the Supermoto ca t eg ory , w hic h has . been a sig nificant fact o r in fu eling you r f ast growth , here KTM is we ll estab lished as the market leader - but the Japanese have now dis covered it, too . A re y ou c o nc ern e d th ey ma y usu rp KTM ' s S uperm ot o supremacy? On th e c o nt ra ry - for th e p ast t wo years I've been doing m y best t o co nv ince th e J ap an ese that they sho uld show up with p roducts made directly for Supermoto, and to support th e growing World C hamp i onship, w hi c h w ith Giu seppe Lu on g o in charge, wh o is a very experienced perso n in the rac ing sector , can o n ly get m ore important. A nd now that Ho nd a is c oming and Yamaha is co m ing , fo r sure the t ot al ma rk et segmen t will ge t bi gg er - so KTM will hav e less m ark et share but an increa sed tota l sales vo lume, if dom in at in g bran ds li k e t hese show up . O ka y , o n the othe r hand , co m pe tition gets tou gher - but we like that! In o ur o pinio n, Supermot o is head in g in the sam e direction as roa d bikes and road raci ng. T ak e a look at th e existi ng factory bikes right no w - th ese are totall y diff erent in th e geometry and desi gn det ails from what we had two ye ars ago , and I think thi s will becom e even m or e noti ceable in the next yea rs aft er the major brands come in . Thi s is a good th ing, because the customer pr oduct, too , wi ll become more in dividual and tailored for th e category - no m ore co nverted m oto cro ss o r enduro bik es, but to be successful you wi ll have to deve lop a specific Supermoto model. T he existing LC4 engine th at power s our Su permoto pr oducts w ill be repl aced for 2 006 by a new 650cc eng ine dedica ted to this and to lo ng distance rallies, and we'll race this at fac t ory level in '0 5 . Right now , we have a ver y good performing LC4 engi ne for rall ies, but it 's qu it e lon g li ve d, so a new engine wi ll be good. T he big gest po te ntial for Superm oto is surely in the U S A , w he re the sport i s o n ly in its infancy. How do es KTM see the g rowth of t he cate go ry t here? We hav e ve ry good feelings abo ut thi s, espec ia ll y since Hond a h as a lso rea lized thi s a n d is Q A Q 24 S EPTEM BER 24, 2 0 03 ' c ue I e n evvs: push ing in and promoting th e c atego ry. Within tw o years I believe th is will be a hug e seg me nt tha t , of course , we will be very active in. How abou t motocross, w hich on ce again at World level is now under Giuseppe Luongo 's control , but wi th a big change in the capacity structure, What 's KTM's response to this - especia lly since you were the ones doing t he winning under t he old bigger-engined fo rmula? Well, b ri nging d own t he dis place me n t to 450cc , and in future times the 250cc f o u r stroke c l ass , is rea l h i gh - en d raci ng , wh ich w e did n't have up 'til now. Th at' s the challenge, and we have to fulfill th at, so we're developing a new 45 0 cc fo ur-stroke eng ine, which we 're going to check out o n a fac to ry level next yea r, and it's p lanned that th e existing engi nes in motocross will be replaced by th is in m odel year 2006. In 2005 we wi ll la unch the 250 four -s troke, w h ic h is a lready on a good level, th en we com e with the 450 that we're going to race from next year onwa rd . We will combine 450 development in fut ure between motocross and the new small class fo r Supermoto w hic h is being introduced for next year, whic h I must say is ben ef ic ia l fo r KTM. The fa ct that ne xt ye ar we have a littl e 450 class ca lled S2 for amateur ride rs and an o pen cl ass called S 1 for th e professionals is much nicer. The Japan ese tried to insist on ju st one cl ass - but fortuna tel y I was alr eady part of the off-road MSMA, so by sitting on the co mmission , I was able to persuade them that tw o cla sses are be tter tha n one! I'm very happy to negotiate and work wi th Honda on such matters , bec au se they are very clever from th e point of vi ew of strategy - th ey k now wh at' s going o n . It's ve ry tough t o dea l w ith Yamah a t h ey ' re on ly eve r foc use d on o ne thin g ; t hey 're rat her inflex ible and don 't reall y wa nt to hear any bo dy else 's o p inion . Ho nd a on t he ot he r h an d is very open-minded. How about en duro? Any changes there? Q l' d say th at 80 perc ent of o ur o ff -ro ad end uro m od el s wi ll co nti nue to be based o n th e exis ting co m pe ti t io n ra cin g eng ine , the 525 and 54 0. Th e p rev ious classic LC4 hard end ur o h as gone it 'll be rep laced by the ve ry lig htweig ht, easy -han d l in g e n d u ro ve rs ion of o u r exis t ing m oto cro ss rac er. Sam e co nce pt , but th e gea rbox is different , A

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