bike would have been the go, but the KTM
still held tough and never felt as though it
was going to fall on its side, even with the
sometimes ridiculously slow speeds.
The front fork on the 950 is also a WP
unit. The 48mm upside-down fork (with 8
inches of travel) has a central-mounted
axle to accommodate the radial-mounted
front brake. The fork can be adjusted for
rebound and compression damping, as
well as for variable-spring preload.
The brakes are big, powerful and a tad
on the touchy side for a motorcycle like
this. The radial Brembo brake features
four-piston calipers that bite into 305mm
floating discs, and the bike gets a new,
adjustable (and shorter) front-brake lever.
The rear brake gets a 240mm disc, with a
two-piston caliper.
The wheels on the 950 Supermoto are
also Brembo, and they were made especially for this bike, according to KTM. The
aluminum-cast wheels were designed to
be light, and they weigh in at just a tad over
8 pounds each. Spoked wheels would
weigh some I I pounds, KTM says. Those
cast wheels come clad in Pirelli Scorpion
Sync tires.
42 JUNE 15,2005 • CYCLE NEWS
The big KTM can go roughly ISS miies
on its 4.55-gallon polyamide gas tank,
according to KTM's tech crew. And the
bike tips the scale at just over 420 pounds
with everything but fuel, according to KTM.
The bike iooks the part, retaining that
Supermoto guise that tells you this is all
KTM. Up front, the 950 has an all-new
headlight and fender, the pair integrated
together to make the bike more aerodynamically functional. The seat is pure
Supermoto style, softened a bit but still on
the firm side. It also gets a storage compartment underneath. The rear fender
forms together with the side panels, much
like the KTM race bikes. And the 950 also
has a storage rack on the rear fender that
doubles as a handhold for a passenger.
KTM believes in its Supermoto heritage,
and the Austrian company plans on putting
10,000 of its various Supermoto units into
production this year - a 40 percent
increase, KTM says. KTM is committed to
Supermoto in a big way, and the results are
impressive. On the track, they win.
And the bottom line is simple: The 9S0
Supermoto falls nicely into the market that
KTM has been instrumental in creating. eN
