Y
au might want to take notes on this
one - it gets a little confusing. And
there might be a quiz afterward.
KTM made enough changes to its
"Ready To Race" '06 off-road machin-
ery to warrant new names and new model lines,
making KTM's already somewhat confusing model
designations a bit more puzzling. But here's the
gist: The EXC two-stroke models are now history
and have been replaced by XCs and XC-Ws. The
EXC four-strokes are still around and are still
called EXCs. And all of the MXC two-strokes and
four-strokes have been dropped in favor of the
new XCs. Got it?
In all, there will be I I off-road models (six twostrokes and five four-strokes) in six different
engine displacements categories, so it shouldn't be
a problem finding just the right bike to fill your particular off-road needs if you're thinking of going
orange for '06.
Of all of the new off-road KTMs, the two-stroke
line is probably of most interest. As you can see in
the photos, none of the two-strokes have lights
anymore, and none of the new XCs (even the fourstrokes) have spark arrestors or odometers. At first
glance, you might think that you're looking at the
5X motocrosser, and in a way, you are. KTM
noticed that more and more people are going cross
country, or GNCC-style, racing these days and that
many of you are purchasing the 250 SX over the
EXCs and converting the SX into off-road racers.
So, KTM decided to do all that converting for you.
KTM basically took the 250 SX and turned it into
the XC by removing the lights, odometer and spark
arrestor, and giving it an 18-inch rear wheel, a
slightly heavier ignition flywheel, a semi-wide-ratio
transmission, a bigger fuel tank and an SX-type suspension. All this is similar to what KTM's racing
team did to GNCC points leader Juha Salminen's
250 SX. (The 300 got the same type of treatment
as the 250.) But KTM didn't forget about the
enduro racer or the weekend trail rider and came
up with the EX-W, which is pretty much the same
as the XC but with more emphasis put on woodstype/enduro riding. As mentioned, the W gets a
wider-ratio transmission (hence the W) and softer
suspension settings. The XC-Ws, and the EXCs for
that matter, are also fitted with mechanical odometers. (The EXC four-stroke retains the sparkarrestor muffler.)
