Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

KTM 4 0 0 L e4 D u a l Spo rt (Left) Designed to do well in a variety of contexts, KTM's LC4 Dual Sport is one of th e most versatile bikes around. (Above) Ove r the years, the LC4 motor has evolved from full-race to dualsport worthy. but KTM fe els th e increases in durability a n d versa tili ty m a ke that fact worthwh ile. A similar approach was taken with t h e rest of th e bike. The s us pension is high -q ua lity d ir t fare - a conve nt ional WP ca rt r idge for k a nd a WP shock with adjustable com pres sio n a nd rebou nd - bu t set up more for tra ils, d irt roads and street than fo r com petition. The c has sis is the same one conte ste d in int e r-. nati ona l- lev e l c o m peti t io n o n ly a . l couple of yea rs ago , but outfitted with a c coutrem ents lik e a ce nter stand, rear g ra b h an dl es , a qui et ex ha ust, arid s treet-legal ga rb (e lectric ho rn , blinke rs , brake light, etc .) re le ased, p re -d at in g n ew -fa ngled , wat e r - pu mping thu mpers lik e th e Yamaha YZ, Suzuki DR-Z, a nd - ye s even Hond a 's XR. He ck , e ve n KTM's ve ry own a ll-n ew Ra c ing fo ur-stro ke owes a lot to the o ld LC4. On the subject of the new Katoom , many have open ly wonde red wh y KTM didn 't see fit to use tha t bike 's lightweight, h igh -pe rforma nc e m ill for its on /off-road bike , but the answer to th at quest io n goes ba c k to KTM's vision of a m or e ve rsa tile dual -sport m oto rc ycle . After all , winni ng 500cc MX GPs doesn't ne c es s arily p rov e a Th e fa ct th a t KTM had a ppa re nt ly sacrificed some of th e LC4 's dirt-worth iness in favo r of a bit of s treet merit had m e questioning the compa ny's wisdom when Harrison invited me to accompany him on a pa ir of 400 LC4s for Best in the Desert's FMF Ne vada 200 t ra il ri de - a th re e -d a y j a u nt th roug h the des e rt a ro und th e to wn of C alie nte. Th e rid e , yo u s e e , is n ot your av erage dual- spo rt outing , but in fa c t a fu ll-o n d irt fe s t. Ne arly e very motor's worthiness for co nnecting d irt trails via pa ve ment , o r for ta k in g a ja unt to th e c orner st o re for a quart of mi lk . KTM , yo u s e e , is not a b ove extrem ism its elf, a nd its new th um pe r is d e s ign ed for one th ing an d o n e th ing only - raci ng. Th e older LC4 engine , o n the oth er hand , has unde rgone somewhat of an e vo lution fro m th e da ys th a t it wo n mu lt ipl e Wo rld Endu r o Champ ions hi ps at th e hands of Fabio Fa rioli a nd Kar i Tiain en , a nd eve n q ualifyied fo r a Supercro ss ma in under Lan c e Smail. In or de r to make it more s uit a b le for street u s e , KTM h a s m ad e se ve ra l u p d a tes o ve r t he ye a rs , incl ud ing electric start (a kic k le ver is st ill provide d in the e vent of a de ad b atte ry ) , a radi ato r fan , h igh er o il ca pa ci ty, etc . Thes e m ods hav e , of cours e , bumped th e we ight up a bit, entrant was m ounte d o n a full offroad ma ch ine , a nd the extent of th e pavement wa s a da y-two road c rossing . With 200 m iles of d irt, 60 feet of pa vement s eemed very litt le ro a d for testing a bik e so ap pa re ntly - we ll, m iddle of th e road. C o ns ider ing th e d irt b ia s o f t he ride , I could understa nd KTM's motiva tio n in remov ing th e m irrors and exchang ing th e DOT -approved stock tires for full Michel in kno bbie s prior to the s ta rt. Th es e we re the only mods made , how e ver , as n ot ev e n han d gua rds we re ad ded . Wh en the ride s ta rted , so d id th e LC4 - a nd th at th is is not a given on a cold desert m orn ing was evidenced by th e many riders kicking awa y a t their relu ctant steeds . To be hon e st, even th e Katoom is a bit co ld -blooded, but its electric- s ta rt bu t ton m ak e s tha t easy to forg et. It a lso m a kes it e asy to for give the bike for stalli ng in technic al s e ct ion s ( t ho u g h it lu g s d o wn qu ite we ll). since a ja b a t th e button is all that' s n ee ded to get th ing s ba c k By C HRIS J O NNUM P HOT OS BY R EVEL LE H A RRISO N Y D/ ha t with the genera l obsess ion JD IOOi t h e s e days fo r all t h in g s extreme , sometimes it seems th at the anc ient B uddhi st ideolo gy of "a ll th ings in m oderation " ha s fa llen com plete ly by th e wayside - es pecia lly in th e rece n t ly p ro cl a im e d "e xtre m e sport " of m o t or c y c ling . More a nd m ore , motorc yc le s are b e in g m a d e (a nd m odified ) to do just one thing well , whether it be ne gotiate a jumpfilled , man -made motocross tra c k or circulate a gl ass -smooth , s in uous road race course . Fortunately , there is one motorc y cl ing realm that h a s chosen to tak e th e m iddl e way - dual sport. Tru e , th e genre does ha ve its fring e e lements (BMW's Rll OOGS on one e nd , a nd Su zuki 's DR200SEY on th e oth e r) , but th e fa c t that d ua l s po rting is , by def in itio n, a compro mise betwe en street and dirt wo rth iness means tha t th e s e bi k e s will never become o ve rly s pecia lize d . Some may view th is limitation as a 38 A PRIL 1 2 , 2 000' eye I ba d thi ng, bu t fo r me, the fa ct that d ual s port ing re si s t s th e m a n ia of bre a king a part into d ivulg ing fa ction s is pa rt of what makes it s o a ppealing. KTM see ms to ag ree with m e , a t lea st re gard ing its a p proach to du al s port. Its LC4 line of dual -sport bikes is des ig ne d not to dominat e a s ingl e tin y segm ent, bu t to pe rform well in a va riety of contexts . 00 IT ALL Th e s ta rting po int for th e LC4 is a tried -and -true m otor th at KTM m a rk et ing man Rev ell e Ha rris o n c a lls "k in d of lik e th e Honda XR, t o u s ." Li k e th e ( r ec e n tly rep la c ed ) XR mot or , th e LC4 was introdu c ed in the m id-'80 s , a nd h as ea rned a rep ut a tio n for bull et -p roof rel iabili ty. Unlike the XR, it wa s o ne of the firs t Iiquid cooled o ff- ro a d four- stro k e s to b e e n eVIl's W H A T CO MPROM ISE?

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