2021 KTM 125 XC
R I D E R E V I E W
P68
a kick-start backup). Some think
that's silly to have a button to
start a 125. I say silly is awesome
to those people, and there's no
reason not to have it. GNCC's
are a dead-engine start race.
So, I practiced starts kicking in
first gear, button in first gear, and
finally kicking+button in first-gear
before the race to see what would
fire the fastest. I couldn't tell if
anything worked better than the
button in my tests, so I just went
with that. When the flag waved, it
ripped! The bike fired immediately,
and I was shifting through second
and into third in no time after drag-
ging the clutch out off the line to
get it up to speed. Easily the best
GNCC start I've done in my life.
Not silly. Awesome.
This is broken record time, but
the XC lineup of KTM's com-
petition dirt bike range is very
well outfitted. Handguards, side
stand, 2.64-gallon fuel capac-
ity in a translucent tank, 18-inch
rear wheel, the best Brembo
brakes setups in the industry,
dialed-in hydraulic clutch, and a
durably proven history. I've taken
XCs to motocross tracks hap-
pily and also to the tops of very
tiring mountains, but rarely has
the opposite occurred. When it
comes to purpose-built machinery
for competing off-road, little can
match KTM's track record. There's
a reason every other brand has a
model of motocross bike variation
with "X" in it now.
For 2021, the XC gets all the SX
updates, including refined sus-
pension settings (XC-specific) and
components like linkage bearing
seals and other hardware. I think
it's worth mentioning that this
was the best XC suspension I've
ridden in the WP AER fork tech-
nology era. The changes KTM
and WP are making to the Xact
fork are working better than ever,
The 125 XC lives up
to KTM's mantra—it
is indeed race-ready
right out of the crate.
