VOLUME 58 ISSUE 3 JANUARY 19, 2021 P71
gives you 11.2 inches of wheel
travel compared to the SX-F's 12.2
inches, while the WP shock will
give you 10.5 inches of travel com-
pared to 11.8 inches for the SX-F.
Braking comes in the form of
the Brembo radial master-cylinder,
pushing fluid down to a Brembo
four-piston M50 caliper—the same
caliper that came out on the previ-
ous generation Kawasaki ZX-10R,
for example. Galfer supplies the
brake rotor, a fat 'ol 310mm unit,
while the rear gets a 220mm rotor
and single-piston caliper.
The show rolls on 16.5-inch
front and 17-inch rear Alpina tube-
less spoked wheels shod with
Bridgestone racing slicks (V02).
Like the SX-F and the Husqvar-
na FS 450, the SMR comes with
traction control and two variable
ride modes—one to produce more
bottom-end power and a second
map that helps for faster circuits
with more high-rpm horsepower.
From the hotseat, the 2021
KTM 450 SMR feels not too
dissimilar to my own Husqvarna
FS 450, although bottom-end ac-
celeration is a little more impres-
sive. Running through the differ-
ent maps, I quickly settled on the
more aggressive second map,
and the initial burst of accelera-
tion out of slow-speed corners is
more pronounced than my FS,
which even has an FMF pipe and
the required mapping fitted.
One half of a
superbike front
brake set-up is
plenty of a bike
weighing as little
as the SMR.
