and down the hills at the Glen. We then adjusted
the throttle response, boosting it up all the way
to five. This more aggressive setting did give the
bike more bark, especially with strong pull out of
the corners. Personally, it was too much oomph
for my liking, and I felt I was working harder to
hold onto the bike after just a few laps. When I
reduced throttle response, the bike was much
easier to control but lacked that big-bike grunt
we're all familiar with. Regardless of settings, the
Connectivity Unit is more than just a new model
marketing shtick, and I was pleased that the app
options like track type and track conditions. We
stuck with the advanced mode during our day
with the new Factory Edition.
The myKTM app offers several variables for the
rider to adjust. Engine braking, throttle response,
traction control and launch control are available
with the aforementioned track type and track
conditions. Each engine adjustment is set on a
user-friendly sliding scale between one and five,
one being the least aggressive and five being the
most. Track type has three different settings—
hard, gravel and sand, and you can also choose
between dry and wet track conditions. You can
customize and name these maps before saving
them to the engine's ECU. The created maps
are only able to be uploaded into the "map one"
option on the handlebar-mounted switch as the
standard and more aggressive "map two" setting
remains locked.
We noticed these changes to be very distinct
out on the track. For starters, we took the engine
braking to one (least aggressive) and felt how
light and free flowing this made the engine feel.
In fact, it made us realize how much we've come
to rely on the engine braking of the big 450s! Re-
ducing the engine braking gave the KTM a remi-
niscent two-stroke feeling as we carried speed up
2021 KTM 450 SX-F FACTORY EDITION
R I D E R E V I E W
P84
(Left) Here's what the
2021 Factory Edition
is all about—KTM's
new Connectivity
Unit/myKTM ap that
allows you, via your
smartphone, to finely
tune the FE's engine
mapping. Expect this to
be standard equipment
on the '22 KTM SX-Fs.
(Below) The standard
SX-F doesn't get this—
an Akrapovic muffler.
