Smoother, softer,
faster. The new
450 SMR is a
supermoto rider's
dream.
three gears at once, dump the
clutch and let the Suter take care of
the rest as you modulate the front
and rear brakes in an endorphin-
filled two-wheel drift.
The Suter does its job beautifully,
almost entirely eliminating any rear
wheel chatter and letting you smear
the tarmac with your own Metzeler
signature. Helping here is the Brem
-
bo M50 front brake gripping a single
310mm disc and radial master
cylinder, the trio offering plenty of
stopping power but lacking a little in
that deft master-cylinder feel I love
so much from real racing units.
The rear brake runs a single-
piston caliper and 220mm disc, a
setup KTM has (for my money) got
absolutely spot on for the right
balance of feel and power, letting
you get great modulation and stop-
ping/drifting power without locking
the rear wheel.
Being the wimp I am, I stuck with
the softer throttle map for the first
half of the day and graduated to the
harder map for the final two ses
-
sions. And to be perfectly honest,
there really wasn't that big a differ-
ence (at least to my brain). I tend
to think the different throttle maps
would make more of an impres-
sion in lower grip situations, like, er,
motocross, but for smooth tarmac
supermoto riding, there wasn't a lot
of difference between the two.
Oh, and the traction control
makes very little difference if it's on
or off, and I'll put that down to the
frankly insane grip levels afforded
by the Metzeler K1 supermoto soft
compound tires. You need to be
seriously cack-handed to break
traction on the throttle with these
tires—they have so much grip that
using traction control slows you
down more than anything. Just let
the mechanical grip of the German/
Italian rubber help you out and let
the motor remain unmolested by
the electronic safety aids.
The motor is the same as
before, except for a redesigned in-
take sleeve and airbox cover, which
is now made of thicker plastic that
doesn't deform as much under
hard acceleration, thus allowing
more air into the airbox and more
power to be made.
Ergonomically speaking, the SMR
gets new fuel tank shrouds with the
graphics printed directly onto them
rather than being stick-on units.
P106
RIDE REVIEW I 2025 KTM 450 SMR
