2014 KTM 450 SX-F FACTORY EDITION
RIDING IMPRESSION
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(Top) New linkages provide a less-
progressive rising rate. Shock has
a longer stroke but wheel travel
and seat height remain the same.
(Middle) The only change related
to the motor is the titanium
Akrapovic slip-on muffler.
(Bottom) The FE comes with WP's
latest 4CS four-chamber forks. We
assume the standard SX-F's will
have them too in 2015.
offset has been reduced to improve
stability.
The Factory Edition is the first
production motorcycle fitted with
Dunlop's all-new Geomax MX52
tires that used to be exclusive to
the factory racers of the MX and SX
circuits. The MX52s are paired with
top-of-the-line Excel rims.
KTM made many small weight
saving changes through out the
bike resulting in a 1.3-pound reduc-
tion of overall weight compared to
the standard model. The 2014 KTM
SX-F 450 we tested late last year
weighed 250 pounds with full fuel
on our scale.
We recently got the chance to
spin a few laps on the 2014 Factory
Edition KTM. Since there aren't
a whole lot of FE's laying around,
KTM could not part with theirs,
so we were allotted only a day on
the bike, and that day was spent
at Starwest MX Park in California,
where our chief test rider Jason Ab-
bott got to hammer out many laps
on the Supercross-style track.
He found the KTM's new sus-
pension to his liking but not until
first making a few changes.
"The suspension was a little soft
initially for me," said Abbott who
weighs in around 185 pounds. "But
after just a few clicks on both com-
pression and rebound on the fork
and shock, I was able to get it to
a point where the suspension as a
whole would hold me up better in
the stroke, which ultimately made
the bike feel more stable through-
out an entire lap on the Starwest
track. Each click I found made no-
ticeable differences and it didn't
