VOL. 53 ISSUE 48 DECEMBER 6, 2016 P53
K
TM always wants its facto-
ry-backed supercross and
motocross riders on their
latest and greatest machinery
to start the next racing season,
which is how the Factory Edition
(FE) models came into being.
KTM takes their latest produc-
tion models (which are gener-
ally released early the previous
year) and updates them with
their latest technical advance-
ments, build just enough to meet
homologation rules, and goes
racing. Okay, it's a little more
involved than that, but you get
the picture.
However, over the years,
KTM's standard 250 and 450
SX-F models have become so
good that the difference be-
tween them and the FEs have
become less and less—case in
point, the 2017 FE KTM 250
and 450. Technically, they aren't
much different than the standard
2017 250 and 450 SX-F models.
Beside the obvious graphic
changes, the 2017 FEs get
updated suspension settings
(front and rear) and a new air
seal for the WP AER 48 fork,
which the FEs got last year (the
2017 standard models now have
them as well). The new air seal is
significant in that it is more wear
resistant, more reliable, and if it
does happen to fail in the middle
of a race, it's designed in such
a way that the fork will continue
to do its job for the rest of the
moto with little change in perfor-
mance.
The Red Bull KTM (Ryan
Dungey, Marvin Musquin and
Trey Canard) and the Rocky
Mountain ATV-MC KTM (Davi
Millsaps, Blake Baggett and
Benny Bloss) Factory Racing
Teams will be on the 2017 KTM
450 SX-Fs at Anaheim I (with the
exception of Bloss who will be
riding in the 250SX class). CN
2017 KTM 450 SX-F Factory Edition ($10,399)
