Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/833352
2018 KTM 250 XC-W TPI FIRST TEST P128 tive, allowing the average ratio of 80:1 to work more efficiently. After our day of roosting up big sand hills, bouncing over big boulders, weaving through the forest up impossibly steep hill climbs and then descending near vertical drops, we are giddy with excitement for the future of the two-stroke. Transforming the simple two- stroke into fuel injection has a long list of benefits but also complicates things a bit. Like it's four-stroke fuel injected brothers, the fuel-injected two-stroke needs electricity to run and a minimum output from the battery to fire the injectors, which require a mini- mum of nine volts to operate. So if your battery is dead, you need to jump start it or bump start it; kicking won't produce enough juice to fire the injectors and bring the system to life. We've learned to deal with this on four-strokes by carrying mini jumper cables and always using a quality battery. Traditionalists will grumble that a carburetor works great when properly jetted, and we agree, but in order to keep up with govern- ment restrictions and reduce emissions, change is necessary. The new TPI system provides bet- ter gas mileage, reduced emis- sions, automatic premixing and perfect "jetting" at any altitude. The bottom line is simple—it works like a perfectly tuned carburetor, if a perfectly tuned carburetor could be perfect all the time. After our day aboard both the 250 and the 300 TPI bikes we can't find a complaint or a reason to miss the carburetor. If all of this technology isn't for you, the 300 will be carbureted for another year in the U.S., but everyone is going to have to accept fuel injection on your two-strokes moving forward. The 2018 KTM 250 XC-W TPI will be available in the States in October/November this year. KTM will still be selling their entire two-stroke line with carburetors in 2018, but we are going to make the prediction that the carbure- tor's future is bleak, and we are okay with that. CN 2018 KTM 250 XC-W TPI ENGINE TYPE: ........................ Water-cooled, 2-stroke, single-cylinder DISPLACEMENT: ................................. 249cc BORE X STROKE: .................... 64.4 x 72mm STARTER:......................Electric, lithium ion 12V 2Ah / kickstarter TRANSMISSION: ........... 6-speed, wide ratio FUEL SYSTEM: ............TPI, Dell'Orto 39mm throttle body LUBRICATION: .......Electronically regulated oil pump PRIMARY RATIO:.................................. 26:73 FINAL DRIVE: ....................................... 13:50 CLUTCH: .......... Wet multi-disc DDS clutch, Brembo hydraulics IGNITION: .............................. Synerjet EMS FRAME: .............Central double-cradle type 25CrMo4 steel SUBFRAME: .................................. Aluminum HANDLEBAR: .................... Neken, aluminum FRONT SUSPENSION: WP Xplor USD, 48mm REAR SUSPENSION: ...............Single shock, WP Xplor PDS FRONT WHEEL TRAVEL: ..................... 11.8 in. REAR WHEEL TRAVEL: .......................12.2 in. FRONT BRAKE: .............260mm, single disc REAR BRAKE: ...............22Omm, single disc FRONT RIM: ....................1.60 x 21 in. Giant REAR RIM: ...................... 2.15 x 18 in. Giant FRONT TIRE: ..............80/100-21 in. Dunlop Geomax AT81 REAR TIRE: ............... 110/100-18 in. Dunlop Geomax AT81 RAKE: ................................................... 26.5° TRIPLE CLAMP OFFSET: ..................... 22mm WHEELBASE: .......................... 58.3 ± 0.4 in. GROUND CLEARANCE: ...................... 14.6 in. SEAT HEIGHT: ................................... 37.8 in. FUEL CAPACITY: ................................ 2.4 gal WEIGHT (without fuel): .................. 227 lbs. S P E C I F I C A T I O N S