2016 KTM 250 SX-F Factory Edition First Riding Impression

If Looks Could Kill

Photos By Jimmy Lewis

KTM has been a frontrunner for some time now. They have been killing it from a performance point of view but a marketing point of view as well. A case in point is the 2016 250 SX-F Factory Edition. It comes equipped with the 250 Red Bull/Troy Lee factory team graphics, rims, muffler, grips, and even a very similar set of orange triple clamps. If I was a performance parts sponsor of the KTM Factory Team it would be my goal for my product to be attached to the 2017 Factory Edition’s. Not only is this a beautiful bike but it’s a light bike. A claimed three pounds alone have been shed with the 48 MM WP AER Fork.

All looks aside the first thing that grabbed my attention was the throttle response. It was always crisp with power on demand. We switched the mapping to the aggressive via the handlebar mounted switch to fill the void from the power deliveries first hit to the second long winded pull to 14,000 RPM. The aggressive map actually making it one smooth curve was even more potent. I was blown away by the outright power of the motor. Looking at specs it came to my knowledge that this motor (same as 2016 250SX-F with just the FMF muffler and final drive gearing being different) has been refined by a long shot but you will have to wait for the full test to find out all the details.

Next off the chassis was pretty amazing–Light yet planted. It loved dropping into ruts. Throwing this bike around in the air took next to no effort as you could go into a whip, pancake, or turn down rather easy. Going a little softer on air fork pressure and lifting the back end a little made me pretty satisfied with the stock shock and fork settings. With more time spent testing this Factory Edition machine we will produce a more indepth Bike Test very soon.

Maybe the biggest tell of this machine was the looks I got with it in the back of my truck, but that was not all. At Pala Raceway we even had a kid come over with a pen and notepad. I have to be honest, I signed my own name.