With the announcement of the 2015 KTM Factory Editions there is an insight to where KTM is heading with all of its off-road bikes and a sign that the company is full-steam ahead in development of products and image. Now with a 450 and 250F versions of the Factory Edition, the brand is making full use of Pro Racing rules and giving racers what they need and the bike buying public what they want. And those that want special editions and have enough cash can have one too.
Focusing significantly on weight, there was much more that went into the designs of the new machines. THe 15.5 FE’s will be the platform for the 2016 SX standard bikes and likely the XC and XC-Ws (as much as will transfer over to off-road). In a nutshell, racing drove some performance targets for the bikes that R&D was tasked with going into production. But it wasn’t so easy. Because when one thing changed (lighter weight, different chassis rigidity, altered weight bias) everything else had to be adapted. But instead of settling, each component’s team pushed forward with the challenges, often going past what would be ordinary for someone working on a project. The end result can be seen in even the small details like the self-cleaning footpeg or shifter tip or the air flow over the radiators. Such is the motivation in a racing driven company with workers who are riders and fans.
The weight was scrapped in areas to the point that grams were being mentioned in a sport where pounds were common. As much as there is some new thinking, better materials and more refined testing, both real-world and digital are to be credited. The simple change from a standard battery to a Li-Ion unit can easily drop three pounds not to mention the elimination of the kick-starter and its gears plus the related cases. Beyond that relocation of parts and mass centralization will likely have a more of an effect on the way the bike feels on the track. Look at the design changes to the all-new 250cc engine and where the clutch basket moved upwards and forward as a clue to this.
Additional structure within KTM is allowing factory efforts for teams like the Troy Lee Designs / Lucas Oil / Red Bull / KTM team and the BTO Sports-KTM race team in addition to its own Factory KTM Red Bull team. These teams will al be racing the 2015 Factory Edition bikes. Even though KTM is growing into a large motorcycle manufacturer, it is still flexible enough to have smaller production runs of the FE’s to allow for testing at the highest level for the following year’s models. With a business plan the has many different variations of the same bike, from a production standpoint, these Factory Editions make sense on many levels.
The FE’s were put on the fast track so the race teams will be able to use them in Anaheim come January, available in limited numbers to the public in February. In reality the Factory Editions are the shells to make a very competitive race bike without a lot of the fine-tuning that needs to go into setting up a production bike for everyone. Yet these bikes have an outer polish and look that all but makes up for it for those willing to pay up for a year’s head start on the rest of the motocross field.
