KTM MX1 News and Bike Photos

[Gravel911]

Found this news report and photos of the 2008 MX1 bike.
Certainly looks pretty sweet. Interesting looking Frame!

01.04.2008
Stefan Everts talks about the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team for the 2008 MX Season.

Ahead of this year’s MX World Championship season we see a new face in MX1 and a threeman team for MX2. How are things shaping up for the start of the season?
Yes, this year we have German rider Max Nagl in MX1 and in MX2 we have three riders
with Portuguese rider Rui Goncalves joining Tyla Rattray and Tommy Searle. So far I am
quite satisfied with the preparations and I am very happy with the new bike, the engine
and with modifications to the frame.

What do you expect in MX1 for Max Nagl?
Max had some injury problems during the first half of the 2007 season but he finished
strongly. He is fit and ready for 2008 and he is aiming for more podiums, which I think
he can achieve. He did not spend too much time on the bike during the first part of the
winter break because I wanted him to be hungry for it when he did start riding. This
season I would like him to mature and to benefit from the experience in MX1. We did
tests in November and December and I was very happy with the results. Now he is
preparing for the season in Spain and we are making some tests and adjustments to
the suspension.

Turning to MX2, Tyla Rattray had to have knee reconstruction surgery at the end of last
season. Is he going to be 100% fit for 2008?
Yes. This time Tyla stayed longer at home in South Africa over the winter break. It
gave him the opportunity to take advantage of the good weather and to get in some
riding practice after his operation. I have spoken to him and he tells me that he is
very positive and he will be fighting for the title. I believe he has a big chance to
achieve that. In the meantime, Tyla has also been working hard on his physical
fitness so he will be in excellent shape for the start of the season.

We have just learnt that Tommy Searle will be racing for KTM in the USA for the 2009-
2010 seasons, how will this affect his 2008 season in Europe?
I think it will make him even more focused. He will want to win the world championship
title and take it with him to the USA. I think it is a shame that he is going, but
that is his dream and we have to respect that. But he will still be riding for KTM in
the US so we can’t say we have lost him. Tommy decided to do his pre-season preparation in the US, which is quite understandable, given the fact that this is where
he will be racing in 2009 and 2010. I expect him to be even better this season than
last year and I think both he and Tyla will be MX2 title contenders in 2008.

And we have a new face in MX2 with Rui Goncalves. What is your opinion of him?
Rui is a nice guy and what I like about him is that he is a very hard worker. He
struggled with injuries up to the middle of 2007 and I started to coach him in
the second half of the season. I told him he would get podiums and he did. Rui
is a very good starter and this is in his favour. It has a big influence on your results
if you can get away well at the start.

[CRF119]

Im not a KTM fan normaly but that is a dam nice bike. Have they not sussed out a alloy frame yet? Engine looks typicly wierd to lol.

Last KTM i rode was a 2004 250sx nice to ride a lil gutless but i liked the nippy handeling it seamed to have and the brakes and clutch where good.

[Danger]

Welcome to Kiwi Biker Gravel and thanks for sharing. Stick around and get to know us there are a great bunch of guys in here.
I posted pics a couple of months ago of that bike with the perimeter frame to note the use of the progressive spring in another conversation we were having here. In recent years on the factory bikes they often have hidden the use of progressive springs by using a titanium spring with a small progression at both ends. How could they be seen to be using progressive springs when they were foisting the cheaper to produce straight rate springs on the public and telling everyone they were better? Here they are using what appears to be your every day off the shelf PDS (progressive damping system) spring that they used up unitl 2004 on their production bikes before switching to straights to over come set up problems that customers had with the top out spring shocks they used in 2003-2004. These are known as PDS0, PDS1....up to PDS8 and all have different ratings. The PDS0 to PDS4 were all 250mm long and were on the PDS shocks until 2001 when they went to the PDS5 to PDS8 which were 260mm long with slightly different ratings. A more accurate description for them would be dual rate springs because once the close coils close (coil bind) thats when the higher rate steps in although the result is a more progressive rear end.
Here are the WP PDS rates if anyone is interested. By they way WP used to be known as White Power but in this politically correct world we now live in is now known just as WP. (And Rick, EXC stands for Enduro Cross Country, not Excec lol).

PDS-0=6.5/8.3-250mm long
PDS-1=7.0/9.0-250
PDS-2=7.5/9.6-250
PDS-3=8.0/10.3-250
PDS-4=8.5/11.1-250

PDS-5=6.6/8.6-260mm long
PDS-6=7.1/9.0-260
PDS-7=7.6/9.5-260
PDS-8=8.1/9.9-260

WP straight rate springs are available in 250mm and are available in 6.3, 6.6, 6.9, 7.2, 7.6, 8.0, 8.4, 8.8, 9.2 and 9.7.

There are even progressive springs available from aftermarket companys like Race Tech that have different ratings and are even more progressive than the WP springs.

Sorry if I'm getting off track a bit I tend to do that sometimes lol!

There are also pics of a KTM using an alloy perimeter frame but the main reason for using aluminum in the Japanese bikes is the shortage of steel in Asia and that aluminum is cheaper. In bicycles steel frames can be made lighter than when using alloy because you need to use more aluminum than steel for the same strength. So I don't think its a case of KTM not having sussed out an aluminum frame but more likely they can get a better feeling bike and lighter with steel. KTM still has the lightest bikes in comparison to the competition using the current frame. Some of that is due to the use of the PDS shock and no linkage but their steel frames are very light. And European steel has always been superior to Asian steel. And KTM likes to be different and not follow the Japanese bikes in design and fashion and I respect them for that and its what many KTM riders like about them. I note that the steel tubes on this bike are way smaller than the current frames on the production bikes and is probably a result of using the perimeter frame instead of the back bone frame. Interesting to see if and when they make it into production. I've heard from someone inside KTM that the 50mm forks are coming. Bigger is not always better however and as fork diameter increases so does rigidity and stiction.

[nonferrous]

Welcome to Kiwi Biker Gravel and thanks for sharing.

There are also pics of a KTM using an alloy perimeter frame but the main reason for using aluminum in the Japanese bikes is the shortage of steel in Asia and that aluminum is cheaper. In bicycles steel frames can be made lighter than when using alloy because you need to use more aluminum than steel for the same strength. So I don't think its a case of KTM not having sussed out an aluminum frame but more likely they can get a better feeling bike and lighter with steel. KTM still has the lightest bikes in comparison to the competition using the current frame. Some of that is due to the use of the PDS shock and no linkage but their steel frames are very light. And European steel has always been superior to Asian steel. And KTM likes to be different and not follow the Japanese bikes in design and fashion and I respect them for that and its what many KTM riders like about them. I note that the steel tubes on this bike are way smaller than the current frames on the production bikes and is probably a result of using the perimeter frame instead of the back bone frame. Interesting to see if and when they make it into production. I've heard from someone inside KTM that the 50mm forks are coming. Bigger is not always better however and as fork diameter increases so does rigidity and stiction.

Not quite correct Danger - High tensile aluminium is much more expensive than steel and when porportioning aluminium to replace steel and optomising the structural shape of the section aluminium will give better than 40% weight savings compared with steel - this is why the auto industry is using more and more aluminium in transport - plus it doesn't rust

[Gravel911]

Thanks for the welcome Danger

Mate you had a lot of information in your post...thanks for sharing.

It will be very interesting to see if KTM do go to a Alloy Frame. I would be surprised......you would think they would have gone that way before now if they were going to.

[nonferrous]

Thanks for the welcome Danger

Mate you had a lot of information in your post...thanks for sharing.

It will be very interesting to see if KTM do go to a Alloy Frame. I would be surprised......you would think they would have gone that way before now if they were going to.

KTM being a Euro manufacturer have to pay higher wages to their employees than Asian manufacturers - this equals higher fabrication costs - so they use cheaper materials "steel" with cheaper "fabrication technologies associated with steel" to try and provide a competitive product - lets not get too blinded by the marketing hype