RUST magazine: Rust#3

ama
To be fair, I also don’t want to place too much
stock on this taster-ride, it would be unfair to
KTM. This is an unofficial import with a few mods;
KTM UK have had no part in it and can’t be held
accountable for its performance. And on a point
of detail it’s not got the MX air forks, which is a
shame, but instead the 4CS tackle we typically
see on Six Days models (and Husqvarnas).
And as a further caveat, I’d like to ride it a lot
more comprehensively over a proper enduro
course before casting a solid opinion.
First impressions though, yeah, it’s lovely
and light, runs real sweet and has that sense
of engine and chassis optimisation that we’re
looking for in a new bike. However, I’m not
detecting a blow-your-socks-off wow-factor here.
The 2017 model year 250EXC-F will need to
be at the top of its game when it arrives next
summer, as the latest Yamaha WR250F is such
a weapon. We need the new KTM to have the
Yam’s screaming-blue-murder top end rush, and
some of the low-end gutsiness of the existing
250EXC-F. That’s probably quite an ask. With
the test bike in question (here) I’m not sure that’s
all present. But then this is an XC-F, one of those
hybrid cross-country machines: half motocrosser,
half enduro, and in my experience not quite as
good as either in their respective environments.
These bikes have been hit and miss ever since
we first tried them.
But I like the conflicting opinions. Si’s superkeen,
I’m reserving judgement. Si thinks it looks