2017. 5 KTM Factory Editions Details

Today KTM unveiled the most recent Factory Edition race bikes. The good news is there is still a 250F FE, the bad news is this year’s Factory Edition racers will not have the radical advances that we saw more than each of the past two years. The ‘standard’ 2017 KTM 450SX-F and 250SX-F are not exactly in need of much, even though. The 250F recently scored another in our 250F MX Shootout, as well as the 450 MX Shootout results… properly, we haven’t published those however, but the SX-Fs are both very competing bikes in their classes.

The biggest change on the new Factory Editions is updates to the suspension. Both machines get some new fork parts – each side of the WP separate function fork gets some thing: a new air piston, air seal and rebound spring on the still left side and a new piston on the damping leg on the right. In addition to the hardware changes, there are valving improvements both front and rear. These changes are not targeted at pro-only riders, they are updates to make these bikes better for the same target customer KTM aimed the 2017 ‘standard’ SF-X models at.

In addition to the suspension system changes, the bikes get automotive aftermarket slip on mufflers. The 450 gets an Akrapovic muffler, and the 250F gets an FMF muffler. Both get their own race team visuals (Red Bull KTM for the 450 and Troy Lee Designs for that 250), as well as orange anodization to the CNC machined triple clamps.

All of us cornered KTM’s Tom Moen after the bike presentation to learn more about what the changes were focused toward. He told us that the WP engineers’ goal was more comfort with better hold up. This is always a goal, but he told us the particular WP suspension team is set on proving the air fork can work much better than any coil spring fork. When it comes to piston changes, it was a case of changing the piston’s port size in the move to make a bigger change than just valving can accomplish. He also stated there was a focus on consistency and improved tolerances from suppliers, plus revealed that WP went from the plastic piston back to a sintered piston in the fork.

He went on to share some interesting info about their MX bike customer, and exactly what that means to the bike feel that KTM is striving for, “We’re not altering our target customer. Nowadays it’s hard to produce motorcycles for the consumers out there in the motocross market mainly because as a whole, it’s generally older. Whenever they tell you who’s buying your motorbike, the average age is 48 years of age. A guy who’s buying our 250F or our 450 is still forty eight. Now is it a father purchasing it for his son? You never know. So we changed, a couple years ago, our spring rates. On our models we went down on rates because a lot of the riders, we were kind of on the heavier side [before] and we were penalizing lighter guys; they had to buy lighter in weight springs. So now our focus on rate for the 250F is the 145 to 168 pound range, and the bike’s sprung for that. And for the particular 450, about 170 to 190 is the range. ”

If you think the Factory Editions are very narrowly focused on pro riders, reconsider, they are just the next step forward for that SX-F line. That said, right after the particular bikes were introduced, KTM do team introductions of their 2017 racers on the Red Bull, Rocky Hill ATV/MC, and Troy Lee Designs- backed teams then send them out on the KTM supercross check track so we could see exactly what these Factory Editions could perform. Check out those other stories on the 2017 KTM team riders publishing on our website shortly.