Issue #243 Bleeding Orange
Written by John Fuller   
Wednesday, 16 July 2008
What you read on these pages are ideas, moments and topics drawn from Real Life Experiences, such as my new love affair with KTM. As with most new relationships, it takes time to fully understand and appreciate the other. You’d think. Yet, the first time I owned a European brand dirt bike, I thought it might take a while before my life would “change” and my set notions about two-wheeled off-roading be challenged. It didn’t.
The clues started popping out of my subconscious, weighing on me, and forcing my attention to the change that was surely in progress. The redheaded Austrian-built EXC530R, it seemed, was unlike any other girl I had ever shared time with.
Following an off-highway excursion I often call my long time riding buddy Pete, who lives in Squamish, BC, a hop skip and a ferry ride from my Victoria home, to brag about year round riding. My first KTM-era call went through to Pete and included the usual barrage of dirt bike sounds, screams, hollers and promises to outride him during our next encounter. “My new 530 rocks,” I shouted, to emphasize the point. Reviewing the second call I made to Pete’s voice messaging service, I noticed I again offered praises to the mighty 530 KTM but added, that after a few weeks of ownership, this motorcycle had become the very height of my glee and that my time with her had not only added to my abilities but also increased the speed at which I could ride.
My world was turning orange—had I always bought so many orange coloured products while grocery shopping? Cantaloupe, orange juice orange packaged granola and orange cheddar: I stared in disbelief at the items in the shopping cart, searching my memory bank for other common themes, then realized with a start that my clothing was getting its share of orange pieces too. It’s not that I had never heard of KTM Love Addiction. Victoria-area adventure rider Dave Hunt sports an orange tattoo to show his commitment and is among many motorcyclists who live the Austrian brand’s lifestyle. I just never really thought it would afflict me, since I was already a seasoned off-road rider who lives in a dirt bike subculture, confident no machine could ever allow me to reach that first adolescent high.
The ride prior to my third message was with an XCF250W four-stroke KTM and its very popular sister, the XCW250 two-stroke, pushing the boundaries of speed in the bush and experiencing enlightenment on lightweight woods bikes. Having grown up with two-strokes and riding one well into the late 1980s—much like almost everyone else—it came as no surprise that the XCW250 two-stroke would be fun to ride. More than that though, it lit a wick in my brain that began burning brighter.
KTM is one of the remaining few manufacturers still selling the pre-mix burning beauties, and the only one offering electric-start two-strokes! Pete owns a two-stroke and it is now easy to understand why: here’s a bike that allows mindless descents, careless steering effort and maximum power from minimum weight. And that’s not even exploring the ease of maintenance and low cost of repair.
The third call went like this. “Hey Pete, you’re a cheater,” I accused. “All along I thought we were on the same types of bikes, but now I can plainly see that you are riding a two-stroke cheater bike.”
It begins with a light haze of smoke in the air and ends with me working down a rocky streambed on the XC250W; the bike just wanted me to go faster, though the trail was littered with basketball-sized rocks. I climbed objects and obstacles with less effort while the bike’s light weight allowed me to launch bunny hops off small stump clusters.
During my last phone call to him, I was all but screaming: “These KTM machines are mind boggling,” I raved. “They just ooze speed and ease of riding, and now I have a two-stroke just like you. I just bought a new XC250W.”
All that was not so long ago, and while
I’m all for marketing a product, a company has gone too far when its customers can’t help but purchase new bike after new bike. Within six months of riding that first new KTM, my garage had become totally orange. I’m afraid the next time I cut myself, I may actually bleed the same colour.
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