Ktm 950 Rally

KTM 950 Rally

Riding the “dirty” factory V-Twin

So, YOU’D GIVE YOUR LEFT DEALLY-BOB TO DO WHAT WE do for a living, eh? Treated like royalty, unobtainable factory racebikes shoved at you left and right? Hey, it’s a paycheck and someone ’s got to do it... Anyway, with Quick Nick off in Spain playing MotoGP Guy, it was up to me to ride KTM’s Dakar-winning LC8 V-Twin. Actually, I snagged (well, begged) a ride on the beast while out training with Team Red Bull/KTM riders Paul Krause, Larry Roeseler and Casey McCoy, showing them the ins and

outs of rally navigation learned during my four tries at the Dakar. At the end of a long, hot day, the 950 still had a little gas in the tank and Krause, who will race the mighty 950 Twin in the 26th running of the rally, was taking a little break, so I got to do a little sand surfing through the magnificent Dumont Dunes deep in the Mojave Desert.

Couldn’t be a better place to ride a 100-horsepower dirtbike. First things first, though: Rally bikes, especially Twins, are big motorcycles with towering seat heights. My factory BMW had a nearly 40-inch-high saddle, and this KTM is no different. To tackle all the Dakar throws your way, you need long-travel suspension and lots of ground clearance, and that hikes the seat waaayyy up in the air. Add at least 12 gallons of gas and things start expanding. The Twin’s wheelbase stretches a good couple inches longer than even the singlecylinder LC4 rally bike, and that was already out there! Electric start only, thank goodness. Blipping the throttle, the bike positively roars through its low-routed 2-into-l exhaust. Makes the hair on your arms stand up-on your back too, if you’re unlucky enough to have any there.

Unlike the works BMWs, which had virtually no stock components, the KTM Rally is based heavily on the 950 Adventure, Still, the racebike is all-business, with a harder edge and more vibration felt through the stiffly padded seat and solid-mount handlebars. Even the fairing, crafted from carbon-fiber, resonates the pulses of the engine back at you. Snap the throttle on this baby and there isn’t any hesitation at all—it feels like there’s very little flywheel holding anything back. Throttle control takes on a whole new meaning!

Exceedingly quick for something ridden off-road, the Rally lunges forward initially like a 450cc MX four-stroke, but about the time one of those is finished, the 950 is merely building steam. Just how fast is it? Well, the GPS doesn't lie, and I saw 112 mph across rough sand with a quarter-turn of throttle left.

The area where the racebike departs most from the produc tion Adventure is in suspension and handling. You can take the standard bike (with Metzeler Karoo knobbies fitted, of course) to the same places the rally bike goes, but not at the same speed, especially if you want to live to tell the tale. With a factory WP fork and a gigantic PDS shock, hitting bumps and g-outs isn't a concern. Well, until you get sideways, but rally racers y that doesn't happen-I h~ow I'm religious -"tit.

Obviously, the 950 racer is way more motorcycle than almost anyone would ever need. That's the reason KTM keeps so few in circulation on the rally circuit. In unskilled hands, the bike is simply an ugly endo waiting to happen. It's fun I to dream of riding bikes like this, but there's a reason they're not sold at the local dealership. Of course, for some of us, it's just another day at the office... -Jimmy Lewis