KTM 200EXC (2006)

I'll be honest with you. The last time I rode a KTM 200EXC I didn't like it. For someone who spends his dirt time on a four-stroke, the 200cc two-stroke felt light, agile and undeniably fast, but I got the impression the highly strung little beast would like to twang me into the scrub at any moment. I've revised my opinion of this zappy little bike, and frankly, along with the Gas Gas 250 it's the only two-stroke I'd really like to own. I can see how a zinger-phobe would love this KTM and get a lot of pleasure from it.

The 200cc two-stroke machine is under-estimated, and in something of a marketing cul-de sac because most two-stroke riders these days prefer a 250 or 300. But if you spend most of your time in tight terrain, zipping through the flora, as it were, riding hot on a KTM 200EXC would be one way to make a lasting impression on your mates - if they ever get close enough to appreciate your stunt riding.

I'll start by telling you about the things I like. Number one is the way the thing looks. The 'EXC Racing' graphics look hot and spicy and the KTM, as always, carries the best equipment you can get in tapered bars, brakes and controls. If KTM ran a survey to find out why dirt riders like its product so much, it wouldn't surprise me if the answer turned out to be 'It looks cool!' 

The bike is light and amazingly agile. With a little weight on either peg the EXC will turn by itself. There seems to be no weight in it at all, which is good when you're pulling it off a ute or trailer and even better when you're trying to beadle your way through a densely populated eucalypt forest. And it helps when you're working on it. When you're sitting on a milk crate next to the bike and you want to lube the chain, pulling the bike towards you and holding it there with one hand is child's play.

Believe it or not though, there are disadvantages in being a featherweight, and for the KTM it means not only notices but reacts to every nodule and ant footprint on the trail. To a four-stroke rider used to having more weight underneath him, at first a two-stroke feels nervous, a bit twitchy, and the characteristic is amplified by a power delivery that keeps the front end light. On my first ride I thought the bike felt more race than trail oriented but have since changed my opinion. Familiarity breeds affection. The KTM 200EXC exemplifies everything good in the modern dirt bike. To its credit, KTM has managed to build a two-stroke engine that actually has low rpm torque which, from a trail rider's point of view is very useful. You can slither up those rocky little climbs in second or even third gear with a finger on the clutch, and at the same time the engine seems stall-resistant. It was also very easy to start, first or second kick every time. It's also remarkably quiet. We had a couple of WR250s and a WR450 with aftermarket mufflers with us when we evaluated the EXC, and if you stood next to the ute and listened to the boys belting through the scrub, all you could hear was four-stroke belching.

 But there is a hit. Despite adjustable power-valves and all sorts of clever engineering designed to make two-strokes less like Stalin in their demands, their power is still abrupt and requires unremitting concentration to keep on top of it. This engine gets through the six speeds in its gearbox with impressive haste. Over-revving won't make it go any faster either, it simply produces more noise, and 'rolling on the throttle' is more a theory than a riding technique. You don't roll on the throttle, you grab a handful and hold on, precisely what riding a two-stroke is all about.

HOW DO YOU FEEL NOW?
In plain old 'what's it like to ride' terms, the 200EXC is more physical than a four-stroke because it wants to be pushed and requires a fair bit of lever dancing to keep it in the sweetspot. Having no engine braking is weird when you haven't ridden a two-stroke for a while, but few dirt bikes are quicker point-to-point through tight stuff than this one. It's much easier to ride than a 125cc two-stroke, because it has useful low-speed torque where a 125 has none, and refuses to intimidate you as a full-house 250cc would.

The KTM is beautifully balanced, and real fighter-jock ride when you're standing on the pegs and weaving along a nice swoopy trail. It steers precisely and feels sure-footed. The suspension is arrogant enough to be untroubled by the likes of rock ledges, big ruts, the dreaded square-edge pothole and, if you're riding in the bush anywhere near Newcastle, the odd bandoned washing-machine or burned-out Commodore. The fork compression clicker has 36 settings between Hard and Soft and was set about 10 clicks out from Hard when I picked up the bike. That was a tad hard for an old lard-arse like me so I backed it off until it was 16 clicks out from Soft. That was a too soft, and the fork felt like it was deflecting a little, so I gave it another three clicks towards Hard. In the end I finished up one click on the Hard side of centre and that felt fine. It didn't feel necessary to adjust the shock settings.

 This is by no means a cruisy bike. Snappy power, quick steering and acrobatic agility make it perfect for single-line trails, and any situation calling for rapid changes of direction, but like all two-strokes it's awful on-road and can't wait to get back on the dirt.

The best thing about it is its responsiveness and the ease with which it changes direction. If you put the same body English into turning this bike that you put into a four-stroke, you'll pull an inadvertent U-turn. After two days, I liked the KTM so much, and it was so well suited the trails Dr Dan and I ride, that I wanted to ask KTM if I could keep it for another fortnight. This is a drop-dead beautiful bike. Fast, light, exhilarating, and bloody good fun.

WHAT WE LIKE

NOT SO MUCH