2010 KTM 350 SX-F Announced at EICMA Milan
KTM has officially announced the arrival of its new 2010 KTM 350 SX-F, a ground-breaking motocross dirt bike which will blend the performance boundaries between the established 250 and 450 divisions. The bike isn’t currently in production, but you can bet that they will be moving it through the assembly line as quickly as possible in order to get it homologated for racing use in America. This is the bike that Mike Alessi was rumored to be racing and developing in Europe during the Supercross season and then bringing to the States for competition in the outdoor Motocross series. As the rules stand, this machine would be legal to ride in the 450 class.
Stefan Everts has been instrumental in the development process, and consequently the only photos that have been released show the bike in full Everts racing garb, so it’s tough to decipher what will be standard on the bike. However, we can see that the new 350 SX-F looks to be fuel-injected and does not have a kickstarter – which obviously means it’s electric start like the
KTM 450 SX-F. Other major news includes the suspension. White Power components are the norm, but out back is a set of linkage which is a major deviation from the norm that KTM has struggled so hard to prove over the years.
KTM calls it a “very mature prototype,” but the Austrian manufacturer has not yet set a date for production of this new motorcycle. Rest assured, once it starts cranking out the serial numbers, these babies will be flying off showroom floors as quickly as they arrive. Times are hard for OEMs, but this news has to up the ante for the rest of the big Japanese companies.
Yamaha is traditionally the one to bust out a completely new model, but KTM has beaten them to the punch with a bike that has been begged for by consumers since the 450F and 250F machines were first introduced. It seems like this new model, as KTM describes it, may indeed forge a new path in the motocross world.
