1988 KX250

[head]

Where did you get the foam from?

[firko]

the KTM was still too European

What does that mean?

[Nathan S]

That it didn't fit into the expectations of the late teen and twenty-something punters that buy most new MX bikes.
That it was 'weird', with the kick-starter on the left.
That there weren't ten dealers within 50kms of your house.
That the way it made power, and handled, was significantly different to the jap bikes of the day and didn't/doesn't suit our tracks as well as the jap bikes.
That they still needed 'the touch' to get them working perfectly.
They still had relatively clunky gearboxes, forks with a big mid-stroke spike, and brakes that lacked bite - which were typical of the Euro bikes of the era and are tangible failings compared to the Big$'s offerings of the day.

The 88 KTM125MX I owned was not a patch on the 88 KX125, esp not on a typical Australian MX track. Hell, an 86 CR125 is significantly better than the KTM.
Give me a Euro style, rough natural terrain track covered in heavy loam, and I'd seriously consider the KTM as a race bike of choice.

[firko]

That's a pretty fair take on it. I agree with you on the WP fork spike...I never understood why people go apeshit to fit 'em to their bikes, the Showas were so much better. I thought the Kato brakes (Brembo?) were pretty good though.Thanks for that Nathan.

[whitey 43]

Where did you get the foam from
Evilbay...U.S, got the cover for $15!

[Marc.com]

The 88 KTM125MX I owned was not a patch on the 88 KX125, esp not on a typical Australian MX track. Hell, an 86 CR125 is significantly better than the KTM.
Give me a Euro style, rough natural terrain track covered in heavy loam, and I'd seriously consider the KTM as a race bike of choice.

I never rated the MX bikes but give me an Enduro loop and the 88/89 KTM 350 was the best bike I ever had. My 89 bike was very well used ex 4 day winner and finally reliability became and issue and I traded on WR250, but it was never as good,  missed having a 'real' enduro bike.

[Nathan S]

The late 80s KTMs were definitely excellent enduro bikes - gets back to Euro MX being relatively enduro-like, I guess.
As much as I love my KDXes, there's no comparison between them and a KTM for real enduro use.