KTM shows a new all-wheel-drive motorcycle under development

2004 The all-wheel drive motorcycle seems certain to become more widespread over coming years as yet another major motorcycle manufacturer has disclosed its activities in the area. Austrian motorcycle powerhouse KTM is working in conjunction with Öhlins in the development of a mechanical/hydraulic system for driving the front wheel.

A 2WD equipped KTM 525 EXC has been race tested in Europe recently by KTM Sport Director and former Factory Rider Kurt Nicoll.

Austrian motorcycle powerhouse KTM has been around longer than Honda, Yamaha and Ducati, but only really became a recognised international marque in the last 25 years, thanks to its fast and reliable off-road motorcycles.

After a string of world championships in enduro, rally and motocross, the company is expanding aggressively. This year it contested the World 125 Road Racing Championships, next year it will contest the 250 class too, and the company is in testing with a V4 990cc MotoGP engine which may be used as early as 2005 too. The company has also shown a number of variations of a 950 V-twin sports bike for the road.

It is not neglecting its dirt bikes though, and “just wants to be one of the first companies on the ball, using prototypes to test the suitability of 2-wheel drive under different conditions,” according to project leader, Wolfgang Felber.

“What we’re testing at the moment is a mechanical hydraulic system with a pre-set torque distribution between the front and rear wheel,” he said. “This system is already fairly well developed, but can definitely be improved upon.”

“Only after that can the decision be made to produce a limited batch,” he said.

Interestingly, the leader in this 2WD area is undoubtedly Yamaha, which has a limited edition machine for sale already , the 2-trac system having been developed in conjunction with Öhlins. Yamaha has been Öhlins majority shareholder for several years now and has been working on the two wheel drive system for 15 years with Öhlins.

Though the first motorcycle to be offered with Yamaha's 2-Trac system is an off-road competition machine based on the WR450F enduro machine, tests on an R1 1000cc supersport road bike have shown an incredible speed differential on wet tarmac - tests at the tight Swedish Karlskoga roadracing circuit showed the 2-trac-fitted R1 to offer a whopping five second per lap advantage over a standard machine when the circuit was wet.

...continued