ASK THE MXPERTS: IS KTM ADDING WEIGHT TO DUNGEY’S FACTORY EDITION?

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Dear MXA,
    Everybody from TV announcers to internet trolls to magazine writers are saying that KTM has to add weight to Ryan Dungey’s KTM Factory Edition to make it legal. Somehow, I don’t believe this. What is the true story?

Since the 2015-1/2 KTM 450SXF Factory Edition IV rolls off the assembly line at 226 pounds (without gas, but with all other fluids), KTM does not have to add weight to make it AMA legal—it is six pounds over the limit as it sits. Under current AMA rules a 450 is allowed to weigh 220 pounds. Thus the stock KTM 450SXF is not under the weight limit by six pounds. KTM team manager Roger DeCoster does not allow his mechanics to take the weight below 221 pounds. He wants a margin of safety — given possible variations between KTM’s scales and the AMA’s scales. Why is Roger so conservative? When Roger was the Honda team manager Ricky Johnson’s bike came in under the weight limit and the mechanic concocted a story about how the skid plate had fallen off and the AMA let Ricky off. But, Roger knew that there was no heavyweight skid plate laying on the track somewhere and that the mechanic had ignored his commandment that there be a one-pound safety margin. That mechanic was not at Team Honda the next year.

It may be the lightest production 450 on the showroom, but KTM does not have to add weight to it to come up the AMA’s mininum weight.

As to the reason why pit pundits are saying that KTM has to add weight on the Factory Edition, it stems back to the last year’s KTM 450SXF, which came off the showroom floor at 236 pounds. Even with the extra 10 pounds, Dungey’s mechanic, Carlos Rivera,  was able to get it as close to the 220-pound weight limit as DeCoster would allow. This meant the use of Ti bolts, light saddle, a tiny battery and lots of exotica. By extrapolation, if Carlos applied all of those 2014 measures to the 2015 bike it would be way under the AMA weight limit. So, no, KTM is not adding weight to Dungey’s 450SXF Factory Edition IV. It is just not necessary to save as much weight to get where they want to be.

 

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