KTM Motorcycles

About KTM

KTM Sportmotorcycle AG is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and moped manufacturer. KTM is most commonly known for its off road motorcycles though in recent years it has expanded into street motorcycle production.

The company was founded in 1934 by engineer Hans Trunkenpolz in Mattighofen. It started out as a metal working shop and was named Kraftfahrzeuge Trunkenpolz Mattighofen. In 1937, it started repairing and selling DKW motorcycles, and Opel the following year.

In 1954 KTM began producing motorcycles, almost all of the components being produced in house, with the notable exception of engines, made most often by company Rotax.

In 1955, a businessman Ernst Kronreif became shareholder of the company, on acquiring a sizable portion of the company. It was then renamed Kronreif & Trunkenpolz Mattighofen.

KTM's first moped, called Mecky was launched in 1957, followed by Ponny I in 1960 and Ponny II in 1962, and the decade saw the beginning of the bicycle production.

Kronreif died in 1960 and Trunkenpolz two years later, of a heart attack. Company name was changed back to Kraftrader Trunkenpolz Mattighofen with his son Erich taking managing the company. In 1978, US subsidiary KTM North America Inc. was founded in Lorain, Ohio. In 1980, it was renamed KTM Motor-Fahrzeugbau KG.

Since 1990, KTM motorcycles and automobiles (X-Bow) have been designed by KiskaDesign, a Salzburg-based design firm. It is responsible for the overall branding for KTM; including the design of the vehicles, shops, exhibits and printed material.

KTM first participated in motorsports events in 1953 in the 5th Gaisberg competition in which it won the first three places. One year later, KTM won the Austrian 125 national championship. Two years later, in 1956, KTM participated in the International Six Days race for the first time and Egon Dornauer won the gold. 1966 year marks the winning of the Austrian national championship by Manfred Klerr using the new 250cc Motorcross bike. In 1973, the Austrian team records the first World Championship points and the first Grand Prix wins.

Moto blog

Behind the scenes on a photoshoot

If you read motorcycle magazines - and even road tests on polished websites like this one (!) - you'll be used to seeing pictures of bike journos hamming it up for the camera. Yes they look slick as they kiss another apex, crest another rise with the front wheel pawing the air (those clichés are TM BIKE magazine by the way). But you don't often get to see anything 'behind the scenes'.

Yoshimura adds KTM Super Duke to it's aftermarket line-up

Yoshimura have released a set of exhaust cans for the KTM Super Duke. The RS-3C slip-on is described as a new design for the slip-on end can, based on the traditional oval can but with carbon fibre coned end-caps incorporated. There is a considerable increase in performance over the standard can.

New pictures and video of KTM Freeride electric prototypes

We wrote about the KTM Freeride yesterday on Motorcycle.com and now the Austrian manufacturer has released new photographs of the electric motorcycle prototypes, including pictures from the official unveiling at the Tokyo Motorcycle Show. They are available in our Motorcycle.com gallery. KTM has also released a video of the Freeride in action.

Used Review: Arai Corsair

The comfort of Arai’s lids in the upper range are, for me, beyond compare. I’ve spent the last two years wearing this lid, and, just my luck, I crashed the first time I wore it. Chasing a Fireblade down the Brands Hatch straight, his engine blew sending me and the RC8 I was (briefly) on, sliding across his oil towards the gravel.

KTM Holiday Party and Track Day

It takes a gambler to win and the Austrian motorcycle maker KTM took that gamble on the weather last Friday while throwing a holiday party slash track day at its local Pala Raceway. Known locally for its Indian casino, Pala, California and its motocross raceway was the site of KTM’s Christmas gift to owners and fans. Warding off the falling rain for most of the day, KTM owners had free reign of Pala Raceway’s 200-plus acres, DJ entertainment, product raffles, a look at Team Peterson’s hill climbing team bikes and photos with Santa for the kids and Jager girls for the adult children.

Electric Superbike Unveiled at SEMA [video]

Though it’s generally recognized as a car tuner’s paradise, this year’s SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show in Las Vegas is not without two-wheel appeal. The world’s first production electric superbike, the Mavizen TTX02, was unveiled on Tuesday. The bike has been nicknamed a ‘laptop on wheels’ and is being produced by TTXGP (Time Trial Xtreme Grand Prix) founder Azhar Hussain.

Visordown mag, issue 2 just landed

The latest issue of Visordown mag just arrvied in the office, fresh from the printers. And it's looking great! This month we've got the new KTM 990SMT up against Suzuki's Kayabusa, Honda's VFR800 and BMW's K1300GT - which one is the daddy for sports touring?

Bajaj Auto Owns 25% of KTM

In India, Bajaj Auto is a major player in two and three-wheeled vehicles. They originally purchased a 14.5 percent stake in KTM last year, which was increased to 20.9 percent earlier this year and has now officially reached 25 percent. The companies have been working together to develop high-efficiency bikes, sourcing for production and the assembling of KTM bikes in India for export to Europe under KTM branding.

Off-Road Motorcycle and Free-Ride Bicycle Compared

What if anything do bicycles and motorcycles have in common? Besides the whole two-wheel thing, it isn’t outright apparent that these two “handle-barred beasts” share more than ancient ancestry. Modern Off-road motorcycle and Free-ride bicycle designs side-by-side illustrate how much technology the two have in common.

POW! 2008 KTM RC8 1190 ‘the orange torpedo’

Red, Blue, Green & Black – these are motorcycle colors, right? Well, orange definitely needs to be considered a motorcycle color too. Full discretion first, I’ve a thing for KTM bikes.