Dirt Rider Torture Test

The finale of our EnduroCross test included dragging the bike under two poles. Jimmy Lewis says AWD helps.

#115 Christini
KTM 250 XC-W(e)
More Power For Pulling, Please
We're very familiar with Christini-equipped machines. So are you as a dedicated DR reader. We've tested every combination available and have been riding and commenting on the mechanism through all its stages of development. Now that it's been a finished product for over a year, we thought including a Christini bike in the Torture Test would be an excellent idea.

Geoff Aaron has recently found success in a new form of motorcycle competition that has nothing to do with wearing tights or riding vertically up trees: He's taken his immense pile of bike skill and a Christini KTM to the toughest races in the country and finished well. His runner-up (and only other finisher) result at this year's Red Bull Last Man Standing is a huge statement. So we borrowed Geoff and our KTM 250 XC-W(e) Christini for some torture time!

Overall, the Christini did manage to surprise most of us, yet again. We know the benefits of the system and those benefits showed up often. We also know the negatives (increased weight, a learning curve to get used to the front wheel sensation and overall power-sapping). What we didn't really know was how it would work through all our tests.

The weather helped out this bike big time by dumping a couple inches of rain all over Glen Helen the night before our event. With the mud holes, the first benefit of AWD came quickly. Pete Peterson noticed it right away.

Christini started the test with a bike that had been our test bike and Homero Diaz's EnduroCross bike. Pictured: Steve Christini, Geoff Aaron, Diaz and Hector Troncoso.

"The powered front wheel really pulled through the thick mud sections. It drove forward and stayed straight," Peterson said.

That's saying a lot coming from Pete. He's usually too scared to ride in the mud. But he was right. If you sit back and enjoy the muddy ride, the Christini bike will pull you through easily.

As with all the nasty elements in the world of off-road, the Christini generally makes them easier. Technical hillclimbs, rocky sections and slippery logs are all tackled with less effort and at a faster pace. Was this made for the desk-bound, suit-wearing off-road enthusiast who doesn't get out enough to improve his skills? Or maybe it's the workingman's bike. Well, there's no one better to ask than Finley. He's our publisher and is the closest we have to anyone around here with a real job.

"For extremely technical trails, this bike can make the difference between a fun day and a real struggle. If I rode in those supertechnical conditions a lot, with riders who are better than me on that kind of stuff, I would want to have the Christini to help narrow the gap and keep me from being the guy who's holding everybody up," Finley said.

Honestly, we hope he doesn't get one because he's faster than most of us already. Even the wisest trail hound among us, Kramer, said that if he could get past the cost and the added weight, he'd need new riding buddies because he'd be that much better.

But that doesn't mean everything about the Christini is easier or that it improves every riding situation. This bike was a 250, and not a knock-our-socks-off 250 twostroke screamer at that. It seemed down on power, and the additional drag of the front-drive system had the bike lagging behind even more. It's hooking up and moving, just not screamingly fast. So when you're at a lower rpm, the motor can't pick up by spinning because it won't. That's too bad, because these AWD systems work best when a bike is making horsepower. On the high speeds of the GP and motocross tracks, Lewis could barely feel a benefit to the AWD since the bike wouldn't spin up and rev. It also turned with traction, but not as fast as a bike he was sliding in at speed.

"I didn't feel any advantage with AWD in the GP test. It wouldn't let the bike spin up and rev fast like I was used to, and I didn't feel the turning was any better because I was used to sliding all the others and this bike didn't slide at speed," Lewis said.

The Christini is definitely something to get used to. And if you do, the thing does some magical things. The bike loves low-traction situations. If your rear tire is gripping, the front doesn't help. But if you can get on a flat turn or dry, loose soil and spin up the rear, then the front takes the cue and pulls. This was obvious to me in the motocross test. I stopped taking outside lines and started hugging the insides. The front end would bite, I would point where I wanted to go and gas it. The bike followed in complete control. The same happened on our flat Escargot test. Keefer was in the saddle all day and when the Christini came through, he was stoked.

"This AWD bike is a fun machine! Great front-end bite and the lean angle was great. I could lay it over really far for traction and the power was consistent," Keefer said after he unwound from doing the longest turn in the history of mankind.

In most cases, if you keep the Christini's front wheel on the ground, spin up the motor so the AWD is efficiently engaging and have medium to poor traction situations, this bike is going to blow you away. If you're lofting the wheel, are roosting in tacky dirt or lugging a bike around in the bottom of the rpm range, quirky things will raise their quirky heads. Other compromises in braking and all-out acceleration are made as well. It's just not the same as other bikes. Even the bikes it's made out of.

The Christini is heavily modified with a large chain-drive system and altered gas tank which widens the ride and gives a noticeable feel at the knees, as well as reduces capacity. This bothered testers who had never ridden a Christini before. Testers who had Christini experience didn't notice it. Pop a wheelie or loft the front end at a crawl and you'll feel all that ingenuity working at or above the feeling of a steering damper. The system doesn't necessarily pull one way or another; it's a wild blend of gyroscopic forces. And if you're screaming down a trail or section of track and need to be on the brakes hard enough to do a stoppie, the system on our Torture Test bike would sometimes work against your brakes by continuing to drive through them.

In the end, the system made more fans at this year's Torture Test and reminded us that if we have AWD, we want more power. -Jesse Ziegler