Our course bermed up deeply,...
Our course bermed up deeply, so the Christini's ability to grab traction where there is none, didn't shine. Here JL is wheelying out of a turn, and a Christini works best when the front wheel is driving.
Dirt Rider Says
If you are talking exotic, it doesn't get much more so than a KTM Christini. At this point you are more likely to run into a guy riding an Aprilia twin in the dirt than you are to see another guy two-wheel-roostin' on a KTM Christini. Based on sheer exclusivity, I was looking forward to the Christini 450 XCW AWD.
When DR explained the selection of the six final Torture Test bikes that we kept for extended testing, Jimmy Lewis mentioned how critical small things were when you have as many great bikes to test as we did. KTM makes a no-nonsense bike that is carefully packed with off-road goodness, and there is not a bunch of room to add even a radiator overflow catch tank, let alone a complete AWD system. Nevertheless, Christini has the unit integrated into the KTM platform very well, but the transition is not without sacrifices.
A stock XCW is the lightest bike in the class, and the Christini was the heaviest bikes we tested. The stocker is slim with an unobtrusive fuel tank, but the Christini is wide enough at the tank to bother some riders. Then the builders added an auto-clutch, lower, moved rearward pegs, Maxxis tires, an exhaust system and a different seat. There were a lot of mods to process. Many of the parts of the bike competed with the AWD for attention.
The weight and ergonomic issues would in no way have torpedoed the bike out of the top six. The AWD is so amazing in real nasty and slippery conditions that we would have forgiven both drawbacks.But other bikes in the test were not confused at all, and had every mod aimed directly at a tangible final goal. Usually the company was replicating or even borrowing the bike of a successful racer, and in most cases, those bikes work amazingly well as a complete package.
Christini's offering felt like a project bike where a list of products were identified as desirable, and they were all included without much testing or tuning to work with the whole concept. The AWD on/off lever is mounted prominently on the bar to ease access, and the addition of handguards put a further squeeze on control room. The result was a clutch lever that was not usable, and the final gearing and chassis set-up was not finessed enough to allow race pace without employing the clutch lever to bolster the Rekluse. The gearing and lever location led to stalling, and overheating of the bike until it was steaming. Our experience with the 450 XCW is that boiling the bike over means you are making it work too hard.
This bike does not alter our opinion of the Christini system, but suffered from what we suspect is a lack of testing, or a committee approach to testing this particular bike. A few days of dialing in would have really helped, but other machines arrived primed for battle, and they won the day.
Poor traction situations like...
Poor traction situations like these rolly rocks are where the bike really does excel. It steers where others push.
Opinions
I liked this bike as a survival trail bike for when conditions are really gnarly, but not as a performance off-road bike. I just moved from a KTM 525 to a KTM 300 XC to get lighter, so the weight of the Christini is a turn-off for me. The great thing about this bike is the confidence the bike gives you that you can go anywhere and handle anything ugly the trail throws at you. It is unbeatable when there are roots or rock stair-steps. I've ridden with guys that would be transformed by this bike, but it isn't what I'm looking for.
Don Kelley 5'11"/195 lb./B rider
I've always loved Christini's I think they did a great job making a two-wheel drive bike perform. With that said, the Christini was a bit of a hassle for this test. The automatic clutch was fried, which I think set the whole bike off, if it was the OEM clutch I think my review would be different. The bike was hard to control on the single track, and wasn't enjoyable because the amount of work you physically had to do to keep the bike sane. KTM's 450 power is always great, and it being two-wheel drive actually took out some of the torque I didn't enjoy on the stock 450. The front end felt really heavy which pushed me through most corners and made the bike's all-around handling weak. The Christini has great potential, but it wasn't set up for the conditions of the course.
Chris Dvoracek 6'/170 lb./Expert
I really was not fond of the extra weight of the AWD. It felt so heavy and sluggish. So many times I wanted to just blip the throttle and bring the front wheel up and over obstacles, but the extra weight made it more difficult to do. The whole experience was worsened by the fact that it was equipped with an auto clutch. Maybe I'm a little old school, but isn't working the clutch part of riding a dirt bike?
Dana Berg
Christini's KTM 450 was a bike that I really wanted to like, but it was simply too much of a good thing (in both weight and complexity). I think the AWD and the Rekluse have their place, but they place quite a burden on the motor, and it was constantly blowing steam in anything even remotely tight, and the AWD really changes the way the bike handles. I can see where in slimey, slippery, vertical climbs this thing would be the bomb, but for most of my riding I prefer the lighter weight and simpler maintenance routine. A lot of guys I race against in the AMRA (Arizona hare scrambles consisting mostly of fast single-track) use the Rekluse to pretty good effect, but I prefer the control and feel of a standard clutch.
Nate Evans: 6'1"/215 lb./Vet A