2010 KTM XCs and 450 XC-W ISDE Edition

KTM 450 XC-W ISDE
For the last decade or so KTM has made a lot of ground up on other brands by offering a lot of value for the price. That is especially true of the off-road models. Sure an off-road KTM might be a bit more expensive than a Japanese motocrosser, but you don't need to buy an o-ring chain, tank, 18-inch wheel and quiet muffler. A KTM comes with all the goodies you need to ride and race off-road. As true as that fact is about the 2009 450 XC-W, it is even much more true of the 2010. Both the 450 and 530 XC-W models are ISDE editions. In the past KTM has made a run of specially equipped enduro models to use as rental and team support bikes for the ISDE. Some importers buy up the extras, but for 2010 KTM is making all U.S. 450 and 530 XC-W models the ISDE editions with special Portugal graphic packages. The graphics are the least of it, though. The ISDE edition comes with a plastic skid plate, push-button fork bleeders, pull handles for the front axle and rear brake pads, a two-part rear sprocket with steel teeth and an aluminum center and other goodies. The most radical addition is a light European model cooling fan that comes on automatically when the bike gets hot. We could hear the fan working, but we never actually boiled the bike over. Lights come stock on the bike for 2010 as well.

Those value-added items could probably explain the $8798 price tag by themselves, but the bike itself gets some great upgrades including that 22mm triple clamp, suspension tuning and lighter Excel rims. Again, as KTM claims, everything you need to race. For the Washington area the 450 had a little two much motor, and it hit too hard for the traction available. But this is a KTM, and it has a dual-curve ignition. We unplugged the wire that switches the ignition map to a softer one, and that worked better for the conditions. For the woods we would have gone for lower final drive gearing, but the stock 6-speed is plenty flexible to handle the stock gearing. Our bike started easily with kick or button and carbureted very well. It has all the acceleration you could want when you twist the throttle, but can be super docile at low rpm. Add in a more-than-reasonable exhaust not and you have an engine that is a winner.

The chassis doesn't get all the SX upgrades, but with the new suspension setting and triple clamps the XC-W is planted and solid on the trail, yet it turns in very nicely and has accurate steering. The same changes have resulted in a less busy feel to the front at speed. In all, the changes make for a package that is brutal on the competition, but easy on the rider.