You probably thought that I’d be talking about KTM’s present financial difficulties which are, by now, well documented. Owing millions of dollars, the Austrian factory is presently in voluntary administration while it tries to find a way of paying back some 4000 creditors or face the prospect of going out of business.
The PM Group has been at pains to say that the present financial woes will NOT affect KTM’s racing efforts but, the longer this goes on, the chances of them being able to insulate the racing effort from the overall difficulties seems smaller and smaller.
Now, what if KTM DOES go under? What will happen to the racing effort? Who knows? KTM’s involvement if Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP is huge and the impact should they be forced to pull the pin will be enormous. They have numerous teams in the lower categories and 4 riders in their two MotoGP teams. The “factory riders” are Acosta and Brad Binder and their Red Bull riders are Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales. Of these four the only rider to be certain of a ride ANYWHERE is Acosta and, indeed, there are rumours floating around already that Acosta could find a home at Honda should the KTM factory effort founder.
Since there is no evidence that ANY development has taken place on the 2025 bike, it’s no surprise that there are already suggestions that the teams may not even last till the end of the season. In any event, the prospect of the rider market being flooded with riders who THOUGHT they had a guaranteed ride for 2025 is looking likely.
The “knock-on” effect of this eventuality on the rest of the paddock is scary. 2025 is already looking like a continuation of Formula Ducati. Should KTM fold, this makes it even more likely that there will be Ducatis up front and nobody else in the picture. Can DORNA afford to have this happen? Can they do anything about it if it looks like happening? All of these questions and others require an answer sooner rather than later.
And, in what was already a bad news week, Honda’s MotoGP launch went pear shaped in a big way when Joan Mir’s 2025 bike failed during the launch and Luca Marini had to double him home. As Kylie Mole used to say, “How embarrassment.”
But my man concern is about the 790 and 890 adventure bikes (pic at top of article). I really have no interest in off-road riding of any sort so this particular problem has probably been bubbling away in the background for some time for all I know. It seems that there is a problem with softening cam lobes in both engines that is manifesting itself in VERY premature engine failures. Did somebody say Honda VF750D?
It now seems that KTM has been aware of this problem and have been quietly working in the background doing repairs on the quiet, so to speak, lest the problem becomes common knowledge and result in a mandated mass recall of all engines in the model range. The damage to KTM’s reputation should this happen, to say nothing of the expense, is incalculable and, coming hard on the heels of the brand’s financial “difficulties” could be the end of the whole deal.
It seems that not all motors are falling victim to the problem, indeed, it seems that only engines that have been ridden “normally” are failing where engines that have been flogged, so to speak, seem to be immune. Now this seems to be the exact opposite of what you would expect, but, apparently, this is what is happening.
Having had this story pointed out to me by a good friend, I will now watch closely and see what the upshot is. One thing is for sure, this could not have come at a worse time for the beleaguered Austrian manufacturer. As often said, watch this space.
