KTM EXC TPI
T
he TPI EXCs were great accomplices
in all of this. How these bikes take
the hammering they do and keep
coming back for more defies belief.
I started on the 250EXC and really
enjoyed it, light and snappy it makes
for a racy ride. But I’m always more at home
on the 300EXC; while more powerful it happily
accepts smaller throttle openings, making
continued on page 56
not keen (at all) to give it a go. It’s fairly obvious
what goes wrong here – your front wheel drops into
a gap and you pirouette over the handlebars. Sure,
the likes of Taddy can simply levitate over tyres but
we’ve all seen enough of YouTube by now to know
that mere mortals ALWAYS end up face-down.
Only here’s the surprise – there is actually a
completely scientific explanation upon which
Taddy’s capability to float over the tyres is based.
“It’s actually quite a simple technique,” started
Taddy (although I was hardly convinced at this stage).
“You need to pick a line, approach steady, then
accelerate slightly as you go in, keeping your
weight at ALL times over the back mudguard.
“By accelerating you keep the front wheel
light and it will then float over the gaps, while
the rear suspension WILL deal with the holes
and the positive thrust of the accelerating
rear wheel will keep it up as well.”
With this instruction in mind, German journalist
Frank and myself had a go at the tyre pit.
Frank went first, he didn’t just accelerate, he
pinned the throttle… Too much of course, so
he skittered, slewed sideways then had to chop
the throttle at which point the front dropped
into a tyre and he pitched over the bars.
“Too fast,” said Taddy dryly.
My turn. I approached steady, then less than a
bike length from the tyres gently accelerated
and for half the length of the pit floated, only
then, losing momentum and with the back wheel
noticeably kicking around, I dropped into a tyre
and stopped abruptly, ending up under the bike.
“Good start, but you did two things wrong – you
stopped accelerating and as you did you moved
your weight centre, a natural reaction but wrong,
you have to keep accelerating and keep your
weight back.”
Taddy demonstrated the technique – it’s a fine
balance. He carries only so much speed and he
accelerates in a very gentle fashion, carefully
opening the throttle, not pinning it. He didn’t want
to reach the far side of the pit – where oblique
angled concrete beams awaited – with too
much speed.
Giving it another go, Taddy’s instruction was
starting to work. With just a little more confidence
and a little more speed going in, followed by a
steadily increasing throttle and weight resolutely sat
KIWI RIDER 57