What: 2006 KTM 250 EXC-F
When:- February 2006, Issue No. 317
Purpose:- Enduro
How Much:- No price given
In 2006 we got the chance to sample the pre-production version of KTM’s bush thumper based off Ivan Cervantes 2005 World Enduro Championship winner, an all-new design to replace the previous 250 which was built from a sleeved down 400cc engine. It was due to be a 2007 model but at the time of printing the Australian release date was still to be confirmed. The single-cylinder, liquid-cooled, four-stroke with a chrome-moly frame had WP suspension offering 300mm of front travel and 335mm on the back, with a six-speed gearbox, Brembo brakes, and a seven litre fuel tank for a weight of 98kgs.
Derived from the KTM 250 SX-F the EXC-F produced long and tractable power with a strong midrange making it easy to ride from the responsive bottom end power to the top end that could be revved hard if needed. It could be ridden lazily like a 450 or revved hard like a 125 and it was happy to chug along or build revs when needed requiring minimal use of the clutch. Our tester Jonty Edmunds reported the suspension as supple and progressive yet firm and that the handling encouraged him to ride it harder.
The differences in the motor from the SX-F were more robust crankcases, a 28 gram heavier crankshaft, a steel conrod machined from billet and a manual cam chain tensioner rather than the automatic unit fitted to the SXF. The compression was lowered to smooth the power, the Kokusan ignition was the same but with a pick up added for the lights and different timing and the carb was dropped in size from 39mm to 37mm again for a smoother power delivery. KTM had the runs on the board with the 250EXC-F winning all but four days of the 18 round series and giving Cervantes his and Spain’s first ever enduro world championship.
