This bike is awesome
fun to ride. Being only
91.5kg without a tank
of 60:1 pre-mix, it’s
nimble as...
Hopping on the 150 you’ll be greeted by a
little grey button next to the throttle, for the
electric start. The electric boot itself is mounted
on the front underside of the engine casing.
It protrudes a bit but is still within the frame
and fits seamlessly under the bash-plate I’ve
fitted. The electric start doesn’t seem as grunty
as on the bigger enduro machines but has
worked a treat so far... except for a certain
Dead Tadpole race start where it was dead as a
Dodo and I had to break out the kick-start for a
bit of persuasion. KTM has chosen to keep the
kickstarter, which I reckon is a good call.
The 150 starts first pop with the choke on. Like
any good carby engine it takes a few minutes to
clear out, but from there you’re away laughing –
there’s no TPI (Transfer Port Injection) wizardry
here, but I reckon it’s only a matter of time
before KTM rolls it out with the 150.
I was really impressed with the jetting straight
out of the box. The Mikuni TMX 38mm carb
70 KIWI RIDER
feeds the engine really well with no noticeable
burbles throughout the rev range. Even from
idle it responds well to being given the berries.
The carb setup means the bike is good to go
and saved us the hassle of trying to find that
magic carburation combination. The stock
jetting is also pretty good on the juice and
gives a solid 3.5 hours of riding from the 9.5
litre tank.
This bike is awesome fun to ride. Being
only 91.5kg without a tank of 60:1 pre-
mix, it’s nimble as. The hydraulic clutch is
featherweight in its action, but rock solid in
terms of consistency under use, something
which is needed to keep the 150 happily on
song. It goes like stink on the pipe, but, more
impressively, it will quite happily tractor up and
out of almost anything. I think this bottom end
is where the 150 has an edge over the 125,
which would have you grabbing handfuls of
clutch... or stalled.