After hearing a lot of good reviews on KTM ' s new fuel injected two-stroke, I was eager to test it for myself. It didn ' t take long to realised it was unlike any two-stroke I ' ve ridden – when starting it, there was no big cloud of smoke and there ' s no clear out period either. Once into the trees, this really came to life, and the tighter the track was the better. In these slow speed conditions I could ride it at very low revs and then attack an obstacle like a log, without the worry of it bogging and me being sent over the bars, which can happen on the carburetted model when it loads up. The TPI stays clean and I could accelerate away again, with no smoke. But don ' t be fooled into thinking this bike is just for puttering around on, as it packs some serious punch in the mid range.

... don’ t be fooled into thinking this bike is just for puttering around on, as it packs some serious punch in the mid range

That new edge on your tyre won ' t last long, because this bike gets up and goes, revving more like a 250 than a typical carb ' d 300. The punchy, revvy characteristic this bike has made me wonder if it would suffer from a loss of traction in slippery conditions. After testing the bike in conditions similar to a mid-winter ride in Riverhead forest, I was left impressed with what it could get up, even with the stock Six Day tyre which had seen better days. I found it could pull second at such low revs that any other bike would ' ve stalled, which helped it get near perfect grip.

44 KIWI RIDER