лень переводить - статья участника ROOF OF AFRICA 2013 в классе хобби - он приехал одиннадцатым, при том что мотоцикл он получил прямо перед гонкой и только успел поменять жиклеры и поставить защиты.... вообщем, если кому лень читать - в этом году крыша африки была особенно жесткой из за проливных дождей и мотоцикл отлично показал себя в очень сложных условиях ...
NEW KTM FREERIDE 250 R CONQUERS ROOF OF AFRICA
This year’s Roof of Africa was possibly one of the toughest ever, with constant rain over TWO days the Roof known as “The Mother of Hard Enduros” lived up to its name. The scene was set for the ultimate test for KTM’s new 2-stroke Freeride, entered under KTM Gateway with hobby rider and dealer principal Phil Moretonas at the helm.
Having received the bike only days before the race began, there was absolutely no time to prep, test or train on the bike, it was off to the Roof of Africa straight out of the box and – “Ready to Race”. “All we did to the bike was to jet it for Lesotho altitude and fitted a 48 sprocket added a few bits of protection, such as bash plates, disc protectors and hand guards, that’s it.”, said Wayne O’Neale, service manager at KTM Gateway.
The first test was “Round the Houses”, a flat out street circuit and a real tester for all bikes, many a tear shed on this 3 lap race, with bikes often seizing. All was good and the Freeride showed it could hold its own with a top speed easily comparing to the other 2 and 4 stroke enduro’s, the overdrive 6th gear being used to its full extent.
Out into the race itself the Freeride really came into its own especially up the hard passes, “Friday and Saturday were exceptionally hard and this is where the Freeride rewarded us. It was a pleasure to ride and so easy to find any line. We had massive bottle necks up the first few passes. The Freeride made it really easy to navigate past all the riders finding lines that didn’t exist and eventually working our way up to 5th in class”, said Phil Moretonas.
“We had some reservations only having ridden the bike a few hours before the Roof, but I can’t fault the Freeride in anyway. It exceeded my expectations, power was perfect with loads of low down grunt, brakes never faded and we had some really long passes, testing the bike to its full extent. The lower seat height and high ground clearance made it perfect for the type of terrain at the Roof of Africa, especially for a short chap like me”, said Moretonas.
Unfortunately Phil had a crash on Friday (Day 2) and damaged ribs making the final day a serious challenge and slipped back to an 11th finish in class. With only a handful of riders able to complete the roof, this proved conclusively that the new KTM Freeride 250R is an incredibly capable bike, fit for the most extreme Enduros as well as for any beginner rider.
