KTM RC16 Moto GP

KTM’s return to the MotoGP class for the 2017 season, the factory-based KTM has signed a two years contract with the 2009 125cc runner-up, Bradley Smith, and the 2013 Moto2 Champion, Pol Espargaro.

The Austrian company had in ill-fated and under-budgeted attempt in 2005, supplying engines to an equally cash-strapped Team Roberts, but did not complete the season. This second attempt has little in common, after extensive development and testing, backed by a company that has in the interim grown from 800 to 2,800 employees, has all but taken control of Moto3, and is now the biggest bike manufacturer in Europe and still growing.

This new KTM has a 90-degree V-4 and a steel-tube chassis with graceful bottom-braced aluminum swingarm. Everybody’s bottom-bracing these days because the rear shock and linkage have to move down to make room for an extension of the fuel tank under the seat. The front 60 percent of the RC16’s “tank” is a black carbon cover over the engine’s sealed intake airbox, fed through a generous-sized oval hole in the chin of the fairing. The rear part of the tank looks very Honda-like because its upper part, containing the far-back filler cap, is just a “conning-tower” that nicely fills the space between the airbox and the rider. Most of the fuel is lower down, closer to the machine/rider center of mass.

Bore is limited to 81mm so that is the commonly chosen number, with a 48.5mm stroke. If you’re making a V-4, might as well choose the 90-degree cylinder angle that can make the engine self-balancing without a shaker shaft. One Akrapovic exhaust exits from the seat tail, one from under the rider’s right foot, which says “V4”.  Fuel quantity will be whatever Dorna allows in 2017—maybe 22 liters, but subject to change without notice. Wheelbase, rake, and trail are pretty uniform among the brands, and everyone works hard to make the swingarm as long as possible.