Another interesting and knowledgeable video and another great year cheers mate. if only these companies had a little bit more caring and a less greed, maybe things would be different anyway. Ian and Emily I wish you and yours a very happy and safe merry Christmas cheers, for all you do mate, definitely the A to Z of motorcycle knowledge etc.🍻💯✌️👑🇦🇺

It was waaaay cooler when it was done on a cr500

European bike companies have always been shady with the way do business. I remember when the Ducati 999 came out we had issues with crank case oil going up the vent tube into the air box then down the intake and the bikes smoked like a chimney. Ducati's first answer replace the top end however the issue ended up being design flaw with to much crank case pressure and a crank vent band aid was designed to help correct the design flaw but anyways when timing the motor I discovered the index marks on the cams were incorrect! They have timing marks but they are for another motor is the only thing I could think of but in order to time we had to order the 800 dollar tool from Ducati that aligned the cams. Now I always put my own marks on before I take the belts off. If I didn't have experience with most other motorcycle companies like HD Polaris and all the Japanese companies I probably would have thought everyone did business that way but they don't.

A tale of corporate greed which is so prevalent in this day and age, they barbecue all the decent folks who just want to ride along with the hard working teams that rely on their support to be successful, our sport has become far too expensive to keep growing,along with the danger factor, keep it simple and fun fun, the whole reason we started riding to begin with!!🎉

The owner credibility is so much damaged, that I don’t think KTM can survive this crisis

Disconnect the rev counter on the RG400 it would make nearer 80 hp.

My first choice bike was the 1290 superduke gt,loved the look styling and sound of it,but bought a gsa1250, all because the ktm dealer in. Dublin were no different than other ktm dealers,and couldn't wouldn't trust them

Whether Right or wrong all I could think was heres a bloke that's eat, sleeped and lived bikes. Thanks for your input into the worldwide family.

Saw an article headed Stefan Pierer: “KTM is my life's work and I will fight for it” (Nov 2024). Reading the comments below I am not so sure..... Feel very sad for all those losing their jobs including subbies.

Sources still say KTM are still in Moto GP

Pierer should have been laying off employees 10 months ago. And when I say "laying off," I mean the American version of "laying off," in which the employee is now unemployed and gets no pay at all. This is what a company does and what a company SHOULD do when its sales fall into a slump and the company needs to produce fewer units and therefore needs fewer employees. By not responding properly to the huge sales drop-off about a year ago, Pierer has now put the company €3B in debt and has jeopardized not only the jobs of the employees that he should have laid-off over the last year, but he has now jeopardized the job of EVERY employee because the company may go under and go out of business. He has further jeopardized the investments of every stockholder and his own life's work. The principle of cutting off a hand or an arm to save the rest of the body is just as valid a concept in business as it is in human health. No one wants to see KTM employees or anyone else lose his job, but pretending that a company has the income to pay employees that it clearly does not have the income to pay is unrealistic and even CHILDISH. Business is about cold hard reality. Pretending doesn't work. Pierer has PRETENDED for a year by borrowing money to pay employees they didn't need to manufacture motorcycles they couldnt sell. Pierer has PRETENDED KTM into €3B of debt -- and into an almost unrecoverable financial hole. Which is worse -- laying off 3,000 employees a years ago and having at least the POSSIBILITY of rehiring them at a future date . . . or . . . PRETENDING they can afford to keep the same number of employees even after their sales have tanked and thereby put ALL of their employees and even the company itself in crushing debt and grave financial jeopardy ? There is no third option. Employment levels MUST follow sales both up AND down. When a company PRETENDS it can afford to continue to produce products that it can't sell and it PRETENDS it can continue to pay employees to produce those products, that company is bringing about its own demise. When KTM's sales dropped of by 23% in the first quarter of 2024 (according to an article I read), PIERER'S hair should have been on fire. He should have taken drastic action THEN, in order to prevent the financial position KTM is now in. This whole situation was avoidable. All that was needed was some realistic and responsible management, delivered in a timely manner.

Less farkles and lower weight please

I have a versys x300 aka kle300. Great little bike🎉

Actually McWilliams is a 🔧

I wish MV Agusta all the success and best wishes they deserve. You are the creme de la creme, and never forget that, because we won't. A Very Very Merry Christmas to all... 🎄☃️🎄

Let's be honest,who in their right mind would buy even a heavily discounted KTM at the moment? If it was a Japanese bike there's a good chance you'd have a trouble free ownership with proper maintenance for the life of the bike, there's zero chance of that with a KTM

"probably something in the middle" For what my opinion is worth,i agree. The KTM name can be repaired.No matter which way this all goes,someone will absolutely buy the assets and keep some core part of KTM going

I just bought my first secondhand KTM 690 yesterday. A dream bike for a decade.Well shit 😂

Sell your KTM & buy a pizza.

most of the belly aching about the reliability seems to be coming from the roadie/adventure crowd, KTM's proper offroad stuff is bomb proof in my experience, regular gearbox oil and an air filter change every couple of rides is about it. KTM should stick to the competition stuff where they excel and pull away from the adventure side of things where the warranty warriors dwell.

KTM haven't done well since their big bad 2 strokes of the 70's.

This the same story as vw Honda Nissan Brittish leyland bsa the list is endless

Arrogance of Stefan Pierer manifests itself.

KTM = keep taking your money.

I wonder if this will affect the deal with KTM fahhrad on name usage

I had two RD400s as fun bikes for OFF ROAD TRAIL Riding, as I was too young to ride legally on the road until I got my road RD125DX with microns, K & Ns..... I loved that bike and she was really reliable(surprisingly) too, and the sound! 😁👌❤️

0:39 "Jeremy McWilliams' exit doesn't bode well for the MotoGP team." How does his exit affect a team that's already leaving that he hasn't done any development for in years?

I started riding when Ago was big. Even in those days motorcycle production at MV Agusta was under discussion. It was not profitable. This is over 50 years ago... I'm no expert, but it seems producing expensive stuff in relatively small numbers is not a good business case. Henry Ford I already knew that around 1905 or so... So... they could have known... But... it is always easy to discuss something with the benefit of hindsight!

MV Do they make as much money buying back the brand for a dollar.Harley was the previous who's going to be next?

KTMs first mistake was turning down Charlie Borman sponsorship, then there is the unreliability issues and poor service at dealerships in South Africa anyway

Very informative video. Thank you.

A while back i bought a rd200 engine from 1973.. Revuilding it to stuff it under a 80kg moped from 1980, made pipes for it and all. Will be a blast to ride!

Good video. The two things I couldn't stop thinking about was that they have inventory for 2 years with no production and that they can't service existing debt let alone more debt.

tbh, i am mostly worried about getting parts for my old beloved 2 ktms.

I've been personally affected by a similar asshole, my wife's partner screwed her out of millions of Euros after she bought a share in his company. After everything went pair shaped, which he orcastrated, he bought her share back, along with her colleague's for Euro1.00 each. Neither of them recovered while he went on and bought a ski resort.

Thanks for the update, very much appreciated.

I have a Husqvarna 701, where will I get parts?

What will happen to Pedro and Binder? dahm shame all this is happening. I own 3 KTMs.

Great shots of New Zealand back country

What a mess ! It’s a case of KTM Over-Ambition and bad management?

Thank god there’ll be no butt ugly mv Augusta’s

SO SO SAD !! KTM WAS KEEPING MOTORCYCLE LIFES TOGETHER ❤️! WHAT IS ITS FUTURE ? WILL THERE BE A DAKAR TEAM ?? MOTO GP SAF !!

My sources are saying that KTM is in negative cash flow to the tune of €3 million a day. That does not include any debt servicing nor does it include unpaid wages for December. KTM Australia, a wholly owned subsidiary of KTM Sportmotorcycle Gmbh, has not been able to supply spares to its dealer network since November and has reported a 60% drop in sales to October. It is on notice that the Australian government may order a recall of all models with the affected engines, involving a full replacement engine. This would put KTM Au at risk of trading while insolvent, a criminal offence for directors.

People always want more, this and that.... The 2024 model meets my needs except for the cheap crappy suspension which I will upgrade. Already added a Hepco & Becker skidplate and lower crash. I guess I will live with tube tires especially since I installed some MotoZ Adventiure tires which are fantastic and extremely popular worldwide. But why flat black paint for a bike that is going to get muddy,... Cannot use wax or polish on matte paints and touching up (have not needed too yet) must be a pain if not impossible to match.

I saw a guy drop a RE Himalayan 450 down to a reported 160kg. but that has 1 less cylinder. There might be a floor to how light you can make these bikes before things get too fragile, but as more of these get delivered, I'd like to see what owners come up with.

get rid of Gixxer headlight and ditch the single sided swing arm

Let's address the elephant in the room 1st, it's ktm's own doing. After COVID they borrowed & swapped a lot of money hoping the bike industry would bounce back like the car industry (global car industry is now struggling), then they started cranking out its production lines all over the world and the exact opposite happened + their bikes are not selling mainly because of reliability & poor service quality. Not to mention the poor showroom experience that customers get. The American bike giant harley davidson is also facing similar financial problems. When some veterans from Japan & other western bike manufacturers follow a cautious approach to the recovering post covid bike market, KTM gambled & it backfired at their face. In other words, it's the greed & mismanagement from PMG head that ultimately puts KTM, MV agusta, gas gas etc in this situation. There is only a small % to blame on KTM's motorsport division for their current crisis as some say. It's PMG's poor decisions making in the production system & financial mismanagement is all for blame. 👉 Why did their global sales come down?? Ever since CF moto got more investment / collaboration into KTM; in order to make more bucks they adopted a lot of chinese production systems & techniques. And therefore their quality tanked + price tag goes up. So people started to look to other manufacturers avoiding KTM bikes. I think in terms of reliability KTM is now worse than Aprilia bikes. So in general their sales dropped a cliff. Currently 2 big shareholders of KTM (Pierer Mobility AG) are reluctant to invent more. That is the Bajaj group from India & the CF moto group from China. Currently these two shareholders are doing very well on their own business & bike sales, but Bajaj is sceptical about KTM about further investment in KTM. I don't know about CF moto. This info is from the end of November, not updated about things in December. Bike industry in India and China ( generally in Asia and Africa) are booming and are making good financial returns. If you doubt this; ask Suzuki, yamaha, honda, Bajaj, CF moto, TVS, Royal Enfield etc... but this is not the situation in All of Europe, North America, S America & Australia. The most likely scenario for KTM motorsport division (not PGM) will be the Red bull group will buy out them. And then we will have a red bull MotoGP team like Red bull F1 team ( honda - red bull of the past seasons ). I am pretty sure Liberty media also likes this approach, since more red bull footprint directly translates into more PR boost for MotoGP in general. But I do not have any idea what will happen to the commercial wing of PMG. May be the government of Austria will step in and do something for the company to run. For investors, my advice will be to stay away from PMG and their subsidiary firms. Well let's hope for the best.

Are the worker's pensions secured or robbed

The price of a war ishaving a big impact on all of Europe. Cost of power oil operating costs is giant.

MV Agusta need to re hire as many of their former staff as they can and get back going. I am beginning to think PMG is intending to destroy or damage as much of the industry as they can. If they sell the rights to Husaberg for eg, someone needs to acquire it as cheaply as they can and get it back on its feet, it was a great brand before PMG got their mitts on it, and quickly shut it down.