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Ultra rare KTM lives again

It’s one of the rarest two-stroke motocross bikes ever, with only three ever being built. It’s the 1988 KTM 250 reed-valve motocross bike ridden by Peter Hansson and Heinz Kinigadner, the first bike from KTM to go to case reed induction as part of a big development programme. And this one was left in a shed for 30 years until it was totally rebuilt by Matthias Faelt who gave it its one and only race outing this year at the VMXDN at Farleigh Castle. 

Getting to race the unique bike was the reward for Matthias spending more than 200 hours on a painstaking restoration job for the bike’s owner. The deal was the Austrian-based Swede would restore the bike, then could race it once before returning it to its owner. Where it will go back into his collection.

But Matthias is lucky to have an inside line to factory KTM know-how, as his day job is working in R&D for the Austrian factory. Currently his main job is working on the new WP Supertrax shocks and forks, but he has many contacts around the world to help him in his quest to make the bike perfect again. Such as access to the original engineering drawings from KTM’s archive.

His plan was to make the bike exactly as it was in 1988, rather than doing a resto-mod job and upgrading things like footpegs and suspension internals to modern standards. He has a new pipe made by Doma as an exact replica of the oroginal, while Akrapovic made a replica silencer too. The originals went back on right after Farleigh to make the bike 100% as it was 31 years ago. Check out the bike’s incredible story, what was done to get it 100% perfect and race ready and of course watch it in action at the hands of former championship rider Faelt.

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