AM I MISSING A TRICK?

This is a KTM Freeride off-road bike. But first, before we have a look at it, we need to talk about me. I like road bikes. Perfection for me would be a Ducati Panigale ridden along the cream-smooth tarmac of an Alpine pass or classic racetrack, its Pirelli Supercorsas thoroughly inline, the sky big and blue and full of sun – you know, good times! I like doing this so much I have spent years avoiding the things that I probably won’t like, the big three being 1) getting a proper job, 2) playing golf and, of course, 3) riding off road. Yes, I’ve been living and breathing bikes since George Formby won the TT yet somehow remain deeply suspicious about approximately 50% of all motorcycling. Motocross and enduro, trials and trails – apparently there’s a difference – mean no more to me than badminton. And the same is true for virtually every motorcyclist I know. And this, as promised, is the KTM Freeride. It’s available with three engine choices – an electric, a four-stroke and this, a two-stroke single, the 250 R – but they are all essentially the same thing: an off-road hybrid, which, depending on how it’s set up and tyred, performs somewhere along the line between a trials bike and an enduro, which basically means it can do crafty skills or bomb across a muddy field equally well. And I’m standing next to one because?

Ah yes. The truth is I do care about off-road. It’s been building without me really noticing, finally surfacing one day last winter as I trudged across a misty field with kids and dog. A KTM enduro popped out of a wood, hopped nonchalantly over a broken gate and disappeared over the hill, rear end fishtailing, its rider languidly flowing with his bike. Suddenly, this off-road dodger yearned to do the same; to be lost in the countryside with all that freedom and equipped with those mystery skills and techniques. An hour on the internet convinced me that what I needed was a proper off-road bike with proper brakes and suspension that was also light and low and tuned for bottom end helpfulness. A Freeride. So, here it is and here we go. After 35 years riding I’m a novice again, bursting with excitement and anxiety plus a zillion questions about everything.

‘After 35 years I’m a novice again, bursting with excitement and anxiety’