The KTM 300 EXC TPI already has a pretty firm reputation for being a tough bike that is ready for the roughest conditions you can throw at it. It also excels in urban settings. In fact, the bike is such a great performer that Dirt Bike Magazine lauded its praises, saying, “You can ride extreme technical terrain one day, desert the next, and follow up with a day at the track. It’s an incredible off-road weapon that works perfectly for the vet trail rider or elite hard endure athlete. It’s fun. It purrs, but it snarls just enough and won’t set your teeth chattering from the vibration factor.” That’s a tough bill to improve on, but Australian tuner SALT took on the challenge, aiming to produce a bike that will bring a grin to everyone’s face. Enter the SALT X KTM Twinstroke.
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Image: SALT Motorcycles
“Two stroke have that special grin factor, which starts from the minute you hear that unmistakable sound to the wonderful aroma that pulsates out the back of an expansion chamber. So the quest was to find a donor bike that could be rebuilt from the ground up into a SALT Café Racer,” says SALT Chief Development Officer Paul Lewis.
This particular café racer is built around the KTM 300 EXC TPI. Adding a SALT expansion chamber and combining it with the high compression TSP cylinder Head and ECU bumped this bike up to 52 horsepower with 34.5 lb-ft of torque. SALT also added a fully adjustable WP suspension in the front and back, giving 125mm and 130mm of travel respectively. The wheels measure 19 inches in the front and 18 in the back, and they come with Brembo brakes with a four-piston and two-piston caliper. The fuel tanks are handmade of aluminum and carbon fiber was used for the bodywork and seat cowl. The bike’s height and stance lend the bike to having a sporty riding position.
“Our bikes are about the rider, the motorcycle and the road,” says Lewis. “Using modern engineering and design, we hope to reintroduce riders to the pure analogue feel of motorcycling. In the Australian market, the SALT X KTM Twinstroke is sold as a turn-key build. SALT is also exploring the option of selling Two Stroke Kits so that you can make your own conversion.
Image: SALT Motorcycles
Image: SALT Motorcycles
Image: SALT Motorcycles
Image: SALT Motorcycles
