Whats KTM stand for you ask? Well in 1953 company founders Hans Trunkenpolz and Ernst Kronreif got together in Mattighofen to bring KTM to life. The official company name was ‘Kronreif, Trunkenpolz, Mattighofen.
Having just visited the RedBull Hangar 7 in Salzburg and Mattighofen Austria just being half an hour away I thought it would be worth a visit and see what it is all about.
Having been in Austria for a few days now I get the impression that things get done a little differently around here. This amazing building is infact the RedBull HQ in Fuschl.
The word clinical precision comes to mind, rolling into the little town of Mattighofen reveals a town dominated by one brand.
Coming into Mattighofen you pass a number of factorys and dispatch centers all wearing the KTM logo, WP suspension also has a few buildings including Mahle who are famous for their engine components.
Approaching the KTM Motohall reveals the elegantly shaped structure.
Out front is a cafe that casually hangs a Moto GP bike from its centre pillar aswell as other KTM memorabilia.
Stepping through he revolving door reveals incredible attention to detail.
I am not sure why this took me as such a surprise, if Hangar 7 taught me anything its to expect the unexpected.
I don’t really know what to call this place, its not a museum, its not a snapshot of the past, it’s completely current and contemporary.
You could spend 10 minutes here or an entire day.
The space and selection of displays that greeted me made it feel like an art exhibit, the timeline of body’s perfectly aligned, lit and backdropped in white left no room for improvement.
This precision and perfection ran right through the hall. The timeline of engines from the radial finned early two stroke engine right up to the current V twins were again perfectly mounted, lit, aligned and backdropped.
The interactive displays included things like spring rate tests, damper tuning and clay modelling.
The exploded view of the electric Freeride gave me a good look into the workings of its design. When compared to my Alta MXR’s performance its not in the same ball park, but it was never designed to be.
Altas demise and the reluctancy for any manufacturer to step into that realm interests me a lot. I don’t think it’s enough to build the perfect electric motorcycle, it’s a new segment that’s growing and this takes time.
The hall has a section dedicated to design with the prototypes and concept bikes including a few electric machines.
As displayed in the top level of the hall, winners from all genre of KTM competition.
Hometown hero Toby Price front and center.
All of these bikes looked they just came off the racetrack, these are not wrapped stock bikes made to look like the real thing they are the real thing. I could not find a missing part on any of them and many still had race rubber stuck to the undersides of their fairings.
It wasn’t all 2 wheeled racers either.
The X-Bow always blows my mind.
The Motohall spirals around and also takes you on a manufacturing journey through KTM’s past.
From the smallest displacement scooters to the big bad 495cc two stroke.
Seems like the 60’s and 70’s had an impact on everyone, even KTM!
The end of the spiral reveals KTM’s 2020 offering and then into another area of the building.
The workshop area is really neat, I guess its an area for bikes to undergo any work they may need before display.
It gave me a few ideas for my own workshop thats for sure.
Past the workshop is the innovation lab, something that sparked my interest.
This room was full of innovative projects for students and the younger (maybe the next) generation of motorcycle enthusiasts.
Blown away by the KTM MotoHall I headed back to Salzburg to take in the sights and sounds of the bustling city.
I made the trip to the KTM X Bowl to see where a lot of the Austrian MX footage that I had seen had been taken, I love seeing behind the scenes and getting a feel for the local community of MX.
Thanks for reading and see you at EICMA in a few days.