KTM LC8: Not a Katoomer…It’s the BOMB!
How do you communicate DROOL? I guess I sort of did, but all I can think of is a Homer Simpson staring through the garage window and seeing a KTM LC8.
Setting the Stage
No, I did not buy the bike. However, there is a story associated with this bike. I went to Boise, ID, for work. I could have come home on Saturday afternoon, but I have a few friends down there that I know from the forbidden state. They decided to set up their home base in a climate similar to California. I decided that I don’t like heat so much and so, I kept moving north. We call California the “forbidden state” because many people in Boise and Montana severely dislike Californians. The reason for this dislike/hatred: Californians move into town, pay over retail for houses, and then act like they own the place. The culture changes, and the housing prices sky rocket. I do grant that it is annoying, and a piece of advice: show the settled residents that you want to live a peaceful and quiet life and they will be more accepting. The funny thing is, most of the people in Boise and Montana are from California, but they hate Californians moving up to their particular place. I played it cool when I moved up here and the locals tend to like me.
So, we move out of the back story. I am in Boise and one of my friends from the forbidden state of California invited us to hang with his family for a night. Boy, was I thankful that my family decided to hang with them for the night. You see, this whole thing started with us walking down memory lane.
We started reminiscing about Fat Ivor’s. This is a place where they had all you could eat ribs on Tuesday night. I just checked their site, and the all-you-can-eat ribs appear on the back of the menu, so this might be a daily thing rather than a Tuesday night thing. We remember riding our motorcycles up there on Tuesday night, eat, and then go for a ride after we filled our gizzards. The ride up to the place is fun, and there are a ton of places to ride from there. Boy, our bikes felt really fast heading up to the dinner, but slow after dinner. It might be something interfering with the power-to-weight ratio…. I don’t know, but one could speculate. My friend and I continued to reminisce about those good ole days. We shared some reports on the guys who used to ride with us, and refreshed the good memories of that time.
So, on a break, I take out my phone and start to look for ride-share options in Boise. I found a few bikes. I found an F800GS, which is a bike I really need to test ride. I found a V Strom… okay, but it does not stir my soul. I even found an Africa Twin in the area. It was the DCT, which does not excite me, but I do want to ride one that is not like a scooter. (Thankfully, he removed that scooter description from the Africa Twin). I found a lot of options. I presented them to my friend and asked him if he thought I should book something.
I was pretty close to hitting the rent button when he texted me, “Hey, I just realized this, but my son’s bike is sitting in his garage and it needs to be ridden. He is deployed so it would be good for me to take it out anyway. You want to ride my LC8 and I can ride his Indian FTR?” I was like, “Ahhh, is the pope catholic? Is fire hot? Do pigeons poop on freshly washed cars? Who has two thumbs and wants to ride a KTM? How about THiS GUY!” So, the plan was set in motion.
(You can see the Indian FTR hiding in the background.)
Ready to Ride
Saturday rolls around and I show up at his house. He shows me some of the trucks he is restoring, and then we see…. Yes, it was like heaven’s glory was shining into the corner of his garage: the motorcycles. He had a couple of CR400s that I used to rip around the block. Man, those things are a hoot! Then I saw the KTM! I love the orange accents on the bike, and the gray. The color combo is just awesome. I get my gear, he runs me through some of the details on the bike, and I head into the street to do a few figure 8s to get the feel of the bike. It is a practice I have done since my youth to make sure I can get the feel of the bike.
The bike is really easy to control at low speeds. I would not say that it is an “easy dirt bike”, but it took me no time at all to get the feel of the bike. I pulled it into his garage, and told him that I felt ready to take it for a rip. He said, “Cool!” We are men of many words. He jumps in his Hemi Durango (that is a cool SUV!), and we head over to his son’s house. He grabs the key, throws a leg over the Indian FTR, and we hope for the best.
The bike has not run in months. We don’t know if we are siphoning out gas and running to the station, and so he does the “Hail Mary” pass, hits the starter button, and it roars to life! OH MY! It roars to life. The bike makes sounds that would make Custard retreat immediately and willingly to North Dakota! It is pretty sad when two grown men stand in a garage and just giggle! You know the bike has a good sound when your chest starts to hurt from the exhaust note.
He throws on his helmet, and we ride off. He gives me a quick tour of some things around town that he enjoys. We ride off and head to the Snake River. We stop at a light, and he notices that there is an unhappy light on his FTR. Turns out, he is almost out of gas. So, now we have to suffer by riding over to an unplanned stop for him to fill his son’s bike with gas. This made us suffer by extending the ride another 30 minutes. I am willing to ride my friend’s KTM another 30 miles. These are just some of the things that I am willing to do for my friends.
We get gas, and it is time we head out. We make our way over to Celebration Park in Idaho. That is a cool place, well, not in temperature, but in terms of views. I cannot say that as we rode along the Snake River that my first thought was, “Humm, I wonder if I could jump that river.” I think back to Evel Knievel and his strategy. I understand that it was basically, “Yeah, that ramp looks sturdy enough, I will just hit it as fast as I can, and I should be able to land on the other side.” The thing is, this is not even the jump site and I was scared to even try! The place where he did it was even nuttier. I need to make a note to drive over there and do some exploring in that area.
My impressions of the bike? I did not get a chance to hit the dirt with it because my friend did not want to abuse his son’s bike. However, I got to do something even better to test the bike’s handling. Idaho is chip sealing EVERYTHING it seems. So, we hit a section of road that just had the pea gravel laid down. We followed the pilot truck and got the ride on marbles. I was a bit puckered on the hind end because this is not my bike. I am not really familiar with it, but I am experienced enough to handle it. I hate crashing my friend’s bikes. However, lean back a bit on the seat, and stay steady on the throttle, and the bike was predictable despite the pea gravel. So, I imagine that for a bike this size, it is very capable in the dirt, even in the hands of a guy who is not capable.
The Ride
The bike was AMAZING! He has DOT knobbies on the bike. I was shocked at how predictable the bike was to turn into a corner. I never counter-steered the bike, but rode it like a BMW boxer: all in the hips, baby! I could turn the bike and put it where I wanted it just by leaning it. You can feel that the bike is heavier than a dirt bike, but it is very predictable. So to quote a wise movie man, “ If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.”
When we got to our turnaround place, we changed the ride mode from “Road Ride” to “Sport Ride.” I am so not used to these new bikes with the different ride mode. In my day we only had right-handed cruise control and traction control. I was a bit skeptical about how this was going to work. We left Celebration Park and there was one place where my friend decided to give the FTR an Italian tune-up. The last time he did this he laughed at my reverse gear. Well, in this video game mode, I was able to reel the Indian into my sights a lot quicker. We were not riding like idjuts, but there were a few straight-line sprints we did. I was surprised that the KTM LC8 was able to return fire when needed. I also noticed that it is a very good idea to keep my weight over the front tire on these little “intervals.” I would not say that the front end is light, but it did feel like it wanted to float over the road a bit under really hard acceleration. This is not a dig on the big at all, but just a reminder if you ride one….. sport mode can feel a bit angry sometimes in a very fun way.
I think that the computer on this bike (2016) is a little janky, but the new one is supposed to be improved. It takes some time to learn the menus. However, my friend, the owner, can change the settings while riding the bike. So, it is probably just the problem of a loose nut behind the steering thinga a bobber. Yes, that is the technical term for forks and handlebars. The owner figured it out, and I am sure with a few more miles, even a dolt like myself can figure it out.
Paulie’s Pick or Bust?
This is a tough one to answer. You see, KTM has come a long way from being a metalworking shop Kraftfahrzeug Trunkenpolz Mattighofen, which means…. well, I have no idea what that means, but it makes me sound authoritative. Okay, it is Austrian for Kolor Tangerine Motorcycle, or it means a Motor Vehicle (Kraftfahrzeug)made by Hans Trunkenpolz (name) in Mattighofen (city). You can decide what KTM means from the above options. I always love brands that start with these types of stories. The story of a craftsman who is passionate about something and then builds it. I admire such craftsmanship because I am not the person who has such crafty skills. For instance, I can build a dog house. People will look at the dog house and marvel at the Picasso-like architecture. I would be proud to make such an artistic contribution, but I just don’t have the heart to tell people that I am really that incompetent with a tape measure. I could not reproduce the look of the dog house even if I wanted to. The worst part is that I intended each side to mirror the parallel side. I never set out to build a Picasso-like structure, but I am just too incompetent to build a square structure.
This story has a bit of a tragedy because the vision of the company went from”Read to Race” to “Ready to Sell”. Not in the sense of “sell this motorcycle”, but in the sense of “Sell this company…. AGAIN!” Seriously, this company just keeps getting sold and resold. Last I checked, it is the largest European brand that cannot stay in business. It was restructured in 2024. In 2025, it worked out a bankruptcy plan. Now it is restarting. Stefan Pierer is one who takes a small brand and built it into a world-renowned brand. So, that is great! However, in the company’s expansion, it seemed that they overextended themselves. This is what happens when you expect the same level of growth without realizing that there are mountain tops, plateaus, and it might take a bit to find the next mountain to climb to advance the brand. So, it is wise to plan for a leveling off season rather than expecting continual growth.
Who is the blame? I am not a financial expert, nor am I significant enough to peek at their books. However, you can see that aggressive over-expansion without a firm foundation is the cause of many product failures. Let’s not think about GM, banking crises, Norton Motorcycles…. The lesson: people will put up with a lot in a brand if they love the brand, but if you fail to support the customer too many times, then the customers jump brands. KTM has some great brand evangelists! I doubt anyone at KTM will read this, but I say, “Don’t tick off your brand evangelists! They are the ones who support you to the next mountain climbing adventure to reach another plateau!” KTM seems to have stood by their crankshaft failure, which is good. However, they need to be smart by assuring customers, especially the brand evangelists, that this is a small valley in the bigger mountain climbing adventure. Please stick around KTM, and assure us that this valley is a small dip in the overall climb and adventure to the next plateau! Besides, I always loved saying, “It’s not a Katoomer.” (Schwarzenegger voice…. Kindergarten cop). Anyway, it was my joke when people showed up on rides on a KTM…. yeah, they just gave me a courtesy laugh at best. Hey, you can’t blame a guy for trying.
This bike is a joy to ride. I hope KTM can work through the financial woes. I hope they sort it out because the world needs these bikes. So, yes, this is a Paulie’s Pick! I even rode a 2016 model with the weird computer system. The new ones are supposed to be a lot better! My friend has had no issues with the bike. He has only done standard maintenance, and still grins when he talks about the motorcycle. That speaks VOLUMES! Doesn’t the bike look like a puppy dog waiting for someone to take it out and play?
Have you had a bad experience with KTM? Have you had a good experience with KTM? Tell us about it in the comments.
Thanks again for reading! Until we meet again, may the Lord’s blessing and peace be upon you.