Now we know we can expect to see the bikes on the market

Yesterday, we were told of the new KTM 250 EXC TPI and KTM 300 EXC TPI coming to global markets; North America will get the KTM 250 XC-W TPI. In the offroad segment, four-stroke dirtbikes have become the standard, with two-stroke machines becoming more of a niche market every year. In North America, two-strokes have almost completely vanished from the street-legal lineups (even 49 cc scooters are almost all four-strokes now).KTM has announced fuel-injected two-stroke technology will finally appear in its 2018 lineup, starting with a 250 cc and a 300 cc  dirtbike.

There aren’t many details on the new bikes, but obviously, they’ll be offroaders, and the big news is the new fuel injected two-stroke technology.Presumably, two-stroke technology also allows manufacturers to build simpler engines, which should then be (theoretically) less costly, and easier to fix. For now, we’ve only been promised one motorcycle, and we understand there are no street-legal two-strokes coming this year. For years, fans of two-strokes have lamented the rise of four-stroke engines.Expect more details on KTM’s new bikes in the coming weeks.

Now we know we can expect to see the bikes on the market in limited quantities this fall.We don’t cover offroad-only bikes often on CMG, but this development is very noteworthy. Sherco also built a fuel-injected two-stroke offroader, but again, good luck spotting one in the wild.That all changed when tightening emissions standards started making it less attractive to sell two-strokes.KTM’s system Electric Motorcycles factory uses Transfer Port Injection (hence the TPI label in the new models’ names). While not as exciting as direct injection  (which other manufacturers are rumoured to be working on), it is an effective system.What’s the hoopla all about? There are several advantages to going with fuel injection.

Thinking this through to the logical conclusion, this could also mean that, by combining fuel injection with throttle-by-wire, we could even possibly see a return to some of the big-bore two-stroke screamers of the past, now they might be rideable by the average motorcyclist.