KTM 250 EXC – Best Enduro Bike Ever Made? OK so as titles go, calling any machine the best ever is a bold claim. When there are hundreds of enduro machines to choose from, can we really justify selecting one as the ultimate bike? We think so.

The KTM EXC has been in production for an impressive 23 years. And if you go back to the very first models that came out of the restructured Austrian firm back in 1992, they are not a world away from the machines that are being churned out to an eager buying public today. To have got a bike so right to start off with shows a clarity of design and manufacture that all motorcycle companies would love to copy.

Although ’92 was the first edition of the EXC, the model it replaced was not vastly different. Take a look at a 250 GS from the late 80’s and you can see the genetic line that follows through to the 2017 models that you can buy today. And transfer your gaze to a 1993 model 250 and save for the fact that the early bikes used a linkage (much like the crossers and Husqvarnas in the orange stable) – the basics of this year’s bikes is largely unchanged – a compact water-cooled two-stroke motor in a steel frame and with everything else pared back to the essentials. It’s a formula that brought KTM titles back in 93, just as it continues to do in 2016.

