Last year was a difficult year for the motorcycle industry, due primarily to the regional lockdowns, production stoppages, and disrupted supply chains.
The effect has been a loss in motorcycle sales across the board, and KTM is no different from the bulk of the two-wheeled brands.
Reporting a drop of 3.4% in motorcycle units sales, KTM ended last year selling 270,047 motorcycles worldwide (compared to 280,099 units in 2019).
Last to go on Wednesday for the Isle of Man TT, the Bennetts Lightweight TT features “super twin” four-stroke machines, of up to 650cc in displacement.
The weapon of choice in the class has been the Kawasaki Ninja 650, but that is slowly changing. Gary Johnson, for instance, has made a good show of things with the Chinese CF Moto.
Though any rider can compete in the Lightweight TT category, the class is seen by many as a stepping stone onto a supersport or bigger bike. As such, many of the TT’s upcoming stars feature in the Lightweight TT.
A four-lap race this year, the Lightweight TT in the past has been a three-lap contest, which brought a bit of strategy into play on when to take a pit stop. Now four laps, that intrigue has been removed, but given riders a more difficult contest on machines not designed for racing.