Truthfully, after the corporate was supposedly saved just a few weeks in the past, I believed the fallout of the KTM insolvency chaos could be over. Or, on the very least, be relegated to seemingly minor flare-ups of executives getting axed or a newswire hitting stating Hamilton really is saving the MotoGP crew. I imply, alls good within the hood now, proper?
Unsuitable. In any case, that is KTM we’re speaking about.
So the FAFO selections it made in prior years, the identical selections that led to it almost being relegated to the graveyard of well-known marquees, proceed impacting the corporate as we speak because it makes an attempt to proper the ship. The newest casualty seemingly being the much-ballyhooed new technology Freeride E electrical filth bike it was set to launch to the general public this yr, as the corporate has eliminated all point out of it from its web site. In addition to its websites within the UK, Germany, and different locales.
And what’s actually bizarre about this entire factor is that the model simply introduced that enduro famous person Taddy Blazusiak—who had a stint with Stark Future—was returning to the model to…grow to be a advisor for the model’s electrical motorbike improvement.
Cool, cool, cool, completely cool, the whole lot’s positive, guys…
RideApart was first alerted that the Freeride had been faraway from the U.S. web site from a social media put up on Reddit. The put up, titled “No Freeride E for 2025”, went on to state that the person had checked out KTM’s important US portal and no Freeride was talked about, although it had been just a few brief months in the past. We then checked ourselves, in addition to the websites for KTM Germany, KTM UK, and KTM Canada, with the one electrical choices from the corporate being these for kids.
However that wasn’t imagined to be the case.
Based on a KTM press launch dated October seventeenth, 2024—I archived the discharge right here for posterity—the corporate states, “The 2025 KTM FREERIDE E, ridden by hardenduro star Manuel Lettenbichler, marks a major milestone for KTM, a full decade after they launched the electrical KTM FREERIDE E idea. Lettenbichler’s endorsement of the bike showcases its functionality in difficult off-road environments, validating its efficiency on the highest degree of the game.” However here is the rub.
That very same press launch states, “The brand new 2025 KTM FREERIDE E will likely be rolling off the Austrian manufacturing line in December and will likely be out there at approved KTM sellers in January 2025.” It is now almost April as I write this and the model has scrubbed all point out of the motorbike, aside from the information releases.
Picture by: KTM
Likewise, when RideApart went to KTM’s picture library to discover a image of the Freeride for this story, the pictures had been scrubbed. On a message stating, “Asset Not Discovered: Sorry, the merchandise you requested couldn’t be discovered. It’s potential that it has been deleted just lately.”
Now, clearly, KTM has been by way of the wringer currently. And up till very just lately, manufacturing was shut down in Austria. However the full elimination of the motorbike’s existence is an odd one, particularly for the reason that model has already moved the dates for its 1390 and 990 bikes to later this yr—the 390s weren’t affected by the manufacturing shutdown as they are not constructed by KTM. It very properly could possibly be that the Freeride has simply been postponed till later this yr and even subsequent yr. However why not simply say that?
RideApart reached out to KTM for a request for touch upon the state of affairs and we’ll replace this put up as soon as or if we hear again. However as of proper now, there is not any new Freeride E coming.
