Australian company Salt Motorcycles has launched what they claim is the ultimate 2-stroke road bike, designed for the open road with lots of corners
Salt Motorcycles Two-Stroke Corner Carver
If reports are to be believed, the two-stroke engine in road bikes is dead and buried under a mountain of emissions regulations. Having said that, it seems that someone has forgotten to tell a couple of small-volume bike builders.
The first to appear was the Langen from the UK. Using a v-twin, two-stroke engine of 250cc, it is a jewel of a machine and available in very limited numbers.
The other is rather more surprising, hailing as it does from rule-bound Australia. Based in Brisbane, SALT Motorcycles' aim is to bring the rawness back into motorcycles as an antidote to the over-refined products of the world's manufacturers.
Believe it or not, the SALT starts life as a KTM 300 EXC off-road bike. Heavily modified, the SALT is motorcycling as it used to be: simple, wild, light and good looking and just begging to be shown a corner or five.
“Our bikes are about the rider, the motorcycle, and the road,” says owner and founder Brendan James. “Using modern engineering and design, we hope to reintroduce riders to the pure analogue feel of motorcycling.”
The company takes a brand new KTM 300EXC and tweaks the engine with a TSP cylinder head, ECU and fits a Rekluse auto clutch. The stainless exhaust has been tuned and the engine puts out 52bhp and 34.5lb.ft of torque.
Power is nothing without control, so they say, and the SALT have worked on the KTM chassis with the help of ex-GP rider Paul Lewis. The subframe has been strengthened and 19/18-inch rims fitted at front and rear. The front brake caliper is a four-piston unit from Brembo and grips a single disc, while the back caliper is twin-pot, also Brembo.
The suspension is the WP set-up from the KTM, but heavily re-worked, as you would expect for a set-up initially designed for off-road work.
The key to the bike's performance is the weight, or rather, lack of it. Fitted with carbon fibre bodywork and an aluminium tank, the SALT weighs in a a mere 245lb (111kg).
Electronics are taken care of by Motogadget and the only instrument is an analogue rev counter with an incorporated digital speed display: simplicity itself.
Riding position is distinctly cafe racer although it appears that the foot pegs are more mid-mounted rather than fully rear set to ease the riding position a little.
What it all adds up to is a real little beauty of a bike, properly put together, with an emphasis on substance over style, although there is plenty of that as well.
If you want to get your hands on one of these beauties, then all you have to do is shell out $29,000 and, I suppose, wait a few months!
Find out more about the Salt here