Europe’s Biggest Motorcycle Maker Accused Of Selling Illegal Bikes

Surviving near-death usually makes a company more cautious. Not always. Having scraped past permanent liquidation in late 2024, KTM, Europe’s largest motorcycle manufacturer, now finds itself in hot water for reportedly selling off-road bikes and registering them as road-legal. Several prominent European publications have dug into the practice, and yet local authorities appear content to look the other way.

The KTM 350 EXC-F is one of the models that sits at the center of it. In standard trim, the 350cc single-cylinder makes 51 hp and is meant for track and competition use only, never the public road. Undercover reporting tells a different story. KTM is said to be detuning these bikes to 15 hp so they qualify for road registration, then de-restricting them again before the keys change hands.

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A team of reporters from ten major publications, including Spiegel and Manager Magazin, have spent recent months posing as prospective KTM buyers, and what they found is not pretty. The off-road bikes, they report, are restricted at the factory and registered for road use. They then reach dealers with the parts needed to convert them back to their original output. The dealer returns the bike to stock, tweaks the software, and sends it out the door, free to hit public roads on falsified registration documents.

KTM Sales Rep Admits To The “Cheat”

One reporter recently posed as a buyer at the Brussels Motor Show, speaking with KTM about its practices. The sales representative apparently acknowledged that the motorbikes are delivered in a restricted state to meet registration and emissions regulations, before being modified, saying, “It’s a bit of a cheat.” One dealer in Austria told a reporter from ORF that the engines will be damaged and break after just 12 miles (20 km) in their de-tuned state, noting they’re not designed to be so heavily restricted.

These bikes are often referred to as ‘supermotos’ and because they’re technically not legal for road use, Spiegal reports insurance companies don’t cover them. That means that if a rider is involved in an accident, they could be staring down prison time. 

Breaching Local Regulations

According to the International Council on Clean Transportation, the derestricted KTM bikes are “more than twice as loud” as when they’re restricted, and apparently produce as much carbon monoxide as a “diesel locomotive,” with particulate emissions much higher than those of a car.

KTM says that all off-road motorcycles it sends to dealers are delivered in “road-legal condition,” and that modifications are made only at the customer’s request. In addition, dealers reportedly tell buyers that once the restrictions are removed, the bikes will no longer be legal for road use. Of course, these dealers have no way of stopping buyers from riding their de-restricted bikes wherever they want. Spiegal also reports that many of the motorcycles are derestricted as soon as they arrive at dealers, long before a customer makes a request.