In India, Bajaj Auto is a major player in two and three-wheeled vehicles. They originally purchased a 14.5 percent stake in KTM last year, which was increased to 20.9 percent earlier this year and has now officially reached 25 percent. The companies have been working together to develop high-efficiency bikes, sourcing for production and the assembling of KTM bikes in India for export to Europe under KTM branding. The commuter version on the same platform in India resides under the Bajaj brand.

Bajaj has also invested 35-240 million Euros developing two platforms, which will be commercially launched by 2010 in India. Without giving official details, the Indian company is planning to increase its stake even more.

What if anything do bicycles and motorcycles have in common? Besides the whole two-wheel thing, it isn’t outright apparent that these two “handle-barred beasts” share more than ancient ancestry. Modern Off-road motorcycle and Free-ride bicycle designs side-by-side illustrate how much technology the two have in common. Exploring where the discipline of free-ride motorcycling can go, Project M85 bridges the gap between petrol and pedal-powered adrenaline sports. + A ton of videos after the Jump!

Red, Blue, Green & Black – these are motorcycle colors, right? Well, orange definitely needs to be considered a motorcycle color too. Full discretion first, I’ve a thing for KTM bikes. Maybe it’s the euro origins of the company, their exemplary branding and strong corporate identity or the fact that nobody can pronounce the names KTM stands for – Kraftfahrzeuge Trunkenpolz Mattighofen, originally and then Kronreif & Trunkenpolz Mattighofen.

This weeks POW! is from a Review of the 2008 KTM RC8 1190 by Tor Sagen earlier this year. Peuker/Buenos Dias on photography bringing some spectacular imagery of the bike in action, Tor in the cockpit, with some impressive scenery to boot! Be sure to pickup these Free desktop wallpapers after the jump!

Volkswagen has been teasing Birkenstock wearing Grateful Dead fans for years with futuristic yet retro-inspired concepts of their famed Micro-bus. Discussion and speculation have been passed around bongs like bags of Doritos for years about whether or not the cherished hippie mover will ever be resurrected. Will they build it? Won’t they? Who knows? This image of a Volkswagen motorcycle concept emerged last spring but apparently still hasn’t sprung into anything more than speculation either. The potential for success could be significant if the project did in fact get the green light but like the Micro-bus, it may never see the light of day.

After attending a large consumer show of any kind, be it car, RV, boat or motorcycle, it often feels like the entire event was a blur. For that reason, I thought I would highlight some of the more noteworthy models shown at the EICMA show in Milan, starting with KTM.

KTM introduced its prototype electric motorcycle earlier this week, and electric bike manufacturer Zero Motorcycles almost immediately responded by opening sales on its 2009 Zero X dirt bike (look for our review of the 2008 model next week!). But these two companies aren’t the only ones exploring the possibilities of electric-powered motorcycles.

As the off-road market continues its tailspin, Austria’s KTM is hedging its bets with a continued surge in its street motorcycle category. Its on-road push began with the liter-size V-Twins in the Adventure, Super Duke, and Supermoto bikes, followed most recently by the RC8 superbike.

Now we hear word that the Austrian manufacturer will soon enter the supersport class. A prototype is already completed, according to Hubert Trunkenpolz, KTM’s managing director of sales and marketing.

“Development is finished,” said Trunkenpolz in the October, 2008 edition of Dealernews.
“Now we just have to bring it into production. I think you’ll see it at the latest in two years’ time at the American dealers.”