It’s not that often you see a whole new range in the UK, especially from a brand that already sells nearly 200,000 bikes a year. Cycle 2008 is the first time we’ve seen Austrian bikemongers KTM in the UK. They’ve been around since 1964 making motorbikes, pushbikes and, erm, radiators, and their range encompasses pretty much everything from downhill monsters to dutch bikes. We’re mostly interested in road and urban machines of course, but we can only really tell you about the road side: KTM may have been testing the water in the UK for some time now but they clearly haven’t had their finger on the pulse as regards the city bike and commuting explosion, and they didn’t bring a single hybrid to the show. Pity. In total the range includes some 220 models, and KTM aren’t looking for a UK distributor but rolling out the service that they use in the rest of Europe, which is to ship the bikes direct, for free, to any bike shop that orders more than three of them. Not bad. What they did bring was lots of tasty road irons ranging from £699 to £4,299. The Di2-equipped Revelator Prestige, at a right-arm-off-cutting £6,799, wasn’t available as Shimano don’t really have any production Di2 to speak of. There’s three platforms – monocoque carbon, bonded carbon and Aluminium – and a variety of builds for each one, with Shimano transmissions and good quality finishing gear from Ricthey and Selle Italia among others. All the bikes are designed and developed at KTM’s Austrian HQ: the frames are produced in China and sent back for painting and assembly. The top end bikes are each hand-assembled by one person to ensure that the quality control is the best it can be, though we’re not sure how top end the bikes need to be to get this personal treatment. The Revelator carbon monocoque is, well, a nice-looking carbon monocoque to go with all the other nice-looking carbon monocoques at the show. KTM don’t rebrand but design all frames from scratch (they’ve got patents pending for dropouts and tube bending, they say…) so you can at least be sure you’re not getting a rebadged or generic frame. The Dura-Ace equipped Revelator Prime weighted in at a svelte 14.7lb on the road.cc scales, the same spec on the bonded carbon Strada frame is £1300 less and just under a pound heavier at 15.5lb. The £699 base model Alu Strada is a fairly respectable 21.3lb. KTM are pushing hard to at the doors of the UK market, and their distribution model means that independent shops can take a punt without risking too much capital, so we’d expect to see them popping up around the country. And we’re hoping that one’ll be popping up at the road.cc offices too, so we can give it a proper ride. 
The KTM Strada monocoque with Dura Ace 7900 comes in at a penny under three grand 
Entry level Strada Alu has a full Tiagra groupset
KTM bikes give Britain a go
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Another rival at a similar price point is the Ridgeback Panorama which comes with a front rack and a dynamo lighting system.
Wouldn’t happen to a French rider. French judge.
FACT I got my bikes rear wheel to 115kmh by putting it upside down and spinning the cranks by hand. It doesn't have a motor. The bike could probably go even faster if flung off a tall building. Hashtag science.
"One of the least mentioned is that in the event of a dinged or buckled rim, you can still ride, at least to a degree." What about if the disc gets buckled e.g. when the bike has been transported in a bag? How easy is it to straighten out a disc? Can the bike still be ridden?
I'm reminded of Hincapie's handlebar/steerer tube misfortune at the 2006 Paris-Roubaix, and the wonder I felt that durability priority had sunk that far. And I'll always feel better about a high-speed blowout on my tubs than anything else.
Yes, I don't disagree with you. I wasn't meaning to advocate for her in the role, just observing. Although the ambition was nice to hear, for a change. Unless I've missed something, as of 23:30 the Transport Secretary still hasn't been announced? Doesn't say a lot for that as a priority, but I get there are other things to announce first. I'm more interested in the appointment of Lucy Powell and "changing the education system". Will wait and see, I suppose.
Doesn't sound good. On the other hand if you read the papers (particularly Private Eye - recommend their recent podcasts) you'll see it's not at all unusual for the poachers of business (consultancy, accounting, tech, gambling...) to become the gamekeepers of the public purse / data - or at least advisors on the same. Who better to know exactly the sharp practices of industry players we should be wary of giving contracts to? And if we head in the direction of how it works in the US (as some of the politicians seem keen) I can assure you this kind of thing will increase in a way that will make anyone paying attention wish for the innocent days of such minor peccadillos!
He hasn't got away with it. He will eventually be caught, most likely when he commits further offences. When this happens he will also be charged with non-appearance.
Much as Louise Haig seemed to start out on the right track as transport secretary (a) she hardly got going and (b) if the issue was she hadn't revealed a fraud then and was outed, I don't think "now everyone knows so it's fine, can I come back?" should apply. Of course others might say that - given the small size of the actual offense and the not mentioning thereof - she's far below the standard level of shamelessness. Indeed isn't the usual way to say it's none of anyone's business / she shouldn't need to declare anything etc.?
@DJameson Actually in the USA it's common to charge murder with a "lesser included" manslaughter alternative, so the jury can still convict of manslaughter if they're not convinced of the murder evidence. In the UK a judge can offer the jury the option and say if you're not convinced it's murder you can still convict of manslaughter.