Within 1991, Austrian motorcycle manufacturer KTM appeared to be forced into bankruptcy as well as a split into four free companies. By 2015, it had fully risen from the ashes to become the actual best-selling European bike manufacturer. How did that transpire? One word: KISKA.

In a motorcycle landscape complete with companies trying to fill the center ground and produce all kinds of hybrid-purpose bikes, KTM has gone the opposite with species ready dirt bikes, bat shit insane naked sportbikes, and international calls worthy adventure bikes—which helps make their success and rise over the other European brands more interesting. No fluff, simply no middle ground, no scramblers, and no full size toned along versions.


And while his or her “best selling brand in Europe”claim bit caught me personally off guard, it trouble they’re aren’t getting creative considering the numbers. KTM claims your 2015 sales of above 180, 000 units while BMW claims 136, 963 items, Ducati claims 54, 800 units, and Husqvarna 11, 513 units. I couldn’t discover 2015 numbers for Triumph, although they sold 54, 432 throughout 2014.

To find available how they pulled this off, I went to KTM’s first ever layout and technology event from their headquarters in Mattighofen, Austria. That’s where I discovered the secret behind KTM’s success lies with one person and his tiny design firm.

I first saw the name KISKA alongside Husqvarna’s show-stopping Svartpilen 401 as well as Vitpilen 401 on display at the 2014 EICMA show inside Milan. I found those 2 bikes more desirable than any others in the show, which should have been my first clue that they weren’t created by any custom bike builder or by having a one-off collaboration with Husqvarna (or somewhat, KTM, which bought Husky inside 2013. ).
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