Attractive, efficient and financially attractive, the KTM 125 Duke quickly became one of the top 5 125cc registrations. Long without a real competitor, she must now count with a Yamaha MT-125 decided to do battle. So, the duel begins!
KTM Duke 125 VS Yamaha MT-125
Launched in 2011, the KTM 125 Duke quickly found its audience. Designed in Austria but manufactured in India (at Bajaj, partner of KTM), it combines a modern and aggressive design with desire to a chassis of quality and a powerful motorization of 15 horses, the maximum authorized in this category. Its attractiveness has increased since 2013 with the adoption of a deactivatable ABS series, all against the modest sum of 4100 euros.
In the position of challenger, the Yamaha MT-125 (read our test MNC June 10, 2014: Roll (mechanics) youth!) Barely yet to compete with the KTM on the tariff plan. It is indeed proposed to 4299 euros without ABS and 4699 euros with, or 599 € more! A price differential that can be explained in part by the very design of the machine, based on the sporty YZF-R125 Deltabox frame and powerful engine, but especially by the fact that this bike is built in France in the factory Yamaha of Saint-Quentin (02), with a workforce certainly qualified but a priori more expensive.
However, the MT-125 already threatens the Duke in the first six months of 2015, with 636 registrations for the French-Japanese against 506 for his rival Austro-Indian!
Opposition of styles
On the aesthetic level, the KTM certainly marks points with its big size and rewarding big motorcycle, its orange color with the decor "flashy", its sharp dressing parts, its beautiful tubular lattice frame, its compact exhaust muffler housed in a low position under the engine and its flat handlebars handlebar handles provided supermotard handguards.
Beautiful work, with the crowning of all the suspensions "home" WP flattering to the eye and a beautiful beacon in two parts superimposed, surmounted by a small jump of wind and surrounded by pretty flashing LEDs.
The MT-125 is no exception in terms of size, just as rewarding, but it may seem a little less sexy with its long - and false - scoops of air intake along the tank, its silencer very ordinary exhaust and its bulky low engine trim.
Same finding in the color "Race-Blu" alloy wheels - otherwise pretty - which could have remained black for more sobriety. The general line of the MT-125, however, remains pleasant and balanced with a nice fork head, a perforated top triple fork, aluminum handlebars with variable diameter, a saddle cover Alcantara way, a superb openwork swing arm to let the chain and a slender rear train, with the rear light housed at the wheel arch.
A style immediately identifiable and close to the other models of the range "Master of Torque" of the Japanese manufacturer (MT-09, MT-07). Both have a small trunk under saddle with tool kit, under the pilot seat on the Yamaha and passenger on the KTM. The latter, however, is the only one to offer genuine passenger grips.
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| KTM Duke 125 |
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| Yamaha MT-125 |
In terms of dashboards, KTM and Yamaha are in the 100% digital: simple multifunctional dial for the Duke and large dial in three parts for the MT-125. There is more or less the same information, including a fuel gauge, indicators of average and instant consumption and a light shift signaling over-revving.
The KTM takes the advantage thanks to its gear ratio indicator - not a gadget on motorcycles as mechanically sharp - and its very practical backlighting buttons on the commodos. On the Yamaha, an "info" button on the right button facilitates the change of display on the meter, while the absence of a pin complicates the deployment of the side stand. Both are noted equipment shortcomings, such as the lack of adjustment spacing of the brake and clutch handles, and the lack of a warning command.
The capacity of the fuel tanks of the two motorcycles is close: 11.5 liters for the Yamaha and 11 for the KTM, which has a hinged type aviation plug. The chain tension setting is pushed to both. Ready? In the saddle! Photo by; Gwendal Salaun for moto-net.com.
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