It’s that time of year again. That time when looking at the slightly altered paintjobs of the 2021 MotoGP bikes is the most interesting thing we have to talk about. This year it’s even more crucially interesting as, thanks to pesky coronavirus, we’ve not even had any testing – which is especially bad news for Jorge Lorenzo as he was unable to tell us all via Twitter how good the Yamaha would have been with him as a tester.
Who doesn’t love an orange bike? Maybe Gerry Adams and a few of his irate faux Irish mates – especially if you started popping wheelies and doing burn outs down the Shankill Road whilst waving a Union Jack, doffing your bowler hat whilst singing an off-key but highly enthusiastic version of rule Britannia. But other than them everyone else.
For more years than I can be bothered looking up when it came to orange bikes Repsol Honda ruled the roost with their ‘once iconic, now tediously monotonous’ design. But both on-track and on-design KTM (who amusingly hate Honda) have started to show the pesky evil-HRC boys how it’s done post-Doohan’s mullet.
KTM really really stepped up in 2020. The constant awarding of a factory ride to Bradley Smith shows that in their past KTM were clearly a breadcrumb short of a schnitzel in MotoGP. But all that changed last year when Austrian team started winning races and looking like genuine title contenders.
Factory KTM
KTM are proud to be Austrian. And when you think of Austria you automatically also think of Red Bull and Hitler. Given that in this ‘woke’ world we sadly now find ourselves in a Swastika would be deemed offensive to everyone but Stefan Bradl it seems obvious that KTM would once again adorn their MotoGP bike with the Redbull logo. And that’s what they’ve done.
Their livery is 90% RedBull logo – no doubt with the aim of keeping the sugar and caffeine dependent children addicted whilst hopefully introducing a new generation to the delights of diabetes, tooth decay and chronic insomnia.
The bike looks okay.
MGPN Rating: ★★★☆☆
Tech 3 KTM
Before their move to KTM the Tech 3 bikes were predominately yellow – a classy nod by team principle Hervé Poncharal* in recognition of the colour of the streaks found down his countrymen’s back.
But thankfully the yellow was ditched when Tech 3 moved to KTM and this year Herve’s bikes have been thoroughly doused by a big tin of gorgeous orange paint. The KTM logo is classy – and the rest of the sponsor’s stickers have been carefully stuck near the bottom of the bike where nobody ever looks…except maybe Dani Pedrosa.
We at MGPN believe the best type of designs should be like the best type of women: simple and clean. This one’s a winner.