Understanding the KTM generation cycle

Most dirt bike manufacturers are working on a 3-4 year cycle these days, at least with racing platforms. Kawasaki saw the KX450f generations of 2006-2008, 2009-2011, 2012-2015, 2016-2018 and now 2019-2022. Yamaha and Honda have made the similar updates on similar cycles to their 250s and 450s since 4-strokes took over racing. KTM does the same thing, although it can be a bit more confusing.

The orange brand delivers far more bike models and options to the consumer at the moment. There's SX-F, XC-F, XCF-W, SX, XC, EXC, XC-W, and probably more! Recently, KTM has seemed to set some regularities about updating their platforms. The SX-F (motocross) and XC-F (cross-country) models get the updates first. These bike's share the most in common, and being meant for racing, it makes sense they will get the new technology first. The XC-W (enduro) and EXC (dual sport) models will then receive those updates the NEXT model year. 

For example, the 2023 KTM 300 XC will be the NEW platform, while the 2023 KTM XC-W will be the same platform as the 2019-2022 300 XC, or 2020-2022 300 XC-W.

Another clue KTM gives us is frame color. For a base model KTM, the bike will only have an orange frame when it's the LAST year of that generation. The 2020-2022 KTM 300 XC-W has a black frame, but since 2023 is the last year of that generation 300 XC-W, the frame is now orange!