A motorbike can have a license plate, indicators, documents in order and the innocent air of a vehicle perfectly ready to circulate. Then just follow it outside the paper, inside the passage between factory, dealer and customer, and that same motorcycle begins to tell another story. The European investigation #Unrestricted, coordinated by Climate Whistleblowersclaims that a widespread practice has developed around some KTM enduros: motorcycles produced and approved in limited versions, then “unlocked” to increase performance, noise and emissions, while continuing – according to the investigation – to circulate with documents referring to the approved configuration.
The work was born from a recommendation from a professional in the motorcycle sector with over twenty years of experience. From there a transnational research began, with undercover journalists, visits to dealers, recordings and independent tests. According to what was reconstructed, the reporters visited 15 KTM fairs and dealers in seven European countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Austria, Italy, Germany, Spain and Belgium. The models involved would be at least 16 in the enduro range, including some motorcycles from the GasGas and Husqvarna brands, belonging to the same group.
The motion of documents
The contested mechanism lies in a difference that is only apparently small. The enduros leave the factory with components and settings designed to comply with European regulations on emissions and noise: catalytic converter, lambda sensor, gas recirculation systems, more conservative electronic mapping. In that form, the vehicle obtains approval and can be sold as a motorcycle also suitable for road circulation.
Then would come the unlocking. According to the investigation, in the “derestricted” version the catalyst is replaced or eliminated, the lambda sensor disconnected, the recirculation pipes removed and the motorcycle software modified. The engine receives more fuel, increases power, changes the behavior of the vehicle. Emissions also change: more carbon monoxide, more unburned hydrocarbons, more fine particulate matter.
The difference with the classic Dieselgate must be maintained, otherwise it will only lead to confusion. In the Volkswagen case, the crux was the devices designed to recognize the tests and alter the car’s behavior during the tests. Here, according to #Unrestricted, the clutch would be in the distance between the approved configuration and the delivered or actually used configuration. The substance, however, remains heavy: the control measures one configuration, on the road it risks ending up another.
Unlocked at the dealership
The most delicate step concerns the dealers. In Germany, ZDF frontal documented with a hidden camera the purchase of an unlocked KTM enduro, sold with license plate and documents, even if those documents referred to the limited version. The same investigation reports undercover visits in France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Italy, Austria and Germany, with sellers offering unlocked enduros equipped with road documents.
ORF, in Austria, also talks about “Alibi-Straßenzulassung”, a sort of façade road approval. An Austrian salesman would have explained that, on paper, you buy a detuned motorbike; in practice, the dealer proposes intervention to bring it back to full power. According to ORF, about 15 horsepower would go up to about 50 horsepower. In Austria, in 2025, approximately 11 thousand KTM, GasGas and Husqvarna enduros were registered. How many are actually unlocked remains an open question at the moment.
Here the enduro leaves the niche of enthusiasts with muddy boots. Many off-road routes can be reached via public roads; many dirt tracks, in various European countries, are still considered public roads. A racing-only motorcycle would remain in another perimeter. A motorbike with license plate and certificate enters the common space: towns, hills, dirt roads, asphalted stretches, natural areas. At that point noise and emissions stop being a technical detail.
Bench tests
The numbers come from the tests. The International Council on Clean Transportation, the organization that played an important role in the emergence of Dieselgate, commissioned laboratory and closed-circuit tests on a non-restricted KTM enduro from the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague. According to the reported results, the unlocked motorcycle recorded emissions and noise levels much higher than the limits set for the approved version; for carbon monoxide alone, the indicated figure reaches approximately twenty times.
In detail, the emissions of hydrocarbons and hydrocarbons plus nitrogen oxides would have exceeded the limit applicable to the approved version by more than twenty times. Even carbon monoxide would have exceeded that limit by more than twenty times. For fine particulate matter, the instruments would have reached their maximum measurement limit during much of the test, preventing a complete reading; with the partial data available, the unlocked motorbike would have emitted at least 200 times more particles per kilometer than the Euro 7 limit set for cars, a reference which formally does not apply to motorbikes.
You need to keep the proportions together. Motorcycles, overall, weigh much less than cars, trucks and heavy vehicles in total transport emissions. The problem here is narrower and more annoying: a motorcycle approved to respect certain limits can become much more polluting if the very systems designed to contain it are removed. If the change then becomes part of a widespread practice, the certificate risks becoming an administrative decoration.
KTM rejects everything
KTM denies the accusations. In an official communication dated May 27, 2026, the company states that its enduro models only leave the factory in an approved and roadworthy condition. According to KTM, any configurations for competition or off-road use occur after purchase, at the customer’s request, and lead to the loss of road approval: the vehicle, in that case, can no longer circulate on public roads.
The company presents the enduros as dual-use sports vehicles: in their approved state they can circulate on the road, while for competitive use they can be configured differently. KTM adds that enduros sold in Europe represent around 3% of its global sales and points out the limited weight of motorcycles on overall emissions. It is the central defensive line: vehicles delivered compliant, subsequent modifications only for tenders, informed responsibility of the customer.
The crux, however, remains the one documented by the undercover visits: according to the partners of the investigation, in several European countries the dealers would have offered or described motorcycles already unlocked, with license plates and road documents. ZDF also reported the European Commission’s position that any modification to an approved vehicle takes it out of compliance; the Commission also recalled that it is up to the manufacturer to take the necessary corrective measures.
The control hole
The European framework exists. EU regulation 168/2013 regulates the approval and market surveillance for two- or three-wheeled vehicles and quadricycles, therefore also for motorbikes. Delegated Regulation 44/2014 contains anti-tampering requirements for the powertrain and clarifies that measures must discourage modifications capable of having negative effects on functional safety or the environment.
The practical problem comes later. An ordinary inspection can check many things, but recognizing a different electronic configuration, verifying a mapping or demonstrating that the motorbike no longer corresponds to the technical data sheet requires much more specific tools and checks. In Spain, the director of AECA-ITV explained that to intercept certain differences a power test bench would be needed, a tool that is not used in ordinary technical inspections.
In Germany, the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt, the federal transport authority which issued the approval of the affected models, told ZDF that it was actively following the reports. If deviations from the rules are found during the investigation, the authority may take measures against the economic operators involved. It’s the point where the investigation stops being just a journalistic job and becomes a matter of public surveillance. The story of the KTM motorcycles leaves a very concrete question on the table: how much is an approval worth if the vehicle in circulation risks having another configuration?
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