My race bike is a TM, and I'm always surprised when I unload at the track the way people look and wonder. I get a lot of questions, nobody really knows what it is and some people even think it's Chinese.
TM Racing is an Italian company that builds about 3000 bikes a year, each one hand assembled, with 90% of it's parts being manufactured in house. It is as close to a full on factory race bike as money can buy, and the attention to detail is like no other motorcycle on the market.
This is part 4 of the factory tour, it shows some of the assembly and a few of the bikes. The first few parts of the tour explain the production, and production philosophy, and shows some of the in-house manufacturing and engine assembly. I hope you find it interesting
Where do they fall in terms of pricing compared to Japanese or Austrian competition?
In reply to Spearfishin :
In the first part of the tour it's mentioned that they're priced the same as KTM. Maybe in Europe, but not here. I only know the two strokes, but if you know the price difference, roughly, between a YZ and a KTM SX, the difference between the KTM and the TM is similar. They're not cheap, but if you look at what you're getting and how they're built, it's amazing what you get for your money.
The way they build bikes is completely different. You don't see any shortcuts, and you see a lot of machined billet, internal machining on the engine cases that's normally left as-cast, and even hand porting in the cylinders. Good example, my bike is a 144. When KTM builds their 144's they bore the 125 cylinder 4mm. It changes the personality of the engine, the powerband, and the way it revs, and not in a positive way. When TM builds a 144 they stroke it 3.7mm, bore it 2mm, and everything is different. The crank, the cases, the cylinder and porting, it's all 144 specific, and it maintains the 125 feel, only it screams like a 125 on steroids. Also, if you place an order for a TM, you can spec the shocks, the spring rates, gearing and many other things. Mine was ordered with the 6 speed, as well as the all white plastics option.
