 When you ask people what's the first thing that comes to their mind when you say KTM, the majority of them will most likely reply things that include off-road and winning, and that didn't happen by chance. The orange brand has been working for the last 30 years to be number one, and the results are showing in podiums and dealerships. They are taking the world by storm and giving a hard time to the Japanese giants. However, the story of KTM was an always rainbows and unicorns, and it had its fair share of bad moments. Let's find out the story of the biggest European motorcycle manufacturer. In 1934, the Austrian engineer Hans Trunkenpoltz opened a vehicle repair shop in Matigofen, known as Kraftfahrzeugen Trunkenpoltz Matigofen. For some years, they had a lot of work, mainly due to the World War II. They were supplying repair work and in-house production of spare parts for the war efforts. The idea of building a motorcycle definitely wasn't on the table. When the war ended, the need for a vehicle repair work was close to none. Entering a recession, only a few people could afford to buy a car, so Mr Trunkenpoltz decided to develop a small displacement motorcycle. Hans developed everything but the engine, which was a 98cc road tax engine with a pull starter. In 1953, the bike was presented to the public and the iconic letters were showcased for the first time. K for Kraftfahrzeugen, which means smaller vehicles in Austrian, T for Trunkenpoltz and M for Matigofen, hence KTM. In the same year, Trunkenpoltz partnered up with Ernst Konreif, a businessman. He became a major shareholder of KTM. The company was later renamed, but kept its acronym. KTM was now for Konreif. KTM made their official racing debut in 1954 and secured their first title in the Austrian 125cc national championship. Two years later, they made an appearance at the International Six Days of Trials, the world's oldest off-road motorcycle event sanctioned by the FIM. They took two gold medals home, with Egon Darnauer and Kurt Statzinger. During the 60s, KTM launched several models that became very popular for urban commute, such as the Mechian Pony 1 and 2. And for off-road use, the Komet was the model of choice. Until then, KTM was quite happy with adding the road tax engine to a bike almost completely built in the Matigofen factory. However, at some point, John Pendon, an American off-road enthusiast, convinced Erich Trunkenpolz, KTM's CEO at the time, to make a custom bike for the US. It was called the Penton KTM. After that huge success, Erich was also convinced that building an engine from scratch with a bigger displacement was what KTM needed, to make a step forward, become more competitive and increase sales. In 1971, the first KTM engine started rolling out of production, and Manfred Kler shows the capability of the brand's know-how by winning the Austrian national championship on the newly developed 250cc motocross prototype bike. And in 1974, with Russian motocross racer Gennady Moisev on the saddle, KTM wins its first FIM motocross GP championship on a KTM 250. In the early 80s, KTM was rebranded to KTM Motorfaatsoigabao, Kage, and a company grew to 700 employees. Income was at $750 million per year, and international sales accounted for 76% of that revenue. With a sale of over 40 different models to choose from, KTM was in a good spot, selling thousands of bikes, from small moped to race-winning bikes, until the Japanese brands entered the international market, making KTM almost fall into bankruptcy. Stay tuned for the next episode.