Well KTM won't be abandoning the 4CS, IMO, on the following grounds:
1. Investment made in tooling and production plant by KTM/WP on these forks and now in their 4th (or is it 5th) year of production.
2. They are cheaper to manufacturer and in their rationale, parts 'should' be cheaper.
3. These forks are actually lighter than their previous forks.
4. They actually do work
And this is their mindset if the following interview is to be believed (Thanks to Transmoto Aust magazine):
Mike Sleeter has been involved with KTM’s future-model testing program for a decade now, so we sat down with the likeable American Pro rider at KTM’s recent media launch for the 2016 models in the USA to get a first-hand insight into the brand’s real-world testing and development process.
Fitting the WP 4CS fork last year for the American and Australian bikes was not that well received. What’s your take on that?
We thought WP’s twin-chamber fork was a good thing and still getting better, but it seemed the
American market wanted a change as that fork had been used for so long. More specifically, the media over here wrote it off. As a group, we didn’t necessarily agree with that, so the change to the 4CS last year was initially more about pleasing the market. We’ve worked really hard on developing the 4CS fork and made some big steps forward, and I now believe we made the right decision in moving to the 4CS.
The 4CS fork across all models does feel noticeably softer this year.
Our feedback last year was that the 4CS fork’s mid-stroke was a little harsh and that it deflected too much in some situations. And the settings we’ve used this year definitely improve on that a lot. Our philosophy is that the
faster guys are going to get their suspension re-valved anyway, but we wanted the average guy’s first experience with the bike to be a positive, comfortable one.
So l blame you Yanks for keeping the 4CS alive
All honestly, agreed with the OP in that if you find a suspension guy who takes the time to understand your needs, actually understands the 4CS, you'll come out with a fork that works. My tuner works on that basis with the pretense that you cannot have a do all fork i.e. forks that works in the bush but want to work on an MX doing 20ft jumps - two different disciplines that require two different setup. Also, the rear shock is a big player in the equation and if you don't balance the bike right, it doesn't matter matter how many $$$ is spent on the fork if the rear shock starts to overheat and lock up as well?
If your mindset is already influenced that they are a crap fork, then no amount of tuning is probably going to change that unfortunately and probably better of making a deal with your dealer on swapping the forks with SX CC or OC forks. I totally agree that KTM R&D team failed in terms of releasing a fork for mass consumption that wasn't up to spec in comparison to their OC or CC forks but unfortunately for us consumers, being market leader allows them the abuse to release a piece of equipment that kinda works but we'll let the consumer doing the testing as it won't hurt our sales
PS. Don't take notice of what the factory guys use...95% of the bike doesn't have production parts on it so pinning 'even such and such racer/team' doesn't use OE equipment is irrelevent IMO...better looking at the lower classes and see what they run...the punters who actually have to pay for things.
