ATK Motorcycles

ATK Motorcycles is an off-road motorcycle manufacturer founded in Utah, USA, in 1980 by Austrian-born engineer Horst Leitner, a former 500cc Grand Prix racer. The company's name comes from Leitner's own patented anti-tension chain-drive system (Anti Tension Kettenantrieb in German), designed to eliminate chain-pull effects on suspension for better handling. ATK's first bike, serial number one, won the grueling Barstow-to-Vegas desert race in 1984 against a field of thousands, and Leitner followed it with the Horst Link suspension design, an influential system still referenced in off-road motorcycle engineering. The company is also credited with building the first fuel-injected off-road motorcycle and the first production motard. ATK has long been described as the only remaining American manufacturer of off-road motorcycles, though by the mid-2010s its activity had narrowed mainly to supporting previously sold models through parts and service documentation rather than active new production.