WORDS: Jock McLauchlan
PHOTOS: Geoff Osborne
THE
AUSTRIAN
SCALPEL
TM’s 790 Duke appears to
represent a departure in KTM’s
thinking, and a bold statement to
customers in this hotly contested
and often well-priced market segment
that KTM is clearly not afraid to embrace
philosophical change in its pursuit of new
motorcycle design, while sticking with
its ‘Ready to Race’ motto. As a company
which has achieved significant market
penetration with single-cylinder and
V-twin engine designs, the adoption of the
parallel 799cc twin for its important entry
into the mid-size 800cc market was not
taken lightly. Indeed its original 1994 road
bike was the single-cylinder 620cc Duke, a
Supermoto of sorts, and, by all accounts, a
fantastic canon of a bike.
But I digress, so KTM’s insistence on light
weight – the engine only weighs 50kg – and
its requirements for compact packaging
and a longer swingarm eventually made
the engine format choice for KTM’s
engineers. A parallel twin. By comparison,
some older 600cc single engines weigh
only a few kilos less. KTM wanted a very
compact, light weight motorcycle with
excellent handling and I have to say that
on paper it definitely delivers. But it’s not
just on the spec sheet where the 790 Duke
looks the business, a brief blast will tell
you the Mattighofen engineers have got
Born in the Austrian mountains,
the original KTM Duke was
always wanting in the engine
department. Euro-buyers loved
the single cylinder motor, but for
everyone else... meh. The new
Duke 790 finally gets the motor
everyone has always wanted.
it right. The 790 Duke is fast, light, and
incredibly agile. It stops well and is beyond
fun to ride. Add an incredible amount
of cutting edge technology such as lean-
sensitive ABS, four power modes, a TFT
colour display, traction and engine braking
control, plus shift assist and you just know
KTM means business.
Run the 790 (actually 799cc) hard up
through the gears and its smooth and
quick. The gear-changing comes quick and
fast from closely spaced ratios, but it still
achieves some serious top speed.
With a maximum power output of 105hp
(78.5kW) at 9000rpm and with max torque
of 87Nm at a high 8000rpm, the new
parallel-twin motor appears on paper to
be a recipe for a peaky top-end power
delivery. As we’ve said many times, you
can’t always learn what you need from
the spec sheet, and we’re glad that’s the
case here. This new engine is very flexible
given the closely spaced gears. Basically,
its quick, responsive and fun when in the
mood to play, but lovely in traffic and on
day-to-day trips – it really has a ‘something
for everyone’ power delivery. And while
some big bike riders may sniff at only a
100-odd aitch pea... it’s certainly quick and
no one actually needs more power than
this for road work... but I guess ‘want’ is a
completely different matter.
KIWI RIDER 93