A German Orange

Austrian hooliganism gets a more exclusive dash of Brabus performance

WHEN WE SPEAK OF PERFORMANCE tuning, the very first name that comes to mind is that of Brabus, among the most successful ones out there. A ludicrous German tuner who has been excelling in extracting utmost performance from Mercedes-AMG cars for the longest time has now set foot into the two-wheeler space. And, of course, as always, it is the Brabus way. Say hello to the Brabus 1300 R.

Well, for starters, the tuner has joined hands with the Austrian bikemaker, KTM, to build a limited-edition version of the KTM 1290 Super Duke R, dubbed the Brabus 1300 R. All the bodywork from Daddy Duke has been replaced with all-new carbon-fibre laden headlight mask, air ducts, belly-pan, under-tray, front fender, brake cooling ducts, and nine-inch forged aluminium wheels. Apart from these, Brabus also offers an array of options for the 1300 R to enable customers to take customization up to cloud nine.

Now that aesthetic mods are out of the way, next in line would be the upgrades they have made to the motorcycle to make it distinct. A Brabus slip-on exhaust system comes standard on the motorcycle, followed by the entire electronics suite from the 1290 Super Duke R. Speaking of numbers, its 1,301-cc V-twin produces a manic 180 hp and 140 Nm, propelling this monster to 100 km/h in just about 3.2 seconds.

Brabus will be building two colourways for the 1300 R: Magma Red and Signature Black. Only 150 units of this piece of art will be made and considering the fanbase both KTM and Brabus have, we’re sure these motorcycles have been sold out by now.