KTM 690 SMCR IT'S WHEELIE FUN
When KTM told us that the new SMC R is even more of a lunatic than the last one, we had to find out for ourselves just how good it is.
Getting old is inevitable. It’s a shame, I know, but there is nothing we can do about it. If, however, anyone tells you to grow old gracefully, I’d suggest you give them a swift kick in the nuts – ’cause that’s what they’d deserve. I want to do the opposite. I want to grow old disgracefully and it would seem that KTM, with their new and heavily updated 690 SMC R, are more than happy to help us do just that. The Austrian firm have taken what was already a very nutty bike and made it even more so.
The revised LC4 engine produces an extra 7bhp (74bhp) and 4Nm (73.5Nm), for starters. I know what you’re thinking. It’s still a big single like and it still ought to be, well – just not that nice. It would be a fair assumption; big, single cylinder engines in days gone by have quite often been lumpy, heavy, awkward things. KTM have been developing this, the LC4 engine, for over 30 years, however, and reckon they have got their little lump in a pretty sweet spot. For the latest iteration, they have added an extra balancer shaft, which, coupled with a super lightweight piston, is said to reduce vibration significantly. The power assist slipper clutch also does its best to make the bike even more smooth and ridable.
To keep things super sensible, there is a whole new electronics package, too. The SMC R comes with a ‘Quickshifter+’ allowing full throttle upshifts as well as clutch-less downshifts, two rider modes, switchable cornering ABS and a lean angle sensitive traction control system.
That’s not all. It is, after all, a major update, with a whopping 65% of the SMC R’s components being brand new. The bodywork is sharper and slimmer than that which dressed the outgoing model, emphasising the KTM’s ‘ready to race’ attitude, almost as much as the fancy new WP Apex suspension does.
They have also made the SMC R that little bit more practical by adding an extra
1.5 litres to the (now) 13.5 litre fuel tank (which, incidentally, isn’t just a fuel tank, it’s a subframe, too), and gifting it with a USB port in the dash. Handy. So to find out for ourselves, but most importantly for our esteemed readers, just how good (or bad) the new model is, we headed off to the Algarve to do some really sensible motorcycle riding. But that didn’t quite go to plan.
Any road…
The first thing that struck me about the SMC R was its size. I expected it to be a whole lot taller that it was. Being an MX sort of shaped ‘Supermoto’ bike, I’d predicted MX proportions. That wasn’t what I was greeted with when I finally clapped eyes on the SMC in the flesh. It was more like a shorter, slightly fatter version of an MX bike. That, however, made sense to me, because swinging a leg over the long seat was refreshingly easy compared to a tall-as-youlike full-fat motocrosser. In standard trim, there seemed to be a lot of travel taken up by the WP suspension when I lowered my weight on to the saddle, which did concern me slightly, but with mega-easy adjustability I didn’t see it as a show stopper. I decided, though, before I start faffing with knobs, I ought to give the standard settings the benefit of the doubt and test them out with a few road miles before I started slagging them off.
There is something ever so slightly strange that happens when you press the starter button on the SMC. There is a half a second delay from when you depress the button until anything happens. It’s just a long enough delay for you to think, “Have a left the side-stand down?” or, “Is this one of them bikes that won’t start without the clutch pulled in?” When the thing eventually sparks into life the big single doesn’t seem to produce too naughty a sounding bark, but it certainly has presence.
Our maiden voyage on the SMC was to be in the Algarve where, not 10 metres into our route, the bike was vertical. The punchy motor had a real penchant for lifting the front wheel off the tarmac and it wasn’t about to make a secret of it. It was instant gratification. Our road ride was 100km of fast bends, slow bends, smooth stuff and not so smooth stuff, and no matter what the terrain, the SMC R just kept dishing out the laughs. Compared to sportsbike powerhouses, and even the likes of the KTM 690 Duke, the SMC R felt like a toy. At 158kg, fully fuelled and ready to go, it was so very unintimidating, and the big tapered MX handlebars meant flicking the thing from side to side was easier than taking a Big Mac off a vegan. The bike
just kept egging me on and I found myself pushing deeper and hotter into every turn. In all honestly it started getting a little silly, but I just couldn’t resist riding it like I’d stolen it.
Such was my exuberance, there were a few occasions when a good dollop of trail braking was the only thing that was going to allow me to make it round the bends unscathed. To my delight, the SMC R was a bike that obliged heavy and deep trail braking better than any bike I care to remember. No matter how hard I seemed to squeeze the Brembo’s, the Bridgestone S21 front stayed planted as the front end of the
bike just seemed to ‘dig in’. The plush suspension made the road ride reasonably comfortable and certainly aided the S21s in the grip department although once or twice, when really pushing, there was a very slight wallowing type movement that oscillated through the chassis. It was nothing to write home about. however, and it could almost certainly be ironed out with some suspension jiggery pokery.
On the right track
After laughing non-stop on our road blast, it was time to treat the SMC R
(and ourselves) to some track action. I’d thought the road ride was a giggle, but things were about to get a whole lot better! With no more ado, I was suited and booted and ready to roll out of the pit-lane. I was beyond eager, and before I had even completed a lap I was scraping knees, toes and foldy-uppy foot-pegs on the lumpy, sausage-shaped kerbs. The 690 inspired more and more confidence with every turn and, as per our road ride, made me do silly things as it encouraged me to ride up to, and on a few occasions, beyond what I am capable of.
On the tight and twisty baby track at Portimao, the SMC R was in its element. The big bars were just the ticket when it came to heaving the thing into hairpin after hairpin. As it happened, the bike seemed way more at home than me on the little circuit and I didn’t know whether I should have been putting my knee or foot on the floor! After attempting both, I decided that either approach was acceptable, although I stuck to knee-down.
I’m not as fit as I used to be and it didn’t take long before I was starting to flag. However, rather than do the sensible thing
and pull into the pits for a Red Bull and a banana, I carried on lapping the circuit. It was at this point that I found a few false neutrals at various places in the 690’s gearbox. There’d been no falseys on our road ride and up until I started blowing, the box seemed fine. I soon learned, though, that the lever needed more than a tickle from a worn-out right left leg to drop the dogs into place – you had to be extra positive with it.
After a few sessions on the SMC R on the standard suspension settings, we fired some stiffer, sportier settings into the mix, to see if it improved the job at all. It did. The bike certainly hadn’t felt bad before, but it felt instantly sharper after a bit of a twiddle, being more composed under hard braking and quicker to change direction.
With the bike feeling even sportier, I started pushing it more and riding it even harder still. On such a tight track, the Brembo brakes were getting a proper workout, with no real respite, but they performed remarkably well.
I was actually a big fan of the brakes on the KTM, particularly with the ABS in ‘supermoto mode’, which allows super-cool rear wheel skids, whilst still providing a low level of intervention at the front. Supermoto mode isn’t a standard feature, and to activate it you need to buy a £86.70 dongle from KTM, but it’s worth it.
Alternatively, you can disable the ABS completely by pressing and holding the ABS button on the dash, if you want to do some monster stoppies.
Sign me up
There is one word to sum up the 2019 KTM 690 SMC R. That word is ‘fun’.
If that’s what KTM were aiming for when they designed this bike, then they have hit the nail squarely on the head. Every ride on the bike was accompanied by laugh after laugh, and we can’t think of a better way to spend our days than laughing our socks off on board a motorcycle.
I wouldn’t like to set off on a round-theworld trip on one, and I can’t see many people winning the fast group on a trackday aboard one, but if you want a bike that will make you laugh and encourage you to push the envelope every time you swing a leg over it, then one of these little puppies from our orange friends is Austria would be a bloody good way to spend £9,599.