KTM Super Duke 1390 R / R EVO
Remember when a 100bhp naked bike seemed like nonsense? Thirty years ago in 1994, when the first KTM Duke 620 was launched, you could just about touch 100 horses with a
Triumph Speed
Triple 900. Now though, the sky seems to be the limit, with a stack of current hypernakeds making around double that figure. And here’s the latest – the
KTM 1390 Super
Duke, which puts out a cool 190bhp from a new variable-valve timing
75° 1350cc V-twin engine. KTM’s not released full details of the set up in the DOHC cylinder heads, but it does say there are now two cam profiles, for low and high speed running, which suggests a similar set up to BMW’s ShiftCam arrangement on the latest R1250 Boxer twins. This lets the engineers optimise the valve lift and timing for two separate rev ranges, boosting power and torque while also ticking the ever-important economy and emissions boxes.
What that should mean is that when you’re pootling along on the new Super Duke, the fuel consumption ought to be pretty decent, too – win/win.
Away from the new motor, the chassis holds few surprises: it’s based on the current 180bhp Super Duke 1290 EVO, with a steel tube trellis frame, singlesided aluminium swingarm, WP suspension and Brembo Stylema calipers. There are two versions of the new 1390, an R EVO and the base R model, with the EVO featuring third-generation semi-active suspension, and the R having manual fully-adjustable APEX forks and shock. The semi-active suspension on the EVO comes with five basic settings, and an optional PRO kit, which adds in two extra track modes. These include a novel Factory Start setting, which drops the rear shock preload down low for a better start off the line, MotoGP style.
The most obvious changes to the Super Duke come up front though, where there’s a new ‘Predator’ -style headlight fairing design. It’s a bit Marmite – some folk seem to love it, others hate it, but it’s certainly distinctive, with LED position lights arranged round a central dual vertical headlight. Colour LCD dash, USB-C charging, Bluetooth, tyre pressure monitoring, cruise control and the rest of the expected 2024 kit is all present and correct, too.
A solid flagship release for the Duke’s 30th birthday then – at a cost. The EVO will set you back from £19,599, with the R set at £17,999. www.ktm.com