KTM Built A Middleweight Naked Bike With The Manners Of A Rabid Animal
KTM is one of those companies known for doing things a little, well, different. For one, their company slogan is “Ready to Race,” and if that isn’t enough of a giveaway, pretty much everything they produce is bright orange! These are most certainly not hallmarks of a sensible, by-the-book, motorcycle manufacturer. In recent times, they have also made headlines for all the wrong reasons, but before they almost ran the ship aground, this bright orange Austrian company was building some of the wildest bikes money could buy.
Exploiting A Gap In The Market
With roots set firmly in the off-road segment, it came as no surprise at all that when KTM did launch their first street bike in the form of the Duke 620 it had more in common with a dirt-bike than a conventional street bike. Its “supermoto” dynamic made it an incredibly fun bike to ride, even if it was not the most powerful, or sophisticated. Over the years, KTM built on this, and by the time the 690 Duke R went out of production in 2017, it had become something of a legend within the industry.
KTM had found a way to distill fun into a motorcycle with the LC4 powered bikes, but it was an aging platform, and the decision was made to replace the model. In an effort to hit two birds with one stone, the LC8c parallel-twin was developed. It was to power a new middleweight adventure bike, and a new naked bike nicknamed “the scalpel.” It was supposed to be the razor-sharp replacement for the venerable 690 Duke, and as good as it was, it struggled to fill the 690’s big, clown-shaped shoes.
The 2020 KTM 890 Duke R Is An Unchained Hooligan Of A Motorcycle
While most agreed that the 790 Duke was a good, even exceptional motorcycle, the more difficult question was if it was any better than the 690 Duke R it was replacing. For a time this awkwardness persisted, and old stock 690s would even share floor space with the 790 to make things even less comfortable. To rectify this, KTM turned everything up to 11 for the 890 Duke R. It addressed all the (mostly minor) criticisms directed towards the 790, and sought to establish the new Duke as the go-to fun bike of the segment. Suffice to say, it worked. The 890 Duke R is an unhinged middleweight that offers all sorts of premium components to go along with its impressive performance.
The 890 Duke R Has A Lively High-Performance Twin
Power: 119 Horsepower
At the time of its launch in 2020, this was the most power we had ever seen extracted from a parallel-twin street bike. KTM were clearly taking their own “Ready to Race” slogan very seriously with this “R” model. It was exactly the shot in the arm the middleweight Duke needed, transforming what was a “fun” middleweight into an absolute animal. Unfortunately, while performance had been increased, the problems that were already arising with the 790 model had not been properly addressed.
Fun, But Deeply Flawed
Make no mistake, this is a sophisticated, thoroughly modern engine. But, with added complexity, there is always a risk of adding an unseen failure point, and that is precisely what happened here. In modern, mass-produced vehicles, this is not uncommon. This is the reason why recalls are carried out on a semiregular basis, but, the way KTM handled the whole cam-failure debacle is what left a bad taste. They only acknowledged the fact that there “may” be an oil starvation issue on “select” models several years after customers were reporting premature cam wear. Although most repairs have been carried out under warranty, there are still doubts around whether this was the only issue that was causing, in some cases, cam failure.
The 890 Duke R Is The “Super Scalpel”
When the bike is running right, there is no denying how good it is. Its ultra-light chromoly tubular steel chassis, which uses the engine as a stressed member, is arguably the highlight of the whole package. With a wet weight of just 388 pounds, it offers an incredible power-to-weight ratio. Its dynamic handling is aided by adjustable 43mm WP Apex forks, and an adjustable WP Apex rear shock. This level of adjustability is what the “scalpel” was lacking, and certainly justifies the “super scalpel” moniker.
KTM Got Greedy
It also has a host of features that you might not expect from a six-year-old middleweight, including lean-sensitive traction control, cornering ABS, and ride modes. But, this also came out at around the time KTM (and most European brands, to be fair) discovered that it was cheaper to equip a motorcycle with every electronic feature, then simply hide them behind a paywall.
While the bike is already feature-rich, KTM left nice-to-have features like the quickshifter and cruise control optional. This practice has become somewhat normalized these days, but it certainly doesn’t make it any less frustrating. If you are in the market for one of these bikes, it is very important to confirm which options were fitted to the bike back when it was new. Some options, like the “Tech Pack”, cost as much as $750, and it “unlocked” several features in one go. Things like this will have an effect on the resale value.
Today, you will find these bikes selling for anywhere between $7,000 and $9,000, depending on what options were fitted and, well, if the bad cams have already been replaced. The whole debacle with the cams might seem like a deal-breaker, but the owner reviews of these bikes are largely positive. It is a genuinely fun motorcycle, and for some it really is fun enough to look past that seemingly fatal flaw. For others, there are several equally good naked bikes on the used market all selling for similar money, but they are all just a little more mild-mannered than the unhinged Duke that flew a little too close to the sun.
Sources: KBB and failedcams.com
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