KTM Duke 890R: Stay Sharper

It’s been a busy start to the year for KTM. In the last four months, we have featured two significant new KTM models; the 390 Adventure and the 1290 Super Duke R. Now the 890 Duke R has arrived on our shores, slotting in between the middle of the other two and completing the family line-up. You’ll all doubtless be relieved to hear that I’ll resist the temptation to use the analogy of the Three Bears again (see July issue); even I’m bored of that one!

- Harry Fisher

Both the 390 Adventure and the 1290 Super Duke are brilliant bikes for completely different reasons. One opens up a whole new world of adventure riding to newcomers whilst still possessing enough ability and equipment to satisfy experienced adventurists whilst the other raises the naked sports bike bar just as the first generation 1290 Super Duke did. Would the 890 Duke R be able to live up to its siblings’ promise and continue the family tradition?

I’m sure I wasn’t the only one to feel a slight sense of confusion when KTM, barely a year after the launch of the 790 Duke, announced the 890 Duke R. I mean, it’s not exactly in the middle of the 790 and 1290, is it? Conspiracy theorists will say that KTM realised that the 790 wasn’t good enough so rushed out the 890 to correct whatever faults there were.

Well, that’s a load of rubbish, for a start. If we examine KTM’s rationale behind the 890, you’ll see that, in fact, it is closer to the 1290 than the 790. If you’ll give me a few moments, I’ll explain. In fact, I’ll do better than that; I’ll let KTM themselves explain.

“The [890 Duke R] was born from the company’s fascination to take the agile, versatile, fun and popular KTM 790 Duke and raise the performance factor to a new level. The project led to the creation of a fresh engine platform, a revised chassis and a number of other refinements based on KTM’s vastly expanding technical knowledge of sport and racing street development nuance.