Sophisticated Belligenrence
Motorcycle Sport & Leisure|March 2017

KTM's Made the Beast Even More Aggressive, but Despite the Pound's Struggle, the Price Is Unchanged... Is This the Ultimate Naked?

- Roland Brown
Sophisticated Belligenrence

KTM’s decision to hold the launch of its revamped Super Duke R at Losail was revealing. The Qatari circuit hosts MotoGP and World Superbikes, and is a popular launch venue for sports bikes. But the fast, featureless desert racetrack is not somewhere you’d expect to see a gang of naked roadsters glinting in the pit lane sunshine, their fat tyres sticky to the sidewalls.

Then again, this latest version of the 1290 Super Duke R is not your typical naked roadster. And by launching it with the emphasis on the racetrack (plus a relatively short street ride the previous day), KTM was emphasising that with this update it’s going sportier and more aggressive; sharpening the teeth of the bike it’s calling Beast 2.0. That thinking is easy to understand.

Following last year’s introduction of the closely-related and more versatile 1290 Super Duke GT, the Austrians reckoned they had the sensible side of super-naked performance sewn up. So why not sharpen the R-model’s styling still further, add some power, and tweak the riding position and chassis to create an even more serious unfaired hooligan machine?

この蚘事は Motorcycle Sport & Leisure の March 2017 版に掲茉されおいたす。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トラむアルを開始しお、䜕千もの厳遞されたプレミアム ストヌリヌ、9,000 以䞊の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしおください。

この蚘事は Motorcycle Sport & Leisure の March 2017 版に掲茉されおいたす。

7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トラむアルを開始しお、䜕千もの厳遞されたプレミアム ストヌリヌ、9,000 以䞊の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしおください。

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