Mid-size car

2017 KTM 890 Duke Spy Shots,New motor will underpin new midsize range

• Report rights infringement
• published: 01 Aug 2016
• views: 17

We’ve heard the rumors of a new parallel-Twin from KTM for a long time, and now we have pictures of the new motor in a new Duke chassis. And this platform will surely also be adapted into an Adventure model that will fill the hole between KTM’s 690 Enduro and the 1190 Adventure. KTM Developing 500cc and 800cc Twins The new engine displays the compact architecture of a modern inline twin-cylinder powerplant that appears remarkably short front to rear, with the countershaft sprocket residing directly aft of the crankshaft location. It incorporates all the current technology, including liquid-cooling, double-overhead cams with four valves per cylinder, and, surely, ride-by-wire fuel injection. Inside info tells us it will use a 270-degree crank angle, a configuration that does a passable job at imitating a V-Twin exhaust note, as opposed to the more typical 180- or 360-degree cranks.We know the engine is sized somewhere around the 800cc mark, but its precise displacement is yet unknown. KTM’s recent naming convention is to use 90 as the engine suffix (390, 1190, 1290) even though it doesn’t exactly match the actual displacement (373cc, 1195cc, 1301cc, respectively). So, based on what looks to be a fairly small radiator, could these new Dukes and Adventures be called 790s? Or will they be 890s? There would be a 300cc gap between an 890 and the current 1190 (which will be updated soon), so an 890 might be more likely. And let’s not forget that KTM’s Chief Executive Officer Stefan Pierer once said the company is also planning to build a parallel-Twin motorcycle displacing somewhere around 500cc. Maybe a new 590 line? (After spending time with KTM at the Super Duke GT launch, it seems as if the the platform in the 500cc range is stillborn and won’t be making its way into production. –KD) Making power estimates is difficult without knowing the displacement, but it’s reasonable to expect something a little stronger than BMW’s 798cc parallel-Twin, which cranked out 78 rear-wheel hp in the F800GT when tested in this shootout. Based on KTM’s high-performance heritage, we expect KTM’s new mill to pump out something closer to 100 horses at the rear wheel, especially if it displaces anything close to 890cc.