KTM 790 Duke Prototype: FIRST LOOK
Rennie Scaysbrook | November 8, 2016
Moto3 World Champion, Brad Binder, shows off the new 790 in Milan.
KTM 790 Duke Prototype First Look: Hot on the heels of the 2017 KTM 1290 Super Duke R release, KTM pounced on the press with another new bike, but this one’s still just a prototype but what a prototype it is!
This is the first chance to properly check out the new 790 Duke. Running an 800cc parallel-twin as opposed to the V-configuration of big bro 1290, the 790 looks suspiciously like the very first iterations of the Duke from the mid-90s – but thankfully with much nicer colors and styling!
The engine is what KTM is calling the LC8c (with the ‘c’ standing for compact). It sits between KTM’s ubiquitous steel trellis frame and sports hand-welded pipes with a muffler that’s about as mean as it gets with more than a few hints to KTM’s RC16 MotoGP machine. Ride-by-Wire, custom riding modes, quickshifter, personalized traction control – this thing promises to be a gnarly ride (when it eventually makes it to production). Speaking of which don’t bet the exhaust will make it to your garage – if you remember the twin underseat pipes of the prototype 1290 Super Duke and the finished product – you might be disappointed.
But that’s about the only potential let down. The styling is absolutely outrageous, and we can only hope KTM and their design house Kiska don’t differ too much from this prototype when this machine eventually makes its production debut, whenever that is (probably 2018).
KTM 790 Duke Prototype First Look
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