Rennie Scaysbrook | April 22, 2022
KTM has boxed back in the small-displacement game and the result is a little bike that really hits the mark.
Tuck in big guy!
Photography by Casey Davis
There are few finer things I enjoy than getting a small-displacement sportbike, a medium-speed racetrack, and no time I need to be back in the pits.
Bikes that race in the MotoAmerica Junior Cup, such as this brand-new KTM RC 390, teach even the most experienced and jaded moto journo a few new tricks each time the key is turned. Light, svelte, damn good looking, how could you not love an RC? The good news is that the only single-cylinder bike in the Junior Cup field (and 2021 champion in the hands of Tyler Scott against a horde of Kawasaki Ninja 400s) has been thoroughly revamped for 2022 and the result is even better than even my jaded old self expected.
Isn’t that RC a looker!? Imagine being 16 years old with one of these!
The RC 390 is not an entirely new machine, but pretty close. It’s powered by the same 373cc single-cylinder four-stroke which pumps out around 40 horsepower at the tire and 27 lb-ft of torque, so it’s not slow nor is it going to pull your arms out of their sockets on acceleration.
The motor gets its air from a 40-percent larger airbox and breathes out its spent gases by a new exhaust modeled on the RC16 MotoGP bike of Brad Binder, and it’s here where a few of the design cues take shape.
The exhaust design has taken cues from Brad Binder’s MotoGP bike.
The new RC is aimed at a wider range of riders than just tearaway teenagers. As such, all the body panels have been enhanced and the gas tank has grown a full gallon to 3.7 gallons. The bodywork was designed to be easier to fit under for taller riders but also easier to remove if you’re fitting race bodywork for the track. KTM’s trying to get as many riders as possible dragging knees on the RC and this seemingly simple trick of making track modifications easier is long overdue.
Attention has also been paid to weight savings. The easiest way to increase performance is to strip weight, and KTM has lobbed a very impressive 7.5 pounds off the RC via its new wheels, while the new ByBre brakes are 2.1 pounds lighter. That’s nearly 10 pounds of unsprung mass gone, right where you notice it the most. The frame, too, gets in on the weight savings act, with 3.3 pounds gone from the steel rails. As Borat says, “very nice!”
The little RC hunts apexes for lunch. It’s amazing how much fun this bike is on a racetrack.
You notice premium touches everywhere on the RC. This is a bike aimed primarily at kids who want their first sportbike but they still get a five-inch TFT color display, which is more than some other bikes that cost much more (the Suzuki GSX-S1000 quickly comes to mind).
The electronics feature a three-axis IMU and, thus, you get Cornering ABS, on/off traction control that, try as I dare, I simply couldn’t get to kick in during my laps at Willow Springs’ Streets of Willow racetrack (and that’s a good thing). A neat feature of the ABS is you’ve got the Supermoto Mode, where you can disengage the rear ABS and back the little RC into corners. Again, this is a feature some bikes more than twice the price don’t have.
Some of that PowerParts bling includes this trick orange sprocket.
KTM’s also given you the option of a quickshifter, however, this was the cause of much angst at the test, as you needed a very sure foot to engage the next gear when shifting. Do so lazily, and the RC would either not shift, pop back a gear, or drop into a false neutral, which was a problem many of the journalists had (myself included) at the launch for various publications. Turing the quickshifter off somewhat solved the issue but didn’t get rid of it entirely.
On the hardware front, KTM gives the RC rider plenty of suspension-setting options with 30 clicks of compression and rebound-damping adjustment for the fork, and preload and rebound adjustment on the shock, so even though in top-flight racing almost everyone will replace the fork internals and shock for a more focused setup, the average fast track day rider won’t need to, saving a few tasty dollars in the process.
Our ride day at Streets of Willow was made all the more fun by the circuit management repaving the old high-desert venue, giving the RC a beautifully smooth surface on which to show its potential.
New mapping has made small throttle openings incredibly smooth.
At first sit, you notice the ride position is more relaxed from wider bars and bodywork, plus the taller tank helps fat bastards like me get more comfortable when in a tuck. The bars are set in such a way they are almost naked-bike-like, and thus I could lap, lap, lap, lap around Streets all day if I really wanted.
The motor had a few mapping changes, and although it was no brute to begin with, the initial throttle opening on full lean is silky smooth, allowing you to dial in as much or as little drive as you like. Keeping the revs and corner speed up is the name of the game on an RC (as it is for any 400cc-class sportbike), but the KTM’s willingness to keep the revs north of 7000 rpm—thanks to super-light internals and only one cylinder to push and pull—makes it easier to do so than some of the competition.
The optional Akrapovic muffler looks very nice indeed but doesn’t add too much bark to the bite.
The RC’s agility is unquestionable. It’ll splice its way through an apex at the mere sight of it, making the rider feel like a bit of a hero while still letting them know there’s more left in the tank if they push harder. It’s an intuitive ride, one that keeps the rider informed of what’s happening beneath via some high-quality suspension, lightweight wheels, good brakes and surprisingly high amounts of grip from the Continental ContiRoad rubber that’s more suited to highway and canyon jaunts than straight-up racetrack riding.
The 2022 RC 390 is a sterling little machine and given it’s under $6000 and you get things like an IMU, traction control, Cornering ABS with supermoto mode, a bigger gas tank, excellent suspension, you name it, this really is a great bike for the money and one that’s a more-than-worthy successor to the original. CN
2022 KTM RC 390 Specifications
| MSRP: |
$5,799 |
| Engine: |
Single-cylinder, 4-stroke |
| Valvetrain: |
DOHC, 4-valve |
| Cooling system: |
Liquid |
| Fueling: |
EFI |
| Displacement: |
373cc |
| Bore x stroke: |
89 x 60mm |
| Power: |
40 hp at 8800 rpm |
| Torque: |
24 lb-ft at 6800 pm |
| Transmission: |
6-speed |
| Clutch: |
Wet multi-disc, slipper |
| Chassis: |
Tubular steel trellis |
| Front suspension: |
43mm WP Apex inverted fork, compression and rebound adjustable |
| Rear suspension: |
WP Apex monoshock, rebound and preload adjustable |
| Front-wheel travel: |
4.7 in. |
| Rear-wheel travel: |
5.9 in. |
| Front brake: |
Single 320mm disc w/ ByBre 4-piston calipers, Cornering ABS |
| Rear brake: |
Single 230mm disc w/ 1-piston caliper, Cornering ABS |
| Front tire: |
Continental ContiRoad 110/70 ZR17 in. |
| Rear tire: |
Continental ContiRoad 150/60 ZR17 in. |
| Seat height: |
32.4 in. |
| Wheelbase: |
52.9 in. |
| Fuel capacity: |
3.6 gal. |
| Weight (claimed, wet): |
365 lbs. |
