Rennie Scaysbrook | June 15, 2024
“This is just stupid,” I say to myself in my new Alpinestars helmet around the undulations of the Portimao MotoGP circuit in Portugal.
It’s stupid because no one, I don’t care who you are, needs this level of performance from a bike designed as a street bike.
The 2024 KTM 1390 Super Duke R Evo is not a purebred racing machine. Underneath me are 190 Austrian horsepower and 106 lb-ft of torque from a now 1350cc V-twin, and the turn of speed this translates into the real world is straight laughable.
Meaner, faster, gnarlier. The 2024 KTM 1390 Super Duke is as wild as a naked bike should probably ever be.
Photography by Sebas Romero
I think back to the two previous Super Dukes I raced at Pikes Peak in the mid-2010s. Despite having the entire KTM PowerParts catalog thrown at them, the 2024 version in stock trim would eat them for lunch right before taking a leisurely siesta.
I can’t help but think we have reached peak naked-bike lunacy with the ’24 Super Duke. Really, how much faster can they get? More to the point, how much faster do they need to get?
It’s not so much that the Super Duke is faster up top, which it is without question, it’s how fast it gets there. The V-twin’s bore was upped 2mm to 110mm, and when matched to massive 60mm throttle bodies (up from an already huge 56mm), the acceleration is straight mental.
The new wheelie control makes pulling almost any level of wheelie child’s play.
The Super Duke pulls so damn hard from revs way down low and doesn’t stop until you’re nestled deep in the reds and coming onto the front straight via Portimao’s glorious final corner. The Super Duke in fifth gear spins a rear Pirelli slick tire with the kind of ease Mike Tyson used to knock out giants with.
The engine performance is paired with electronics so well mapped that the Super Duke makes you feel like a god. The back-end breaks loose, you keep your right hand buried, and you leave a superb tarmac signature for the guy behind to witness.
It’s near impossible (not totally impossible) to highside yourself on a Super Duke thanks to the lean angle-sensitive traction control, which is part of the optional Performance and Track modes in the ECU, which take the possible modes up to five.
Track Mode gives you two additional displays on the five-inch TFT dash, but this one focuses on lap times. You can dial in one of nine traction control settings in Performance and Track Mode, switch off your anti-wheelie (that now comes in five stages from Very Low (0.36°) to Very High (22.25°), dial in your chosen Engine Brake Control setting, mess around with Launch Control so you can smoke your buddies off the traffic lights, and have the most direct throttle connection from the ECU, one that gives you every one of the 190 horses available.
We love a good engine strip-down shot. Now 1350cc, there’s substantially more torque coming out of those cylinders than any other naked bike on the market.
On the other end of the scale, Rain Mode will limit you to 130 horsepower and make the Super Duke feel completely anemic. I try it for one lap, realize it does indeed do what it’s supposed to, and head straight back into Track Mode. I’m at Portimao, after all.
Here in America, we only get the Super Duke Evo compared to pretty much the rest of the world, which also gets the base model. That Evo sticker means electronic adjustment is the go for the WP 48mm Apex Open Cartridge fork and Apex shock via WP’s Semi-Active Technology, which is their version of the event-based system that Öhlins has been developing since the first Panigale V4 of 2018.
The Semi-Active Technology is similar to what came out on the previous Super Duke Evo of 2023, but it’s been tweaked by the tech boffins in Austria to provide faster response times. The system changes damping on the fly every tenth of a nanometer of a second, taking information from the IMU and the usual throttle, brake, and gearbox inputs.
There’s definitely a touch of The Predator design in the new headlight.
There are five modes available in Auto, Comfort, Rain, Street, and Sport, plus the optional Suspension Pro Pack that gives you Track and Pro Modes, and there’s also an auto-leveling setting in the Low, Standard, and High.
Interestingly, the suspension can automatically calculate and adapt the preload based on the rider’s weight and re-create three set geometries: Auto-Standard, Auto-Low, and Auto-High. This is thanks to the Suspension Pro algorithm, and it also contains an anti-dive setting to make the front-end stiff for track riding. Finally, an auto-lowering setting called Factory Start takes preload out of the shock when coming to a standstill to lower the back-end of the bike. While like the system Harley-Davidson pioneered with the first Pan America, the Factory Start is more modeled on the launch control feature from KTM’s current MotoGP machines that help you gun it off the line.
For 2024, the Super Duke retains its trademark agility but gains improvements to the reaction speed of the electronic suspension.
The number of possibilities with the Super Duke’s suspension is far too great to get a hold of with only two sessions available to us at Portimao. After the first session in Street as I get used to the track once again, in session two I pump it up to Pro Mode just to inflate the ego as far as it’ll go.
The new tank houses winglets at the top edges, because you might actually need them on something this quick.
The Super Duke goes from a plush, cushy ride to a raging animal. Stiffer front to back, the steering sharpens tremendously, turning the chassis into a pure track machine. You won’t want to ride this setting on the street—it’s so stiff it’ll rattle your teeth out.
When cranked up to 11 on the suspension, it’s amazing how hard you can apply the brakes and trail them right up to the apex. You’ve got a new Brembo MCS master cylinder at your disposal, so feel at the lever is absolutely a match for the power you get at the caliper, and when you let the brake off and start applying the gas, the chassis (for the most part) stays on its chosen trajectory and doesn’t sink its ass down, taking weight off the front and sending you wide. I say for the most part because no algorithm is going to save you if you ham-fist the throttle too early.
The Super Duke has undergone an aesthetic redesign for 2024, and I’m still deciding whether I like it or not. With the new LED headlight tank spoilers and winglets, it has a wholly more aggressive look— it almost has a bit of a Transformer-style, and I can’t help but think the old model was more homogenous in its looks.
The main chassis is one of the few parts that remain largely unchanged.
I haven’t ridden the bike at night yet, so I can’t comment on the headlight’s capabilities, but I’m sure it lights up the road like a Christmas tree. It’s just a shame the Daytime Running Light isn’t legal here in the U.S. because it looks bitchin’.
It’s very hard to give you a reason to buy the new Super Duke, at least in terms of practical reasons. This is a bike that exists purely so you can have the absolute top echelon of naked-bike performance, which doesn’t always equate to a good everyday street bike.
The new SD looks damn fearsome in black.
Do this job long enough and not much will surprise you—big steps forward like the Panigale V4 mark certain points in your career—and I believe I’ve just crossed another with this new Super Duke. Its level of performance is straight comedy. It holds almost no advantage as a streetbike than about 300 others I can think of. But it’s so mean and so damn angry with performance only Pedro Acosta could get the most out of. I can’t help but want one. I’ve had two Super Dukes in the past. It might be time for a third.CN
2024 KTM 1390 Super Duke R Evo Specifications
| MSRP |
$21,499 |
| Engine |
V-twin, 4 stroke |
| Displacement |
1350cc |
| Bore x Stroke |
110 x 71mm |
| Valvetrain |
4 valves per cylinder |
| Cooling system |
Liquid |
| Power (claimed) |
190 hp at 10,000 rpm |
| Torque |
106 lb-ft at 8000 rpm |
| Transmission |
6-speed, chain final drive |
| Fuel capacity |
4.6 gal. |
| Electronics |
Ride modes include Rain, Street, Sport and the optional Track and Performance modes with 10-level spin adjuster. KTMconnect Bluetooth smartphone, optional Tech Pack combines Motor Slip Regulation (MSR), Quickshifter+, Track Pack, and Suspension Pro. Cornering ABS by Bosch includes. Supermoto ABS, multi-stage, lean-angle sensitive Motorcycle Traction Control (MTC) using a 6-axis lean angle sensor |
| Frame |
Chrome-moly Steel, Powdercoated |
| Front suspension |
WP Apex USD 48mm fork, Semi-Active |
| Rear suspension |
WP Apex-Linkage Shock, Semi-Active |
| Front wheel travel |
4.9 in. |
| Rear wheel travel |
5.5 in. |
| Front brake |
4-piston monobloc calipers, dual 320mm rotors |
| Rear brake |
1-piston caliper, 240mm rotor |
| Front wheel |
120/70 ZR17 in. |
| Rear wheel |
200/55 ZR17 in. |
| Wheelbase |
58.7 in. |
| Seat height |
32.8 in. |
| Rake |
24.7° |
| Weight (wet, claimed) |
440 lbs. |
VIDEO | 2024 KTM 1390 Super Duke R & 990 Duke At Portimao
