KTM is aiming for absolute domination. The Austrian bikemaker has been making huge waves lately. Be it official announcements from the manufacturer’s end or the spy shots which keep on surfacing on the internet. Talking about KTM’s upcoming projects, the bikemaker has announced that it is going to spawn a new breed of 750cc motorcycles and the spy shots which have surfaced lately suggest that apart from updating the RC series, KTM is also going to heavily update the Duke 390, 250 and the 125.
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Backtracking a bit, last year KTM announced that it is going to develop a new series of parallel-twin motorcycles which will displace around 475cc. And now, the latest developments suggest that KTM is going to unleash as many as five motorcycles based on the 490 platform!
A recent presentation by Pierer Mobility (KTM’s parent group) shows that the 490s will debut in the 2022 model year. It translates to the fact that we might get a sneak peek of what KTM has in store by the end of this year. While it is pretty much confirmed that we will be getting a Duke 490 and an RC 490, the presentation reveals that the same platform will also spawn a 490 Adventure, an endure and a supermoto. While we can expect the 490 Duke, RC and Adventure to land up here, the same cannot be said about the Enduro and the Supermoto.
What can we expect?
While the RC 390 makes do with a single-cylinder engine, the 490 will utilize a parallel-twin configuration. KTM is renowned for its highly compressed engine with an explosive performance and the added delight of an extra cylinder should bring much-needed smoothness to the RC. If the spy shots are to be believed, the upcoming RC 390 won’t be as aggressive as the outgoing model. This might be a downer for the track junkies out there. We just wish that the RC 490 carries the baton forward from the existing razor-sharp RC 390.
The 490s are going to unleash an absolute riot when they land here because if we think about it, the 490s aren’t going to face any stiff competition whatsoever. The Yamaha R3 and the Kawasaki Ninja 400 are nowhere to be seen. The throne is empty and up for grabs. Going by KTM’s aggressive pricing strategy, it should be easy for the bikemaker to claim the throne.