The Austrian bike maker, KTM made its entry in the Indian market with the sleek and powerful Duke 200 many years back. After introducing other models like the RC 200, RC 390 and the Duke 390, the Duke 200 still is the most popular offerings from KTM. The Duke 200 also is the most affordable bike in the KTM range which is a huge contributing factor to its popularity. A government mandate, which will come in play from April 2019, will require all bikes with more than 125 cc capacity to be fitted with ABS as standard. KTM seems to be preparing for it in advance and has given the Duke 200 an ABS equipped variant.
Priced at INR 1.6 Lakh(Ex-Showroom), the ABS-equipped Duke 200 comes at a premium of INR 9,000 when compared to the non-ABS variant. That is money well spent for such an important safety aid. The ABS system on the bike is from Bosch which was seen in the older Duke 390 model. The ABS on the bike is a dual channel system and worked brilliantly on the older Duke 390. Apart from the introduction of ABS, no other changes have been given to the bike, which is not a bad thing given how good the bike already is.
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Powering the Duke 200 is the same 199.5cc liquid-cooled single-cylinder engine producing 24 bhp and 19.6 Nm of torque, which is much better than the other 200 cc bikes in the Indian market. The power goes to the rear wheel via a smooth shifting 6-speed transmission. The engine is placed in a trellis frame which is suspended by an upside-down fork up front and an adjustable mono-shock at the rear. Braking duties are done by 300 mm disc in the front and a 230 mm unit at the rear. The bike goes against the likes of the Bajaj Pulsar 2ooNS and TVS Apache RTR 200 in the Indian market. Would you pay up INR 9,000 more for ABS? Let us know in the comments below.
