VOLUME 56 ISSUE 45 NOVEMBER 12, 2019 P83
There are 1mm bigger steel valves (same material
as the 790) all around, with the 790's paired 36mm
inlets increased to 37mm, and the 29mm exhausts
to 30mm, operated via all-new camshafts with high-
er lift and more aggressive timing, while the exhaust
headers are now wider for better breathing.
Those cams are chain-driven up the right of
the cylinders, while the optional Quickshifter+
powershifter on my test bike allowed clutchless
shifting both up and down the well-chosen (and
unchanged) ratios of the six-speed gearbox,
matched to a PASC/ oil-bath slipper clutch which
is cable-operated for ease of maintenance, and to
save weight. As on the 790, the open deck Nikasil-
lined cylinders (thus saving the weight of cast-iron
liners) are integrated into the upper half of the high-
pressure die cast aluminum crankcases. KTM has
also shortened the engine considerably by stacking
the gearbox shafts vertically one atop another, and
they're surmounted by the shifter mechanism right
beneath the unchanged 42mm Dell'Orto throttle
bodies, which are fed cool air from an airbox under
the seat, itself breathing via twin intakes either side
of your hips. And in what Sinke says is a significant
step in optimizing performance, each of the two cyl-
inders is now mapped separately from one another,
