K TM 890 DUKE R
RIDE REVIEW
P84
This slim, short
and sporty 890,
aka the Evil
Twin, is faster,
lighter and even
more fun than
its 790 Duke
kid sister.
well, letting you zap clutchless up and down the
gearbox's well-chosen ratios to surf that meaty
torque curve.
Just as the first time around with the 790 Duke,
the new 890 R feels small, slim, short and sporty,
with a close-coupled riding stance that has your
chin seemingly over the front wheel. It's a respon-
sive, eager-revving bike that's not only thoroughly
practical but also hugely entertaining, and totally
straightforward to ride as hard as you like on it.
It's one of those bikes where you feel a part of it
from the very moment you hop aboard. This could
make riding to work a lot of fun, but maybe not half
as much as taking the long way home on it!
Yet at 11,990 euros (approximately $13,000 USD)
in Germany incl. 19% tax the 890 Duke R is a lot of
bike for the money. Okay, it's at the upper end of the
middleweight category, but it's well priced against
the 1000cc bikes it competes with on performance.
"We think this bike is for an intelligent rider who
doesn't have the biggest ego, who realizes that
power to weight is more important than throwing
down 180 horsepower on the bar at night," says
Sinke. "This is someone who's a very enthusiastic
motorcycle rider who really understands where the
with that 500 rpm higher rev-limiter, but if you do
hit it, there's a soft-action cutout thanks to the RBW
digital throttle. Yet the harder you rev it the paradoxi-
cally smoother the engine becomes—those coun-
terbalancers really do their job, and it's a smooth
operator at all times as it carves corners through
the Austrian countryside. But thanks to that extra
dose of torque it's happy to be short shifted to let
you ride the torque curve through a series of bends
interspersed with short straights, and here the really
well setup optional two-way powershifter worked
delivering a more refined power delivery.
The result is a package that's more intuitive still
to ride than the already super-friendly yet fast 790
Duke. The engine is even more of a gem than its
predecessor, pulling hard and strong from just
2000 rpm on part-throttle, or wide open in sixth
gear from 4000 revs up with no transmission
snatch. Because power keeps building all through
the rev range, you do have an inducement to flirt
