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K TM 890 DUKE R RIDE REVIEW P88 (Left) The 890cc DOHC eight-valve engine produces 119 bhp/89kW at 9250 rpm, which is 14 bhp more than 790 Duke. It has more torque, as well. (Right) Braking responsibilities are handled by Brembo. in what is a sportier riding posi- tion than on the 790, with the footpegs also moved back a little. This isn't any more tiring than be- fore, just definitely more sporty- feeling. You feel even more involved with the bike physically, and that's one reason for the intuitive riding style I mentioned earlier. And even at speeds of 125 mph with the tacho show- ing 7500 rpm, you don't get too blown about thanks to the slightly more aerodynamic stance. I started out using Street mode out of the four available via the RBW digital throttle, before switching to the sharper but still controllable Sport map. There's also a Rain mode capped at 100 horsepower with a smoother pickup, and an optional Track mode for track days, with launch control, MTC slip adjust, revised mapping and throttle response, and the anti-wheelie turned off. But I ended up using Street for most of the day as better for real-world road riding in traffic and on tight, twisting mountain roads, switching to Sport when the road opened up so I could be more aggressive on the throttle. It really pays to surf that flat but meaty torque curve, so short- shifting wide-open at 7500 rpm gave me plenty of acceleration en route to 100 mph in top gear with 5800 rpm showing on the good-looking light-sensitive full- color TFT dash. As on all KTMs, this is an excellent example of how to present data to the rider, with the prominent gear selected reading in the top left corner always readily viewable at a quick glance, and scrolling through the pages is easily done via the switch on the left bar. As on its low-cost 125/200/390 Dukes, KTM's dashboards are a model of readability to others. That compact engine format and the sharper sense of pur- pose you get riding this bike compared to the 790 makes it feel like a single in the way it steers, but like a maxi-twin in terms of power and torque. The 890 Duke R comes close to being the best of both worlds dynamically: it's light and agile, responsive to rider input but with added power and torque com- pared to the smaller capacity version of the same model. And those great brakes which deliver so much feel and great bite with- out being snatchy, are just the icing on the cake. The only place that hard-riding Adriaan Sinke pulled a gap on me with his 1290 Super Duke R was up a long, quite steep one-mile-plus-long climb where the bigger V-twin's extra cubes and added punch won out. Elsewhere, the more agile, more nimble 890 Duke R was the bike to be on, especially once we got too tight mountain turns where the sweet-steering twin that thinks it's a single won out every time in handling terms. The 890's appeal is mainly about the power-to-weight ratio, and it's more agile handling compared to a physically bigger V-twin, not just KTM, but any other manufacturer. It encour- ages you to brake later and accelerate harder after flick- ing the smaller-seeming bike through a turn. You're aided in doing that by the new Michelin Power Cup II tires fitted to the bike, which according to Sinke, are much lighter than any com- parable previous tire from the French manufacturer, so benefits handling via reduced unsprung weight, previously a preserve of Pirelli and Dunlop. These tires