Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128244
el s use a c an tile v er rear end des ign. No w fo r th e cruc ia l sta tistic: wei ght? Fe lbe r sm iles . " I was wo rk ing late o ne nigh t a n d p u t i t on the scale s m y self be fo re it w as c r at ed up for J ap an ," he says. " It w e i gh s 167kg (367.5 pounds) dry in proto type form, so wi th heavier-than- production body parts but m aybe m issing various minor compo nents for the st reet. But for sure w e c a n bring it to t he mark etp la c e w e ighing l es s than 175k g ( 3 8 5 pounds) dry with full street equipment, and probably for Superb ik e racing we will have to ball ast it with at least fiv e kil os ( I I po unds) of lead to make the 162 k g ( 3 56 . 5 pou nd ) m in i m um we ight. Bu t at least we can c hoose where to put th at!" A ke y fact o r in m ak ing the bik e so li g h t m a y be j udge d by co m p a ri ng th e dr y weig ht o f th e LC8 m ot or wi t ho ut ca rbs/throttle bodies with that of its va rio us V -t w in co m pe t itors . The 7 5 -d egree KT M LC8 (fitted wit h a sin g le ba lan c e shaft) sc ales j u st 12 3 Ibs., compared to 149 .6 Ibs . for th e 60 -d egree Apri li a RSV -R ( c o m p le te with twin co un te rb a l anc er s) , 160 .6 Ib s . for both th e 9 0- d eg re e H onda VTR I 000 and Suzu k i TL 1000 , and 158,4 Ibs . fo r a D uc ati T estastretta desmo d esi gn - a ll w it h perfect pri - m ary bal ance, so no balan c e weig hts. Th is makes the KTM eng ine betw een 17 p erce n t and 26 per ce nt li g h t er t han i ts rivals, ac h ie ved m o r eov e r wi tho ut ex te ns ive use of m ag nesium , w h ic h is pres entl y c o n fi ned to th e cam covers. Add in th e ex t r e me l y c o m p act ar ch itecture o f the LC8 m oto r, and you start to figure out just wh y t he prototype KTM Superbike is so small and li ght. Th e RC8 is powered by th e same 999cc version of KTM 's 75 -d egree V· twin m otor a s th e new 9 90 Sup er Duke , m easuring 10 1 x 62,4 m m, but with diff er ent cy li nde r hea ds in corpo rat ing bi g ger v a lves, rev ise d po rtin g and a lte re d ca m sh af ts , an d it wears larg er th rottle bod ies tha n t he 4 8mm du a l -bu tt erfl y Ke ihi ns, w hic h i ts street rod sister c urren tly wears . "We'r e testi ng three diffe ren t d ia mete rs at present ," says Fe lb er , " b ut we sho u ld ha ve no tr oubl e m eet in g o u r t ar g et h or sep ow er fo r t he c us to mer st ree tb ik e in Eu ro 3 -compl ia nt form , w h i c h is 13 5 bhp at 10 ,0 0 0 rpm ." Th at's just 13 bhp m ore t han t he 99 0 Duke o ff i c ial ly d el i v er s al re ad y ( tho ug h a ll the co m p any ' s t est bi kes apparentl y ma k e up to 5 bhp m ore than that!) , so wi th a b ik e tha t much lighter than it s co rn pe ti - tion, this promises to deli v er exc iti ng perfo rm ance o n t he st re et - but what abo ut the Supe rbike rac e vers ion ? "Look, so fa r t his was just a proj e ct aim ed at seei ng h o w a KTM sportbike c o ul d work, " say s Fe lber. " N o w w e know that it works . ex t re m ely well ! - and hav e b rough t it in- ho u se as a fu ll fa ctory deve l op m ent proj e ct , t h e next stage i s t o th ink about h ow to bring it t o th e m ark et - and th en als o how t o go r a c ing with it. But we ha v e t hree ot he r b ig p roj ect s ahead of th e RC8 in o ur R&D c ale nd ar: t he 250c c fourst ro ke o f f -ro a d e n gine, th e V -t w in Su permot o bike , and especially ou r 4 5 0 c c m oto c r os s pr o j e c t. Th en co mes th e RC8 - bu t no w we kn ow it will indeed happen , an d we do hav e a develo p ment t e am w ork in g fu l l ti me on it !" So w hen wi ll th at be ? KTM boss Stefa n Pierer lay s out the actio n pl an. "T h is began as an ou tside p roj ect. whi ch we hav e now t ak en ove r as a fu ll fa ctory m od el , and w ith th e chassis geo me t ry and fram e co nstruc t io n and so o n alrea dy tes ted, I don 't think ther e will be much differ en c e be tw een t h is ea rly p roto t yp e and t he futur e p rod uct io n bik e , eve n do wn t o t he styling, which we hope w ill appea l to cue I e n c usto m ers," Pie rer sa id. "We beli eve we ha ve ac hieved a KTM famil y loo k th at is both d isti nctive and pl ea sing . O ur strategy was to c reate a spec if ic style of desig n , w he re b y look ing at t he bik e you knew it could o nly be a KTM . We don 't have an y heritage in roa d bik es, so we have to create that sta rti ng from zero . Th at's why we ' re d isp lay in g the RC8 in p ublic so early in its development: We have to m ak e sure ou r future custo m ers for such a b ike appr ov e o f o u r idea s for i t s design and styling before we co m mit these to producti on, whe n it' s too late to change ! W e'll probably start manu facturin g th e RC8 in volume for m in 20 06 . We ' ll follow the same st rat egy as with th e 990 Duke, so th er e might be a small run of bik es b uil t earli er t ha n th at. As fa r as goi ng racing with t he RC 8 , yes, o f c o u r se we must. Soon er o r later we must esta blish the lin k ag e bet ween thi s bik e and c o m peti ti on , fo llo wing KTM's est ab lis he d way o f d o i n g t hi ng s, wh i ch has serv ed us so well. " It's too ea r l y n ow t o spec i f y a date, but we w ill go Superbike rac ing: t hat' s c lear. W e w ill hav e a se ri es pro du c t ion street b ike produ ct wh ic h will be c losely based o n th e Superbi ke race r, so we must do so ." 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