P80
RIDE REVIEW I 2024 KTM 1390 SUPER DUKE R EVO
I can't help but think we have
reached peak naked-bike lunacy with
the '24 Super Duke. Really, how much
faster can they get? More to the point,
how much faster do they need to get?
It's not so much that the Super
Duke is faster up top, which it is
without question, it's how fast it gets
there. The V-twin's bore was upped
2mm to 110mm, and when matched
to massive 60mm throttle bodies (up
from an already huge 56mm), the ac
-
celeration is straight mental.
The Super Duke pulls so damn
hard from revs way down low and
doesn't stop until you're nestled deep
in the reds and coming onto the front
straight via Portimao's glorious final
corner. The Super Duke in fifth gear
spins a rear Pirelli slick tire with the
kind of ease Mike Tyson used to
knock out giants with.
The engine performance is paired
with electronics so well mapped that
the Super Duke makes you feel like
a god. The back-end breaks loose,
you keep your right hand buried, and
you leave a superb tarmac signature
for the guy behind to witness.
It's near impossible (not totally
impossible) to highside yourself on a
Super Duke thanks to the lean angle-
sensitive traction control, which is
part of the optional Performance and
Track modes in the ECU, which take
the possible modes up to five.
Track Mode gives you two addition
-
al displays on the five-inch TFT dash,
but this one focuses on lap times. You
can dial in one of nine traction control
settings in Performance and Track
Mode, switch off your anti-wheelie
(that now comes in five stages from
Very Low (0.36°) to Very High (22.25°),
The new wheelie
control makes pulling
almost any level of
wheelie child's play.
