2015 KTM RC390
FIRST RIDE
P104
H
ot in the tire tracks of the
RC125 released a couple
of months ago, KTM has
introduced an even more serious
street Supermono in the form of
the RC390 (officially standing for
Race Competition) sportbike ver-
sion of its acclaimed 390 Duke.
The chance to ride this latest
example of Indian-Austrian team-
work for 60 miles of switchback
roads through the Italian hills
behind the Ferrari factory in Ma-
ranello showed exactly why less
can also be more when it comes
to sporting singles. You really
don't have to have four-cylinder
Superbike performance to enjoy
yourself when carving corners
along country roads. In fact, a
well-ridden single can often be
faster.
Following this with two 20-min-
ute track sessions on the tight,
twisty 1.2-mile autodromo race
circuit at Modena – home of
Maserati - underlined that KTM
has produced a bike that, while
meeting all the increasingly oner-
ous noise, emissions and other
legislative red tape, still produces
that one all-important ingredient
that makes all of us want to ride
bikes: fun.
To create this two-wheeled flick
of the finger to the environmen-
tal lobby, KTM has once again
teamed up with its 47.18 percent
shareholder (India's number-two
bike builder Bajaj Auto) to engi-
neer and style the RC390 in Aus-
tria. Then, as with the 390 Duke
and equivalent smaller-capacity
125/200 variants on a common
single-cylinder platform, Bajaj
builds the new model by sourc-
ing all component parts locally
in India (other than aluminum
forgings, and the German-made
Metzeler Sportec M5 tires fitted
KTM is bringing its RC390 to the U.S.
and we think you will like it.
BY ALAN CATHCART
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARCO CAMPELLI AND ALESSIA BARBANTI
The KTM RC390
is coming to the
U.S. and we got
to ride it recently
in Italy – both on
the road and on
the racetrack.
MINI
SUPERBIKE?
