2015 KTM 1290 SUPER DUKE R
FIRST RIDE
P54
BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOK
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREA WILSON
AND RAY GAUGER
K
TM's road bike range has
always taken a back step
to their dirt bikes. This is a
company built on its dirt prowess,
a company with more World Moto-
cross championships, Dakar wins
and enduro titles than it could be
bothered to count, so it could be
forgiven if the road bike range didn't
take full command of the Austrian's
attention.
When KTM went really headlong
into the superbike market with the
RC8, the effort still seemed lacking.
Very little development work has
been done on the machine since
its 2008 birth and while the bike
is good, it's in a different genera-
tion compared to the missiles from
Japan and Italy.
But on the naked bike side of
things, that couldn't be further from
the truth.
Season 2014 was unofficially
dubbed the "Year of the naked
bike," just as 2015 has been a
superbike year. Those past 12
months saw new naked weapons
from Japan (Kawasaki Z1000/Ya-
maha FZ-09), Italy (Ducati Monster
1200S), and Germany (BMW S
1000 R). But none commanded the
public's attention like this, the KTM
Super Duke 1290 R. An intense
social media attack on our Insta-
gram accounts and endless teaser
videos of MotoGP rider Jeremy
McWilliams doing things us mere
NICE AND SERIOUSLY BAD IN THE SAME PACKAGE,
THE KTM SUPER DUKE REDEFINES WHAT A REAL
NAKED BIKE IS ALL ABOUT
ANGER
MANAGEMENT
