2018 KTM 790 DUKE PROTOTYPE
FIRST RIDE
P78
Light, nimble
and spunky.
The 790 Duke
is all about
having fun.
tive—yes, it's the right word—in the
way it steers into a turn. The engine
is a true flexible friend, with heaps of
personality—it pulls wide open in top
gear from just 3000 rpm all the way to
the 10,800 rpm limiter. There's a slight
moment of roughness around 7000
rpm which I wouldn't really character-
ize as vibration, but at all other revs it's
willing and torquey, with just enough
vibration left in via the dual counterbal-
ancers to make you feel you're riding
a motorcycle, not a sewing machine.
Same thing with the settings for the
slipper clutch, which has just enough
engine braking left dialed in to help
you stop for a second-gear hairpin
from high speed, without chattering
the rear wheel on the overrun. "We
did this deliberately to add some
personality," admits Simke, "but the
problem was knowing how much to
leave in!"
Although the radial brakes work well
enough, the settings for the clutchless
autoblipper are so ideally chosen that
you hardly have to use them climbing a
twisty mountain pass like this one—just
backshift a couple of times for a slow
bend and the residual engine braking
invariably takes care of slowing the
bike in normal use—okay, start going
for it, and you'll need to work the lever,
but not otherwise. The clutch action is
super light and positive when you do
have to use it, as I imagine you'd have
to riding in town. This won't cramp up
your left hand riding the 790 Duke to
work each morning.
So far, this is a very good motor-
cycle that sets the bar higher for its
rivals in that crowded middleweight
category, and it's in every way a true
KTM. CN
