Style & Design:The newly launched KTM Duke 790 has all design elements representing true sole of a typical Duke motorcycle. The bike looks minimalistic in design and it resembles to the smaller Duke 390 so much so that it becomes difficult to guess the engine size of the new bike which is double than its smaller sibling. The signature twin LED headlamps of the Duke 790 seems identical to the Duke 390, whereas at the rear the bike is featured with stubble LTD tail lamp.
Uniquely designed side mounted upswept exhaust looks a little odd but it goes with the overall sharp lines of the body. The large sculpted fuel tank of the bike also has sharp creases complimenting the "Scalpel" tagline of the bike. The Duke 790 comes featured with full digital TFT color instrument console, it also has inbuilt Bluetooth feature.
Engine & Performance:The KTM Duke 790 comes equipped with new LC8 799cc parallel twin cylinder engine. The motor is mated to a 6-speed transmission gear which has Bi-directional Quick Shifter for clutchless both up and downshift. The new LC8 twin pods come featured with two counter-balancers for minimum vibrations. The liquid cooled twin cylinder mill is capable of producing impressive 105 Ps of power at 9500 Rpm and peak torque of 86Nm at 8000 Rpm.
The use of Forged Pistons and counter-balancers ensure optimum performance with minimum vibrations. The bike tips the scale at only 169Kg kerb weight extracting power-to-weight ratio of 612 bhp per tonne making it one of the lightest and fastest motorcycles in its class.
Features & Electronics:The Ktm Duke 790 comes loaded with all sorts of modern equipments on board, including- Launch control feature, Wheelie Control, Slipper clutch, and Bi-directional Quickshifter. The bike is also featured with 6-axis IMU based 9-level Traction control system with lean-angle sensitivity, cornering ABS with Supermoto mode and Engine brake control. The Duke 790 also has Ride-by-wire providing four riding modes - Sport, Street, Rain, and Track via the Bosch EMS with RBW.
The new Duke 790 comes suspended by 43mm WP Upside Down USD fork up front and a WP Monoshock unit at the rear. The braking duty is taken care by 300 mm dual discs up front and a 240 mm single disc brake at the rear. The bike comes shod with Maxxis Supermaxx ST tyres riding on 17-inch alloy wheels.
Price, Colors & Competition:
KTM India has launched the Duke 790 with introductory price tag of Rs 8.64 Lacs (Ex-showroom). The bike will be available in India via CBU route and shall be available in only 9 cities across the country. Depending upon the dealership the bike can be booked by paying booking amount of Rs 5000/- to 25000/-. Ktm India is also providing finance option for the bike with the tenure of upto 5 years.The new Ktm Duke 790 will be available in two color options- White and Orange and the bike will lock its horns with the likes of Kawasaki Z900 and Suzuki GSX-S750. Both Z900 and GSX-S750 are 4-cylinder motorcycles opposite to the Duke 790 and have been sold in India at Rs 7.46 and 7.68 Lacs (Ex-Showroom) respectively.