KTM confirms new parallel-twin bike

It’s been spied already and the firm says it will be ‘revolutionary’

NEWS from KTM’s newly-published annual report confirms the company is developing a new twin-cylinder engine that will power a range of bikes in new market segments.

We’ve already seen the company is developing a parallel-twin engine of around 800cc – spy shots have shown it under test in a Duke-style machine. The new annual report appears to refer to it, saying that the company’s 2015 R&D projects included 'development of a new motorcycle platform based on a revolutionary 2-cylinder engine design, which will make a substantial contribution toward opening up new market segments'.

The fact it’s referred to as a ‘platform’ hints that several models will be spun off from the same basic chassis and engine. It doesn’t take a genius to speculate that the Duke-style naked version will be joined by an adventure model, while there could even be scope for a faired sports bike along the lines of the RC 390. 

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