KTM Venom - the naked RC8

THE PAINT is hardly dry on the RC8 superbike but that hasn't stopped KTM's phenomenal surge when it comes to new models. While TWO were in Austria talking about the RC8 superbike, KTM gave us these pictures of its RC8 Venom concept bike.

Shown in 2004, a year after the RC8, the Venom is basically a stripped down version of the racer. It¹s not exactly an unexpected move from KTM, the company has a habit of putting prototypes into production, but these design sketches show that the bike is still very much on their minds. But that's not the only clue. Speaking to the RC8¹s designers they talk about the bike being designed to be clean, have no exposed wires or general engine clutter.

The reason is simple, the Venom was always on the cards and it's a damn sight easier to design a clean bike than to try and hide bits afterwards. Triumph used a similar tactic with its Street Triple, the Daytona 675 was designed to look good naked.

So when can we expect to see the Venom, and what kind of power? It's almost certain KTM will unveil the bike at the end of this year, and if the company's spirit is anything to go by expect it to have almost the same power as the RC8, so near to 150bhp! Like the RC8 the styling will remain true to the original concept bike, but subtle changes will inevitably happen as the bike is developed.