Baby KTM sportsbikes on the cards?

New KTM engine will sit between 200 and 390 capacity

KTM boss Stefan Pierer has announced that the firm plans to build a small capacity engine that sits between the Duke 200 and Duke 390 models.

KTM has recently entered the small capacity road sector with the Duke 125, 200 and 390 but as yet, they don't have an RC-based offering.

The firm's mighty 1195cc RC8 is their only sportsbike offering, however the new engine could spawn a range of smaller RC models, built in the same way as the Duke models which share the same platform but use different engines, designed by KTM and built in India by Bajaj Automotive.

KTM already have a long heritage in small capacity racing motorcycles from the RC125GP and RC250GP models racing in MotoGP and now the new Moto3 bike, the RC250R.

With KTM looking to boost its output from 100,000 motorcvycles a year to 200,000, expect the range to increase dramatically over the next two years with an RC125, RC200 and RC390 at the very least.