THE next generation KTM 1290 Super Duke R has been spotted in the Alps undergoing some on-road testing last week, with the incoming machine sporting a very different-looking front end!
The characteristic shape of most of KTM’s bikes is a kind of calling card left by the Austrian manufacturer. That distinctive diamond-shaped nose is found on everything, from the firm’s small capacity nakeds and sports bikes, right the way up to its flagship nakeds and adventure machines. That doesn’t mean the design must remain the same though, as the KTM designers seem to have updated the design.
It's one of the easiest to spot changes to the bike, and still features the recognisable diamond disc shape adorning the front of the bike, although where before there was a plastic or glass headlight, there is now nothing. The advent of small, lightweight LEDs has done a lot for motorcycle design, and that is something KTM is making the most of. They have pretty much done away with what you’d call a traditional headlight, instead locating two small LED projectors front and centre on the bike. We are presuming that one of the lights handles the dip and one the main beam of the headlight – as found on the Suzuki GSX-S1000.
Unlike the above-mentioned GSX-S1000, the KTM doesn’t feature such a tiny snout, and instead of doing away with that easily recognisable headlight shape, the designers seem to have left it alone, albeit as a black, plastic-looking frame. It’s not clear if the design does anything other than make the front of the bike more familiar, or if it has more structural significance. For the answer to that and pretty much everything else you/we want to know, we’ll have to wait a little bit longer. With EICMA just around the corner, we expect to find out a bit more about the bike soon. While KTM isn’t at the show, it could launch something at its own event to coincide with the show. We’ll keep you posted when the full spec does land.
