Tag Archives: 790 Duke

Running From The Police on KTM’s 790 Duke

Morgan Gales doesn’t stand a chance. He should; he’s riding the perfect getaway bike. The KTM 790 Duke is lithe and fast and responsive. It’s brilliant on a twisty road, shedding all its civility for snap and crackle and wheelies out of corners. But it’s precise too. Little touches on the footpegs translate to graceful shifts at the bars, perfect for weaving through dense California traffic. Mostly, it feels eager. That’s KTM’s new 799cc twin, which is good for 95 hp and 58.2 pound-feet of torque on our dyno. As a package, the Duke makes a strong case for itself as the best middleweight sportbike on the market. But it’s not getting away from the helicopter.

Grow up on a steady diet of televised freeway pursuits and eventually the thought might cross your mind: Could I get away? Sheer repetition helps armchair evaders pick apart common mistakes. Getting out of town? That’s no good; you don’t know all the exits and side streets. Parking garages? You might be hard to see, but you’re easy to block in. Riding a little wild? That’s reason enough to get squeezed into the guard rail. From the comfort of home, you become an expert, formulate a plan, meditate on a route, maybe even pick a perfect machine for the job. You wonder. What would it be like to have the helicopter in your rearviews?

“That’s him,” Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Erik Baum says over the intercom. It’s easy to miss over the din of seven busy radios. The aviation support unit is monitoring everything—highway patrol and local police dispatchers over tactical radios, air traffic control, and air-to-air over the VHF—but Reserve Deputy Josh Assayag hears Baum just fine and kicks the white and green Eurocopter AS350 B2 into a dizzying left turn over State Route 73. In seconds Baum has the helicopter’s camera turret aimed at the KTM.

Gales is in the fast lane, passing unsuspecting commuters. The reticle crosses over his back and lanky arms, and Baum zooms in until the bike fills the frame. Flashes of KTM’s vivid orange bodywork give away the brand. Gales’ long hair is apparent, whipping against his leathers. The bike slows for an instant, and the camera snaps into razor-sharp focus, making the Spidi branding visible. Gales had the KTM on the highway less than a minute, and I’ve seen enough of him, his bike, and his gear that I could pick him out of a lineup of a hundred other riders.

“Two things glow really hard on infrared,” Baum explains, “motorcycles and cop cars.”

And it makes sense. Push your Camry to 100, and you’ll scarcely feel heat in its sheet metal. Rip the KTM to 100, and you’ll burn your hand on sizzling-hot exposed engine cases. From 1,000 feet, the bike is a white-hot blob on Baum’s FLIR camera. Day or night, it’s impossibly conspicuous.

On the ground, Gales has some of the best electronics systems in the motorcycling world. A ride-by-wire throttle with four maps and wheelie control mates perfectly with KTM’s refined up/down quickshifter. Bosch lean-angle-sensing traction control and cornering ABS stay out of the way until you need them, and then intrude smoothly when you do, improving your riding rather than upsetting it. A multicolor TFT dash keeps the rider informed, and sensible controls allow easy navigation between riding modes. It’s a sophisticated machine, but today it’s not sophisticated enough.

Baum is the ASU’s chief pilot. You’d make him as a cop in a glance. Short hair. Oakleys. He looks at home in his green two-piece flight suit, a well-worn Glock 22 dangling lazily against his ribs in a shoulder holster. In the air, he has his hands full with the helicopter’s electronics suite. Baum operates the insect-eyed FLIR 380 pod dangling in the air under his feet with what looks for all the world like a mil-spec PlayStation controller.

Filling the left-side dash of the ASTAR is a massive monitor stuffed with information. A picture-in-picture GPS map tracks the helicopter’s location, but more impressive, it tracks the location of the FLIR system’s reticle on the ground. Point it at Gales speeding along a surface street and it’ll give you a precise street address. Another mode places an overlay of the street or highway name directly over the street itself.

But even without the expensive hardware, it’s hard to miss a bike scything through traffic. From 1,000 feet in the air, you can see everything that’s happening for miles down the road, just with the naked eye. Assayag doesn’t have trouble keeping up with the KTM. The ASTAR will cruise at 150 and tops out closer to 180 mph. Given infinite room and empty roads, a supersport machine could leave the ASU behind. But it’d be hard-pressed to outrun a camera. Or a radio.


RELATED: Honda Africa Twin Redondo Beach Police Motorcycle Ride Along


Assayag is subtle on the controls, but his head is on a swivel. Orange County is a wildly busy airspace: an international airport, business jets, other helicopters. Assayag seems collected, unruffled by the frenetic environment, and it becomes apparent on the ground why: He’s seldom on the ground. The reserve deputy is a Boeing 737 pilot and a military drone operator when he’s not turning low orbits over Orange County. He wears the same green flight suit as Baum but doesn’t fly with his service pistol. “There’s zero chance of the pilot having to jump out and catch somebody,” he says.

Gales turns off the freeway, throwing in the towel. As sophisticated and capable as the Duke is, it’s no match for the eye in the sky. Even through tall apartment buildings and Orange County’s urban sprawl, the view from the air is commanding, and it’s clear that it doesn’t matter if you’re in a forest of concrete or on the open road—there’s no escape. Real work beckons for Assayag and Baum. The helicopter flies day or night, but they’re grinding toward the end of their shift, so we turn away from the highway and pass low over the coast, our fantasy of outrunning the law nothing but dust in the Eurocopter’s rotors.

Source: MotorCyclistOnline.com

2019 KTM 790 Duke | Motorcycle Review

2019 KTM 790 Duke Review

By Wayne Vickers


Some bikes take a while to grow on you, to properly understand how to get the best out of them. Where the sweet spot of the engine lies, the better shift points, body positions, those sort of things. With others you just jump on and they feel familiar to what you’ve ridden before so you can benchmark them easily.

KTM 790 Duke

The KTM 790 Duke fell into a third category for me. It wasn’t familiar at all. But within minutes I had fallen for the drivetrain, and within an hour my opinions on electronics were forever changed. This thing is a cracker of a bike. But it’s also a bit of a contradiction.

KTM Duke
2019 KTM 790 Duke

While the 790 Duke is a doddle to jump on and ride – it’s not an easy thing to master punting it hard, simply because its capabilities are so high. Even now after spending the best part of a week and a half on it, my head is still trying to trying to come up to speed.

I deliberately didn’t do any fresh research before picking up the bike. Besides, Trev has covered the 790 Duke specs in great detail after attending the world launch in Gran Canaria (Link).

KTM 790 Duke takes a different slant again on the parallel twin
KTM 790 Duke takes a different slant again on the parallel twin

I just wanted to ride the bike and share how it felt to ride. So throwing the leg over didn’t immediately feel natural for me compared to what I’m used to day to day (a Tiger 800xc I’ve done close to a bazillion kays on).

The ergos felt OK, being really low, almost scooter low, really narrow, with the feeling of being almost perched over the front wheel. And the seat felt like it was made of several different individual sections and angles. Am I supposed to sit forward or back? One of those, ‘That’s weird but I’m sure it’ll make more sense on the go’ moments.

KTM Duke
2019 KTM 790 Duke

Pulling away from standstill, the clutch take-up was nice and smooth and the engine happily crawled along the sidewalk in Elizabeth street Melbourne among foot traffic, while dragging a bit of clutch meant no sign of chugging, as some twins will. The low speed stability from the overall geometry is really, really impressive. It feels even lighter than it is – and slow walking pace among pedestrians was done with the feet on the pegs and absolute confidence straight away.

KTM 790 Duke Engine

So then I pulled out onto the road and opened it up… only to be left thinking, ‘Are you sure this is a 790cc? There’s way more shove than any 800cc twin has right to have off the bottom’. The bike feels plenty stronger than the quoted 105hp and is punchy but smooth right through the rev range. That engine is a gem. The fueling is mint. Amazing actually. Especially in Street mode which is almost impossibly smooth for a twin.

KTM Duke
2019 KTM 790 Duke

The last mid-size twin I rode was an 848 Duc and while I did like that engine quite a lot, it fades into obsolescence compared with the 790. This one feels closer to the older 990cc KTM V-Twins in terms of output which is no bad thing. The big difference however is the fuelling in the 790 which is just so spot on – helped no doubt by some fairly masterful electrowizardry.

Historically I’ve not been a fan of electronic intrusion, but this bike has utterly changed my mind on that front. In no way does it intrude, on the contrary, that smoothness from this new Austrian lump is quite likely only possible because of the digital smarts built into the fuelling, engine management, quick shifter and traction control systems.

KTM Duke
2019 KTM 790 Duke – TFT display with day/night mode

It actually wasn’t until the first stop for fuel that I played around with the superb TFT dash to see what modes were available (Street, Sport, Rain and Track), what was turned on and what wasn’t. And it was then that I realised that it hadn’t been me alone perfectly matching revs on downshifts, but that I was getting some assistance, and surprisingly to me at least – it’s all the better for it. Far better.

KTM 790 Duke

It makes you want to explore the bike even more. Speaking of the dash… What a thing of beauty it is. The ex-designer in me loves the clarity and simplicity of the layout as well as the function of the controls. The redline is orange, of course – another nice bit of branding. And it has a day-time (white background) and night-time (black background) display that switches over automagically based on ambient light I’m guessing. Nifty.

While its a bit of a gripe that the ride mode reverts to Street every time you turn it off, at least the riding modes can be changed on the go. Just be aware of what’s behind you, as you have to close the throttle for five-seconds to do it.

KTM Duke
2019 KTM 790 Duke

Other little niggles? I’m not quite sure why the indicator light on the dash can’t show you which indicator is on, and the indicator switch itself feels slightly fragile. While I’m on switch gear – the toggle switch for high beam requires a left hand grip adjustment for me to use it each time. Not sure that’s a good thing. But they’re minor niggles really, when taking the brilliance of the rest of the bike into account.

On the road the gearbox shift is light and at first, felt almost overly sensitive in its eagerness to shift gears at the slightest touch. Occasionally, even a few days after picking up the bike, I’d shift up a little earlier than anticipated. After the first stop I was playing around with clutchless shifts in both directions, which it soaks up effortlessly.

2019 KTM 790 Duke - Switchblock
2019 KTM 790 Duke – Switchblock

Auto rev matching brings revs up to match the new ratio while the slipper clutch further calms things down if the revs are wildly out in either direction. Have I mentioned this thing is smooth? Remarkable. First gear isn’t overly tall and the engine pulls really strongly even at highway speeds in top gear. I’m not talking big bore strong, and it does taper off above standard highway speeds, but it’s far stronger than I had expected. Stronger than anyone would need 99 per cent of the time.

Brakes are nice and strong with plenty of initial bite, without being so strong that they’d be intimidating for less experienced riders. There’s plenty of stop and confidence to trail brake deep into turns without any issues. They just work.

KTM Duke
2019 KTM 790 Duke

The exhaust note was another nice surprise for a stock pipe too. Its rorty and bubbly on over-run, and loud enough under power without being obnoxious. I’m not sure you’d need a slip on to be honest. But it couldn’t hurt, could it…?

Styling-wise it’s typical of the current crop of KTMs and has some neat touches, as well as some things that will no doubt polarise punters. Personally I like it, but I reckon the 1290 Super Duke is a better looker, but that’s subjective. The extreme looking headlight makes more sense when you’re on the bike than off it, as its tucked away so low that basically you don’t see anything other than the dash beyond the bars.

The only other gripe from me was the thin plastic strip wrapping around the rear of the fuel tank that can be flexed with a gentle wobble. Just seems a bit cheap for what is otherwise an obviously really, really well put together bike.

KTM 790 Duke
KTM 790 Duke

Suspension is quite firm without being overly harsh. Trev called it a Tardis and I agree, in that it’s a bit of a mystery how something so small can have as much room. I got off after some decent stints in the saddle and didn’t feel the slightest bit stiff. Its epic in traffic too, filtering through like a hot knife through butter and yet is happy to cruise along on the highway.

2019 KTM 790 Duke

That odd feeling seat makes more sense as soon as you point it at a corner, because as great as the driveline is, it’s the handling of the 790 that stands out for me. The little Duke tips in faster than thought speed, feels natural on its side and will change lines as soon as you can look at a new line. Any wonder they’re calling it a scalpel.

That work they’ve obviously done to keep the physical dimensions of the engine so small combined with the overall low weight makes this a nimble bike to tip in, but it never feels overly flighty or unstable, just super agile.

KTM Duke
2019 KTM 790 Duke

Just how fast does it steer? After over a thousand kilometres, I was still finding myself having to sit the bike up occasionally mid corner to ease the line out a little. The thing just wants to turn. I actually started to ask myself if it’s possible to make a bike steer too fast.. And I haven’t decided yet. It really is a bit of an engineering marvel on the road – how they’ve managed to design a bike to steer so well, and yet not want to shake its head at all, is amazing.

KTM 790 Duke

Riding my Tiger 800xc back to back only highlighted the diminutive physical dimensions of the bike. The Tiger isn’t a massive bike, but by comparison, the 790 Duke engine feels about half of the width of the 800cc triple. And the wheelbase ‘feels’ about 2/3rds of the Tiger. Obviously it’s not THAT short, but it really does feel short. Not having a visible headlight cluster swinging in the breeze in front of the bars only accentuates the impression.

KTM 790 Duke

The little Duke just urges you to have some fun and ride it hard. And you’re probably going to be punting it along at a quicker pace than you think, as the grunty twin doesn’t need to have its neck wrung to get the best out of it. Several times I looked down at the speedo and was a little surprised at the number staring back at me..

Make no mistake, the 790 Duke is so light and agile that it demands full focus to punt along anywhere near its limits, which I genuinely don’t think I approached all that often on the roads between Melbourne and Apollo Bay over a couple of weeks. Not that it shakes its head or does anything untoward, it’s just steers so bloody well it takes proper commitment to do the bike justice. A half decent rider with a few weeks on this little weapon would no doubt be difficult for anyone to shake on a twisty bit of tarmac…

KTM 790 Duke
KTM 790 Duke

For me and I’m guessing a lot of other riders, a naked bike is now a very real contender for our next machine. My years of sports bikes and road racing are behind me, and uber-high speed hijinx on the road is becoming less and less of an option as speed limits on good sections of road are continually reduced, and consequences raised. So full faired sports bikes don’t make as much sense as they once used to. Not when there’s so much performance available in bikes like this. If you haven’t ridden one of these jiggers, it’s time you did. It opened my eyes more than a bit.

KTM 790 Duke

That said.. I personally can’t stop thinking about what that superb engine would be like in the upcoming rally package. The idea excites me a lot and I probably should really ride the 1290 SuperDuke to compare it eh Trev… Trev..?

KTM Duke
2019 KTM 790 Duke

Currently the KTM 790 Duke is on promotion at $14,995 Ride Away



KTM 790 Duke Technical Specifications

FRAME DESIGN
Chromium-Molybdenum-Steel frame using the engine as stressed element, powder coated
 
FRONT SUSPENSION
WP upside-down Ø 43 mm
 
REAR SUSPENSION
WP shock absorber with preload adjuster
 
SUSPENSION TRAVEL (FRONT)
140 mm
 
SUSPENSION TRAVEL (REAR)
150 mm
 
FRONT BRAKE
Four-piston radial fixed calliper
 
REAR BRAKE
2 piston caliper, brake disc
 
FRONT BRAKE DISC DIAMETER
300 mm
 
REAR BRAKE DISC DIAMETER
240 mm
 
ABS
Bosch 9MP two-channel ABS (incl. Supermoto mode, diesengageable)
 
CHAIN
520 X-Ring
 
STEERING HEAD ANGLE
66 °
 
WHEELBASE
1475 ± 15 mm
 
GROUND CLEARANCE
186 mm
 
SEAT HEIGHT
825 mm
 
TANK CAPACITY (APPROX.)
14 l
 
DRY WEIGHT
169 kg
 
DESIGN
2-cylinder, 4-stroke, parallel twin
 
DISPLACEMENT
799 cm³
 
BORE
88 mm
 
STROKE
65.7 mm
 
POWER IN KW
77 kW
 
STARTER
Electric starter
 
LUBRICATION
Forced oil lubrication with 2 oil pumps
 
TRANSMISSION
6-speed
 
PRIMARY DRIVE
39:75
 
SECONDARY GEAR RATIO
16:41
 
COOLING
Liquid cooled
 
CLUTCH
PASC™ antihopping clutch, mechanically operated
 
EMS
Bosch EMS with RBW
 
CO2 EMISSIONS
102.9
 
FUEL CONSUMPTION
4.4
KTM 790 Duke

Currently the KTM 790 Duke is on promotion at $14,995 Ride Away

Source: MCNews.com.au