KTM: Ready to race

KTM’s living up to its mantra once again: revealing a prototype 990RC R that’s tipped for production for 2025

Austrian firm KTM has been out of the road-going sportsbike sector for nearly a decade, having dropped its quirky, yet acclaimed, RC 8R 1195 V-twin in 2016. And although it’s played its part in MotoGP during those years, while building some very nutty naked roadbikes like the Super Duke 1290 and Duke 890, the Mattighofen outfit seemed to set its face against the very notion of superbikes on the road.

There was no place for 200bhp-plus faired sports weapons outside pure competition, so seemed the company line, much to the sadness of all. A crack is appearing in that high Alpine dam, though – in the form of a new supersport bike, the KTM 990 RC R.

It’s been hinted at over the past couple of years with the release of track-only versions, sold in super-limited editions at hefty prices. For 2025, however, we are getting a proper working-class, road-going version. It’s being trailed as a supersport machine, and if you think of Ducati’s V2 Panigale, that’s sort of the ballpark. We kind of expected it to arrive, too. Alongside the news about this year’s limited-run RC 8C, KTM hinted that it’d be unveiling something super-special at an exclusive owners event at Portimao.

Now we’ve got a much idea about what they were on about. Sadly, we’re only seeing a prototype at the moment, with pretty limited specs available. We do know it’s going to get a 127bhp/76lb-ft version of the LC8c parallel twin engine (which currently powers the 990 Duke), in a steel tube trellis frame with WP suspension, Brembo calipers and Galfer discs, Michelin tyres and a full fairing. There’ll probably be some orange colour options. And black. And white. You get the picture.

There’s also talk that we’re going to get both a standard and track version of the bike, with a prototype racer being lined up to make some wildcard entries in supersport championships across Europe. Pretty cool. It’ll be a great chance to see what the bike’s made of against some stiff competition.

In the meantime, we’re going to have to sit tight while the factory drips details out right up to the autumn shows. Expect more on pricing, weight, availability and equipment through summer.