KTM 690 SMC R IT'S WHEELIE FUN

Getting old is inevitable. It’s a shame, I know, but there is nothing we can do about it. If, however, anyone tells you to grow old gracefully, I’d suggest you give them a swift kick in the nuts – ’cause that’s what they’d deserve. I want to do the opposite. I want to grow old disgracefully and it would seem that KTM, with their new and heavily updated 690 SMC R, are more than happy to help us do just that. The Austrian firm have taken what was already a very nutty bike and made it even more so.

The revised LC4 engine produces an extra 7bhp (74bhp) and 4Nm (73.5Nm), for starters. I know what you’re thinking. It’s still a big single like and it still ought to be, well – just not that nice. It would be a fair assumption; big, single cylinder engines in days gone by have quite often been lumpy, heavy, awkward things. KTM have been developing this, the LC4 engine, for over