SINGLE MINDED
even years is an eternity in sportsbike S R&D, and even more so when the model in question is to be raced. Yet that’s how long KTM’s RC390 has been tearing up racetracks, blatting down boulevards and carving corners all over the world. Launched in 2014 as the largest capacity of the three RC models (RC125/200/390) developed by KTM in conjunction with Bajaj (which manufactures them in India), over 100,000 such bikes have now been produced. A number that shows just how important the RC family is for the Indo-Austrian joint venture partners.
So now the time has come for a radical revamp for 2022 of KTM’s single-cylinder entry in this increasingly crucial model sector. A sector which combines ride-to-work rideability with attempting to impose sporting supremacy in the increasingly popular Supersport 300 race category, where Kawasaki’s Ninja 400 and the Yamaha YZF-R3 twins have overtaken the once-superior RC390.
Check out the lineup in the 2021 SSP300 World Championship series run alongside WorldSBK and there are just a couple of Dutch-entered KTMs. They rarely trouble the leaders and are essentially making up the numbers – a situation that won’t be at all pleasing to KTM owner Stefan Pierer, quite apart from the commercial ramifications.
“WE WANTED TO IMPROVE COMFORT, BECAUSE A LOT OF OUR CUSTOMERS RIDE THESE BIKES EVERY DAY”
Add in the desire to build in some commercial momentum based on Albert Arenas’s 2020 success in regaining the Moto3
