Homologation process delays India launch of KTM 790 Duke - Report

06/06/2019 - 18:02 KTM 790 Duke, KTM Suvil Susvirkar

Potential buyers will have to wait longer to lay their hands on the KTM’s middleweight naked roadster, the 790 Duke, a new report from Autocar India claims. The motoring website suggests that the Indian launch of the KTM 790 Duke has been delayed due to homologation process and that the motorcycle will not arrive in our market in 2019. The middleweight naked roadster is now expected to arrive in 2020.

2018 KTM 790 Duke Black Press shot rear right quarter — The KTM 790 Duke India launch has been delayed once again, and the motorcycle will now reportedly arrive in 2020.

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Regular readers would remember that select dealerships had started to accept pre-bookings for the 790 Duke and the launch was expected to happen in November. Further back, the launch was rumoured to take place in April. KTM has not yet made an announcement about the Indian launch of the 790 Duke.

A report from March this year claimed that the middleweight naked roadster will be assembled in India and that KTM would set up an advanced assembly line at Bajaj Auto’s Akurdi plant. The assembly line, as stated by the report, would be supervised and operated by a team from Austria. The source report went on to add that the first 100 units of the motorcycle bike had arrived in our country for service training purposes.

Aimed to lock horns with the likes of Triumph Street Triple series, the Suzuki GSX-S750 and the Ducati Monster range, the KTM 790 Duke uses the newly developed 799 cc parallel-twin, liquid-cooled LC8c engine that delivers 105 PS of peak power at 9,000 rpm and a max torque of 86 Nm at 8,000 rpm. The motor features two counter-balancer shafts and 270-degree firing order.

The electronic suite will include PASC slip-assist clutch and quickshifter (both up and down), ride-by-wire throttle, four-riding modes (sport, street, rain and track), switchable ABS (with Supermoto mode), traction control, cornering ABS, Motor Slip Regulation (MSR) and wheelie control. Supermoto mode, as on the 390 Duke, switches-off the ABS at the rear wheel. Anchoring department includes twin discs on the front wheel and a single disc at the back.

The motorcycle will use WP-sourced 43 mm upside-down forks (non-adjustable) at the front and preload adjustable monoshock at the rear to perform the shock absorption tasks. The 790 Duke will pack a full-LED headlamp, tail light and blinkers as standard. The instrument console will feature a Bluetooth enabled TFT display to control music, incoming calls and messages.