KTM 690 Duke and 1290 Super Duke R not coming to India

This news is going to disappoint a lot of our readers, especially those who have been waiting years to own one. KTM has confirmed that it won’t launch the 690 Duke and the 1290 Super Duke R in India anytime soon. This news was confirmed to the media by Stefan Pierer, CEO of KTM, during the launch of the RC200 and the RC390.

In order to make you feel better, the reasons stated by the top honcho are actually very logical and sensible. A motorcycle like the 1290 Super Duke, which is more of a rocket on two wheels, won’t be safe for riders in India. The reason he mentioned this is because of the lack of proper infrastructure. City roads are filled with potholes and the highways are most of the time crowded by trucks and buses. Not only this, the traffic sense in the country is bad and letting the rider twist the throttle of this 180bhp machine puts him in danger. Yes, there are motorcycles in India that cross the 200bhp mark but KTM is just being responsible but that doesn’t mean Kawasaki or Yamaha aren’t. They are just taking some time to introduce these bikes and concentrate more on motorcycles that are quite practical for the country, and that’s why we have bikes like the Duke 200, Duke 390 and now, its fully-faired siblings. 

The current 690 Duke on the other hand, is expected to be replaced by a twin-cylinder engine. KTM is working on this new platform, but the time frame for the same hasn’t been disclosed as  yet. But we are expecting this new twin-cylinder engine to be shown at the EICMA 2014 that will be held in November this year.