KTM Duke 790 Adventure headed to India this year?

KTM Dealers around India are already taking bookings for the Duke 790, a twin cylinder engined sports-naked that the Austrian brand wants to launch soon. What KTM could also launch this year is the ADV version of the Duke 790, which is called the Duke 790 Adventure. The motorcycle could follow the Duke 790 into India, and be KTM’s flagship offering. The motorcycle, according to Overdrive, could be launched during this year’s festive season. The report also goes on to state that the Duke 390 ADV, which has been spotted testing numerous times on Indian roads over the last few months, could take a back seat for now.

The KTM Duke 790 Adventure shares its engine and gearbox with the street naked Duke 790 but gets a range of changes to make it more suitable for long distance riding, including forays off the road. First, let’s look at the engine  details. The motorcycle is powered by a LC8c 799cc parallel-twin liquid-cooled engine with four valve heads, twin  overhead camshafts and fuel injection as standard. This motor puts out 95 PS of peak power and 88 Nm of peak torque. A 6 speed manual gearbox with slipper clutch comes standard with this engine. The chassis of the Duke 790 Adventure holds the engine, with the latter being a stressed member of the overall motorcycle frame.

The differences between the KTM Duke 790 and 790 Adventure lie in the styling, suspension and features. The KTM 790 Adventure gets high travel suspension, with 43mm WP upside-down forks up front offering 200 mm of travel. At the rear, the suspension is also a WP item, but a monoshock in this case, with a 200 mm travel. The high travel of the  suspension is meant to make the bike take on tough terrain with ease while offering a good ride quality to the rider.  As for features, the motorcycle gets cornering ABS, off-road ABS, traction control, rally mode and even cruise  control.

These features are meant to not just make the motorcycle safe across varied terrain, but also make the ride stress  free on longer distances, where a feature like cruise control can greatly reduce rider fatigue. The motorcycle is  expected to compete with the likes of the Kawasaki Ninja 650 and the Suzuki V-Strom 650 in India’s mid-segment  adventure motorcycle space on the lower end, and the Triumph Tiger 800 and the Ducati Multistrada on the higher end. KTM is expected to bring the 790 Adventure into India through the completely knocked down (CKD) kit route, with assembly happening at Bajaj Auto’s Chakan factory.

This is a similar approach KTM is likely to adopt with the Duke 790. Both motorcycles will have higher local content  going forward, and this is what could result in super competitive pricing. KTM has always been known for pricing its  motorcycles very competitively, and we expect this character to be carried over to the Adventure 790 as well. Expect  an ex-showroom price of about Rs. 8.5 lakhs for the KTM Adventure 790. At this price tag, the Adventure 790 will sit  right in between the Versys/V-Strom and Tiger/Multistrada.