After a period of financial struggle and uncertainty, KTM is back to normal, or as normal as it can be. Before the entire bankruptcy saga began, KTM was on its way to unveil its first supersport in years, but persistent financial woes halted the project. Now that the Indian Motorcycle brand – Bajaj, has offered to buy out KTM from the financial scuffle, the Project for a full-blown KTM supersports project was resumed.
KTM finally unveiled – one of their most anticipated project in a while, the 990RC R. Marking KTM’s return to making fully faired bikes nearly a decade since the KTM RC8 – The 990RC R shares the same engine as KTM’s supernaked Duke 990, but with necessary changes, of course.
The 990RC R is a welcome surprise from the Austrian brand, due to a long-standing philosophical rule set by KTM’s then CEO, Stefan Pierer, who was of the opinion that any motorcycle producing upwards of 200hp was unnecessary and unsafe. He argued KTM’s efforts will be better spent if they focus on lightweight naked streetfighters and track-only models. Hence, KTM rarely dabbled in producing a supersports with credible power figures to go up against the competition.
Well, there was the 1190 RC8, which was on sale between 2008 and 2015 when KTM discontinued it, and KTM had a few track-only specials to commemorate their Moto 2 and MotoGP endeavours, and even those weren’t exactly full-fledged KTMs; those specials were just Kramer drapped with KTM colours. So, a proper KTM Supersport is special.
Powering the KTM 990RC R is the 947cc LC8c Parallel-twin engine, the same unit seen in the already on sale Duke 990. The engine and gearbox stay fairly identical; the differences lie in the revamped ECU, a new airbox, and a stainless steel exhaust system, all of which account for slightly more power compared to the Duke at 128 HP and a better top end. The engine is mated to a 6-speed gearbox with a choice of either a standard shifter or a GP-style shifter.
Suspension duties are handled by KTM’s in-house suspension division WP, which offers fully adjustable capabilities for the riders to fine-tune their preferred ride configuration. Braking is handled by Brembo HyPure callipers clamped to a 320 mm disc at the front and a 240mm disc at the rear. The Body of the KTM 990RC R is draped in MotoGP-inspired fairing and winglets, developed in tandem with KTM’s motorsports department.
To help the riders keep the 990RC R on the road, KTM offers a plethora of riding aids extracting data from a six-axis IMU, such as four ABS settings: Street, Sport, Supermoto, and Supermoto+. Traction control with lean angle support and wheelie angle. If Rider chooses to have more control over the electronic settings, KTM offers them two different packages: the Track and Tech package, which allows the rider to tweak the settings on the bike beyond the standard options offered from the factory.
The deliveries for the production-ready model shall commence from mid-November 2025 for Europe and North America.
