It is no big secret now that ‘India Bike Week’ is being organised at Vagator in Goa from December 6 to December 7, 2019. At the event, the Austrian brand KTM is planning to go grand with the introduction of its 2020 lineup of motorcycles. Earlier, it was being speculated that KTM will showcase the 2020 model of the 1290 Super Duke R at this festival and now the brand has officially confirmed the same through a social media post. The brand’s social media post says – “The lean, mean and hyper naked KTM 1290 Super Duke is here at the India Bike Week, Goa on 6th-7th Dec”.
Speaking of the festival, India Bike Week is the country’s biggest motorcycle festival which will be happening in December after an intermission of 1 year. At the IBW, the KTM 1290 Super Duke R will be showcased for the first time in India.
The 2020 model of the naked streetfighter was recently unveiled at the Milan Motor Show (EICMA 2019) and as of now, the brand has no plans to bring the bike to the Indian shores any time soon but still, the model is being showcased in India as the brand is aiming at strengthening its existence in the market.
In recent times, KTM motorcycles have managed to gain an appreciation and have been known worldwide for their one-of-a-kind power-to-weight ratio and incredible handling. The 1290 Super Duke R comes packed with some really good technology that enables the riders to handle it easily on-road and also on race tracks. The streetfighter is being offered with features that include four riding modes namely Rain, Street, Sport, Track, plus it also gets lean-sensitive traction control, launch control, rear-wheel lift control, quick Shifter, and cornering ABS with Supermoto mode.
Mechanically too, there has been some re-working on the powertrain as the updated 1301cc LC8 V-twin engine is now Euro5-compliant and it also gets a new cooling mechanism. The updated engine of the 2020 model is capable to generate a maximum power of 177HP and a peak torque of 140NM. The engine is mated to a 6-speed gearbox.
It is going to be an amazing experience to witness the naked streetfighter in person although the country’s response is what counts. It will be KTM’s decision about whether it sees a promising future for the bike in India, if yes, then we can expect the bike to enter the Indian shores sometime late next year.