A winner in competition and successful on the two- and four-wheel ATV markets, KTM is pulling out all the stops with its first thoroughbred street- and track-bound sportbike, the 1190 RC8. With sophisticated, finely sculpted and aggressive lines, the Austrian ride bares its teeth and shows some unusual characteristics and great appeal for street and Track day users, while racers will have to go for the much quicker R version.

This machine says KTM everywhere : orange paint with black trim, angular lines everywhere, and a unique, easily recognized look. Euro design at its best.

A new engine – that owes much to its ancestor
Thanks to 149 extra cubic centimetres over the LC8 that powers the Adventure and Super Duke models, the 1148cc RC8 twin cylinder is naturally torquier, delivering 155 rear-wheel hp at 10,000 rpm and 88.5 ft-lb of torque at 8,000 rpm, which ranks it among the most potent road oriented twins on the market, but clearly less than de 185+hp from the Japanese and European super sportbikes.

The new dual-camshaft cylinder heads have been improved, particularly in terms of more resistant springs, lifters and cam followers, to better manage the titanium valves at high RPM, as the RC8 can rev 1,000 rpm higher than the Super Duke LC8. The dry sump lubrication system includes an oil tank built into the crankcase, under the front cylinder. A conventional chain drives the camshafts, rather than the chain and pinion combo of the old engine.

The transmission features stronger pinions to withstand the extra torque, and revised gear ratios makes better use of the extra 1,000 rpm and help keep the engine within its maximum torque range.

Love the efficiency and adjustability of the suspensions
The chromium-molybdenum multi-tube trellis frame weights a mere 5 kg, the height of the rear sub frame can be adjusted within a 20mm range, and the swingarm has been made flexible enough laterally to nicely absorb bumps when leaned over. The WP front fork features adjustable pre-load plus compression and rebound damping, while the rear mono shock adds high- and low-speed damping to the list of adjustments you can play, and get lost with… always according to your weight and driving style.

In the image of rest of the bike, the impressive braking system uses a master cylinder and single-piece, four-piston Brembo calipers to squeeze four brake pads per side against 320mm discs in front. The rear features a 220-mm disc with two-piston Brembo callipers.

You can adjust the RC8 in more places than every other street machine. The position of the footpegs can be changed by taking out the chromed sleeves between the footpeg assembly and the bracket, you can raise or lower the shift lever by taking out the "Allen" head nut and changing the mounting angle, and move the shifter tip forward or back according to the length of your foot along the slot on the lever.