Is There Room in the Lineup?
KTM has its new 790 parallel twin engine that it’s putting in bikes. The company has also said it’s working on a 500cc engine, but now it seems there could be an 890cc engine joining the KTM ranks. According to Asphalt and Rubber, KTM might use the 790 engine and bump up the displacement thanks to a larger bore and longer stroke inside the crankcase.
Having said that, it would more or less be the same engine just with some additional displacement, making room for more power. What KTM will use that extra power for is, at this point, still up in the air. Asphalt and Rubber speculates it could be for an SMT model to compete directly with the Ducati Hypermotard 950.
Another option for the Austrian motorcycle manufacturer is to just hit all areas of the middleweight category by offering the higher displacement engine in a variety of models. The company has expressed interest in really focusing on the middleweight segment of the market, and adding an engine with a bit more power than the 790 currently makes would be a way to cover all of its bases.
If it doesn’t cost too much to produce the engine it could be sold as a performance upgrade for bikes that people are already considering. Because the engine is essentially the same as the 790 this could be possible. The only question then is how much more would it cost and will people justify spending the extra money. If the pricing is too close to the 790 I’d think people would just never buy the 790. If it’s too high nobody will buy it and just stick with the 790.
