New twin-cylinder sports bikes announced: KTM is working on more RC models

The year is 2003: at the Tokyo Motor Show, KTM unveiled the RC8, a superbike prototype that was due to go into production some five years later. It was a flagship model – the icing on the cake of the Austrian manufacturer’s V-twin road bike range, which was still relatively new at the time. When production of the RC8 ceased in 2015, the Innviert-based manufacturer went a decade without a twin-cylinder sports bike – the RC390 and RC125 were in a different segment and intended for other markets. It was the 990 RC R that put the brand back on the map in the supersport segment – a project reportedly initiated by a group of engineers in their spare time. It was a project crowned with success, as the 990 RC R is now firmly established on the market, and the ‘Track’ variant – which is not road-legal – and the associated cup series are also part of the Mattighofen range.

The Austrians intend to develop a whole RC family from this in the medium term, as KTM CEO Gottfried Neumeister recently revealed in a company blog. Neumeister told Adam Wheeler: “We want to expand our RC supersport range. The 990 was the first in the line-up, and we’ll also be offering a 790 and a 490.” SPEEDWEEK.com had already shown an early prototype of the future 790 RC during test rides in July – a supersport bike based on the latest generation of the 790 Duke. The 490 RC will be closely related to the 490 Duke, which will be the first model in a new in-line twin-cylinder family at the end of 2027. The 490 Duke was also recently featured on SPEEDWEEK.com.

Vorbote: Ein früher Testträger der kommenden 790 RC R auf Erprobungsfahrt

Foto: BMHoehne

The growing importance of supersport bikes

The supersport segment is becoming increasingly important: alongside Aprilia’s RS 660, which marked the brand’s entry into the segment in 2020, the Noale-based manufacturer followed up three years later with the RS 457 for the A2 segment. Yamaha competes in the sports segment with a wide range of models, including the R9, R7 and R3, and BMW is also rumoured to be launching two mid-range sports bikes with in-line twins: An F450 RR is reportedly in the pipeline, as is a sports bike based on the future mid-range family positioned between the F450 and F900. At the top of the Bavarian manufacturer’s range sits the M1000RR with a 1,000cc four-cylinder engine from the Superbike series.

At KTM, the RC models are intended to emphasise the link to the company’s own MotoGP programme; this is likely to apply to the 790 RC and 490 RC as well: “The benefits of MotoGP (for our road bike range) are now clearer than they were back when we didn’t have a fully faired motorbike in our range.” The press release for the 990 RC R demonstrates just how important this model is to the Mattighofen-based manufacturer: described as ‘supersport-oriented’, it is KTM’s ‘flagship’.

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