Photo: Facebook
A spy photo of the upcoming KTM 390 Duke surfaced recently and it reveals that Mattighofen has been rather busy updating one of their best-selling machines. This photo is rather teasing the new bike and makes us quite curious to find out how the new 390 Duke looks in its entirety.
There are several things that captured our attention in the first place, with the all-new, split headlight being probably the one detail that is observed right away. Entirely coherent with the new, edgy prongs of the upper fairing, this detail leaves us puzzled, as we're not sure if we love it or hate it. It certainly makes the 390 Duke look very aggressive, but we'll make a final call when we see the entire bike.
Next are the upper fairing side elements we already mentioned, a clear indication that KTM is trying to perfect a Duke-specific design language, and this is an aspect we totally love.
Having machines in the same family sporting elements that are common to all elements will make the brand more easily recognizable, and this helps the "mojo" quite a lot. Both owners and riders who think about buying a Duke will thus have one more way to identify in the sea of motorcyclists, and this was already proven as a smart marketing move.
Finally, another significant detail of the 2017 KTM 390 Duke is the rear subframe, which is a separate piece now, bolted onto tubular steel trellis chassis that appears to have remained untouched. KTM also kept the wheels orange, while the swingarm appears to be the same as the one used in the previous generation.
We can hope that KTM also updated the dashboard to a more functional and pleasant looking one, but to verify this we'll have to wait for more photos of the new 390 Duke. Anyway, the new naked machine seems ready to tackle the road, so we should get ready to see it launched soon, with appearances in Europe at Intermot and EICMA in 2016.
Next are the upper fairing side elements we already mentioned, a clear indication that KTM is trying to perfect a Duke-specific design language, and this is an aspect we totally love.
Having machines in the same family sporting elements that are common to all elements will make the brand more easily recognizable, and this helps the "mojo" quite a lot. Both owners and riders who think about buying a Duke will thus have one more way to identify in the sea of motorcyclists, and this was already proven as a smart marketing move.
Finally, another significant detail of the 2017 KTM 390 Duke is the rear subframe, which is a separate piece now, bolted onto tubular steel trellis chassis that appears to have remained untouched. KTM also kept the wheels orange, while the swingarm appears to be the same as the one used in the previous generation.
We can hope that KTM also updated the dashboard to a more functional and pleasant looking one, but to verify this we'll have to wait for more photos of the new 390 Duke. Anyway, the new naked machine seems ready to tackle the road, so we should get ready to see it launched soon, with appearances in Europe at Intermot and EICMA in 2016.
Google News