KTM set to launch RC125, 200 and 390

KTM IS set to launch fully-faired variants of its Duke 125, 200 and 390, Visordown can exclusively reveal. 

The RC125, RC200 and RC390 will be unveiled at the Milan motorcycle show on November 5, sources say.

The Austrian firm was already known to be readying the road-going fully-faired RC390 after revealing a race version as the new standard bike for the ADAC Junior Cup feeder series in July.

Since the three Dukes are identical apart from engine capacity, paint and stickers, it was a small step from the RC390 to the RC125 and 200, according to sources.

The RCs will have different tanks and bodywork to the Dukes, with the same engine, frame, brakes, swingarm and forks. They will also get clip-on handlebars and rearsets for a sportier riding position.

Like the Dukes, the RCs will be identical to each other apart from engine capacity and colours.

Weights will be close to the Dukes’, which are 127kg for the 125, 129.5kg for the 200 and 139kg for the 390.

The RC125 will make a claimed 15bhp and the RC200 25bhp. The 373cc RC390 will produce 43bhp, making it the closest thing on the market to the two-stroke 250s of the Eighties and early Nineties, like the TZR250, RGV250 and KR1-S.     

As with the Duke 390, KTM are certain to introduce a slightly restricted version of the RC390 for A2 licence holders, making it an exciting offering for new riders. It will make 41.5bhp to comply with the A2 power-to-weight ratio limit of 0.26bhp per kg. 

Like the Dukes, the RCs will be built in India by Bajaj, which owns a 47% stake in KTM, Europe's biggest motorcycle manufacturer.

A source told Visordown that supermoto versions of the Dukes, with more ground clearance and suspension travel, would also follow but not until 2015.