KTM AMT Automatic Gearbox Officially Revealed

Joning the likes of BMW, Honda, and Yamaha, the Austrian manufacturer KTM has announced its first alternative gearbox system, aptly named KTM AMT.

Standing for Automated Manual Transmission, the KTM system is a bit of an outlier in the burgeoning segment, offering riders a wider variety of shifting methods, including via a traditional footpeg-mounted lever. The move to retain the lever of the bike is to retain the bike’s “sporty credentials”, according to KTM, while “achieving refined usability”.

While this is the first official technical announcement about KTM’s AMT, it’s not the first time we’ve seen the system - or a bike equipped with it, anyway. Earlier this year Johnny Aubert steered a prototype version of a Super Adventure R that was fitted with the AMT in the gruelling Red Bull Erzbergrodeo. 

KTM’s system is another that fulfils the desire to allow a bike to shift its gears manually or automatically in the most cost-effective, simple, and reliable manner. Riders can choose from fully automated shifting removing the need to use the clutch or gear lever, semi-automated shifts using the paddles on the left handlebar or manual gear shifts using the traditional gear lever mounted on the footpeg. This versatility could be one of the big bonuses for riders who choose the KTM system over the other options from BMW, Honda, and Yamaha.

Automatic and semi-automatic shifting is achieved thanks to an electromechanical shift actuator, which turns the shift drum and is connected to the bike’s ECU, and Transmission Control Unit (TCU), as well as the quickshifter of the bike. Drive is initiated in the first instance thanks to a centrifugal clutch, which engages drive to the rear wheel when the engine revs reach a predetermined speed. The use of the centrifugal clutch has a number of benefits, including but not limited to creating a bike that is impossible to stall, as the clutch will step in before the engine revs get low enough to stop the engine.

Like the Yamaha Y-AMT we reviewed last month, the KTM transmission features a non-standard gear run that is ordered P-N-1-2-3-4-5-6. ‘P’ at the beginning of the run is Park, and it locks the bike in gear thanks to a pawl within the gearbox meshing with the gear.

Explaining the setup further, the press release from KTM states that both ‘P’ and ‘N’ can only be selected via the paddles on the handlebar, regardless of whether the engine is running or not. While we appreciate that’s a neat security feature, as without a clutch you can’t easily push the bike away while the pawl is engaged, it does beg the question as to how you are supposed to move the bike around manually should the battery die or be disconnected. It’s also not clear as to how you can bump start the bike, although that is also a conundrum on all automatic gearbox bikes and cars.

If the rider is shifting in the automatic mode, the bike’s ECU and TCU will work together to deliver the gear shifts in line with the riding mode the bike is in. There are no further details on the shifting schedules specifically, although we assume the Sport riding mode will feature more aggressive shifts (holding gears for longer and downshifting more forcefully), while rain mode will likely be much more gentle.

More information will be coming on the system in the coming weeks, along with which bike will first gain the technology. We can’t confirm which model that will be just yet, but as it’s already been seen in use at the hands of the aforementioned Johnny Aubert, an AMT version of the incoming 1390 Super Adventure is a very safe bet.

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