Don’t learn an excessive amount of into the cosmetics of this prototype KTM 390—noticed on check on the agency’s Austrian base—however should you peer beneath the lashed-together bodywork, there’s a brand-new body and suspension. We see that as proof that the agency’s growth of a future off-road-biased single-cylinder mannequin is progressing.
One of many causes that KTM favors tubular metal trellis frames over aluminum chassis is the convenience with which they are often modified. Throughout a motorbike’s growth, metal tubes could be readily reduce and welded as engineers play with a motorbike’s geometry, and for this prototype KTM hasn’t even bothered so as to add a coat of paint to the steel. A layer of floor rust won’t look fairly, however given the brief life span of a growth chassis topic to continuous updates, the additional effort for a elegant end clearly wasn’t wanted.
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It’s the identical story with the minimal bodywork, thrown collectively from parts-bin elements simply to get the prototype on the street, with a entrance fender from the agency’s Enduro vary, the headlight from a 390 Journey and an alloy gasoline tank that’s merely an oblong field. Below the engine, the alloy bash plate is an present PowerParts choice for the 390 Journey. These elements aren’t those that matter when the purpose is to develop a chassis that’s a step ahead from the present design.
The brand new body itself shares its general design with that of the next-generation 390 Duke, in addition to spinoffs together with the deliberate Husqvarna E-Pilen electrical bike and a KTM-branded E-Duke model. In comparison with the present chassis used on the 390 Duke and 390 Journey, the brand new design is a extra typical trellis design of the kind that Ducati used for many years. In the mean time, each 390 fashions have a thick higher body tube on both facet working from the swingarm pivot to the steering head, with a strengthening trellis of thinner tubing hanging beneath it. On the brand new design, there are equal-thickness higher and decrease principal tubes, with slimmer metalwork between them in a triangulated format for rigidity.
It means the trellis sections on all sides sit larger than earlier than, displaying extra of the engine and requiring a particular alloy bracket, for much longer than the one on the present fashions, to succeed in all the way down to the engine’s entrance mount. We’ve seen precisely this design on spy photos of the next-generation 125, 250, and 390 Dukes, and it appears prefer it’s being adopted for the longer term off-road fashions as nicely.
The place this machine does divert from the next-gen Duke is in its swingarm. Duke prototypes have already been seen with near-production swingarms, constructed from forged alloy with a fan-shaped design of exterior bracing on the banana-style right-hand arm, which curves over the exhaust. On this prototype, nevertheless, the swingarm appears to be machined from billet aluminum and appears to be much more curved—presumably including the bottom clearance and suspension journey wanted for an off-road machine. The exhaust additionally differs, including an additional finish can the place prototype 390 Dukes have allowed fuel to exit straight from the under-engine collector field.
If this prototype is for a future 390 Journey, it signifies that KTM is taking the bike in a extra off-road path, including 21-inch entrance and 18-inch rear tires on D.I.D DirtStar wire wheels as an alternative of the 19-inch, 17-inch alloys of the present mannequin. The identical wheel design is used on different KTMs together with the present 890 Journey R, and with each the 1290 and 890 Journey ranges that includes alloy-wheeled, road-biased fashions and wire-wheeled, R-flavor variations, it is smart that the subsequent 390 Journey lineup would possibly embrace the identical alternative. Alternatively, this prototype might result in a separate 390 Enduro mannequin, sitting beneath the 690 Enduro R within the vary as a avenue enduro with the fashion of KTM’s competitors fashions.
Both manner, the prototype is clearly nonetheless within the early levels of growth, so we’re unlikely to be taking a look at a 2023 mannequin right here. As an alternative, it’s probably that KTM’s 390 vary revamp will begin with the brand new 390 Duke for 2023, with the Journey—probably derived from this prototype—following it for the 2024 mannequin 12 months.
