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FUTURE DUKE: KTM could build a larger 250cc to 300cc Duke
A cracking new 250cc or 300cc KTM Duke is planned to follow in the tracks of the 125 Duke which was shown to the public for the first time at the Intermot Show in October 2010. The larger capacity Duke could be ready as early as 2012, according to Cycle News journalist Alan Catchcart.
In an interview with Catchcart, KTM president Stefan Pierer confessed that “the biggest single challenge for today’s motorcycle manufacturers (is), how can we direct our future products towards a younger customer?”
With that in mind the company has decided to start working on a 250cc up to 300cc single-cylinder engine which will have four valves with twin overhead camshafts.
“This has more or less the same external dimensions so we can install it in the existing 125 Duke model platform, and thus be able to offer the level up in the model ladder to our customer as he gains experience,” KTM president Stefan Pierer told Catchcart.
“The 250/300 will come around 18 months after the 125 Duke. And the same concept we are doing on the 125/250 I later want to do in the 400cc and 600cc categories, too, as our younger customers and those in emerging markets move up the displacement ladder,” Pierer continued.
Upgrading the existing 125 Duke to a 250 capacity is a reasonably easy task. “We’ll only have to change the header pipe and maybe the throttle body to install the bigger motor, either as a kit or a straight engine swap,” Robert Prielinger from KTM’s R&D department told Cathcart.
In an interview with Catchcart, KTM president Stefan Pierer confessed that “the biggest single challenge for today’s motorcycle manufacturers (is), how can we direct our future products towards a younger customer?”
With that in mind the company has decided to start working on a 250cc up to 300cc single-cylinder engine which will have four valves with twin overhead camshafts.
“This has more or less the same external dimensions so we can install it in the existing 125 Duke model platform, and thus be able to offer the level up in the model ladder to our customer as he gains experience,” KTM president Stefan Pierer told Catchcart.
“The 250/300 will come around 18 months after the 125 Duke. And the same concept we are doing on the 125/250 I later want to do in the 400cc and 600cc categories, too, as our younger customers and those in emerging markets move up the displacement ladder,” Pierer continued.
Upgrading the existing 125 Duke to a 250 capacity is a reasonably easy task. “We’ll only have to change the header pipe and maybe the throttle body to install the bigger motor, either as a kit or a straight engine swap,” Robert Prielinger from KTM’s R&D department told Cathcart.
