BALANCE OF POWER

I rode KTM’s 790 Duke in Spain on the launch of Metzeler’s M9 RR round black things earlier this year and, despite being released in 2017 and hearing how much fun the parallel-twin 790 was, I was a KTM Duke virgin when I took to the Ascari circuit. At the same event, I sampled all sorts of razor-sharp weaponry from Suzuki’s current GSX-R1000, BMW S1000R and RR, Kawasaki’s ZX-6R and even KTM’s big-mumma 1290 Super Duke R – all before I threw a leg over the 790. But when I did, I fell instantly and insanely in love with it.

I don’t know if I was faster around the Ascari circuit on the 790, but I felt faster, I seemed to round up other riders quicker and its loose, seat-of-the-pants nature made for a spectacular ‘back it in, slap ya knee on the deck, shove it up the inside’ lap. Despite always wanting the biggest crankiest high-capacity monster I could get, the 790 was the first