Ssupermoto means: belly in, elbows out, attack. Slim figure, light weight and hard performance serve to assertiveness in the discipline of corner whetting. You sit like on a piece of gymnastics equipment, your buttocks on a one-piece bench, feeling like you’re on the front wheel with the wide handlebars in front of you. Roeh! brooooh!
Touring is rather the opposite: aiming steadily at a distance, enjoying comfort, taking your time, possibly contemplating the landscape, celebrating being on the move without wanting to dissect every curve. Bringing two such different worlds together is like trying to square the roundabout.
KTM does it anyway. 890 SMT is the name of the result, which goes on sale for 14,500 euros and threw all expectations overboard a few days ago during our first test drive. Attuned by pithy announcements, misled by the shrill robe typical of KTM, we had braced ourselves for a nervous, pointedly designed rowdy vehicle with painstakingly added pseudo-travel suitability.
The master of the asphalt
Not even close. As it turned out over the course of 250 kilometers, the SMT is indeed a curve wuss with no respect for anything, but at the same time a touring and everyday motorcycle with serious uses.
Remarkably, KTM (company motto “Ready to Race”) does not emphasize this pleasant aspect, but downplays it, attesting the 890 SMT only “a hint” of touring. That’s a huge understatement, probably because a KTM in general and a Supermoto in particular has to have a radical image and shouldn’t be overly associated with rational or practical considerations.
The Austrians already had an SMT model in their range from 2009, back then as the 990. It soon no longer suited the times and was taken off the market in 2013, but now the KTM strategists think they see a new opportunity in the gap between their travel enduros from the Adventure series and the pure street machines from the Duke family. KTM, never at a loss for catchy formulations, speaks of the “Master of Asphalt”.
driving report
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KTM 890 SMT
The technical basis of the supermoto tourer is the 890 Adventure R travel enduro, which is strongly geared towards off-roading. It adopts the engine, frame, swing arm and many other components one-to-one. The most striking differences are the reduced spring travel – still generously dimensioned at 180 mm – as well as the 17-inch street-sized wheels with Michelin Power GP tires, which gave a presentation on our tour as the “Master of Grip”.
The 889 cc in-line two-cylinder engine, the latest generation of the LC8c, delivers 105 hp at 8000 rpm and 100 Nm at 6500 rpm. That’s more than enough, anytime, anywhere. Liveliness and revving power will not surprise anyone who knows this engine, but perhaps its elasticity and torque. It doesn’t spur you on all the time, leaves you alone if you want, has enough momentum to pull out of the hairpin, forgive carelessness in gear selection, roll quietly through town and generally cultivate an enjoyable civil driving style. But it can also be different: Rööh! brooooh!