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KTM 800 Duke

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For KTM, the 2016 EICMA show is all about the Duke line of streetfighters. The KTM 1290 Super Duke R got a pretty sizable upgrade for 2017, the KTM 690 Duke received a facelift, and the KTM 390 Duke is now easily the best bike in its class.

The Austrians didn’t stop there though, they also gave us a taste of what is still to come for the Duke brand, teasing us with the KTM 790 Duke prototype.

Rumored heavily before the new bike season, this “KTM 800 Duke” features an 800cc parallel-twin engine, slapped into an upright motard-esque chassis.

The Kendo-styled LED headlight that’s finding its way into the entire KTM range features here as well, though that is hardly the most radical part of the 790 Duke’s design – checkout the undertail exhaust, which probably spit plums of fire before the lawyers got ahold of it.

EICMA is only a few days away, so it is not surprising to see some last-minute teaser campaigns popping up on the internet. We already saw one earlier today from KTM’s sister-brand, Husqvarna.

In it, the 2017 Husqvarna 401 Vitpilen was teased, which will be one of two new street models launched at EICMA, along with one concept bike.

For KTM, we expect a bevy of street models at EICMA, especially from the company’s Duke range. The Austrian brand acknowledges as much, though it is tough to tell which bike they are trying to hype in this bracket, as there are several possibilities.

Aside from Husqvarna bringing the Vitpilen & Svartpilen concepts into production, another gem to come from KTM’s investor report for 2015 is that the Austrian company is working on what it calls a revolutionary two-cylinder engine design.

KTM is surely referencing the parallel-twin project that has been spotted a few times by spy photographers (shown above, and featured after the jump), which is rumored to feature an 800cc lump.

We are not too sure what is so revolutionary about a parallel-twin power plant – my Two Enthusiasts Podcast co-host Quentin loves to go on rants about how much he hates the engine design – but what is interesting is to hear that KTM plans on using the engine as a platform for multiple models.

It looks like KTM is getting ready to add another Duke to its street bike line, as spy photos of the above machine have broken cover.

Said to be roughly 800cc in displacement, the new Duke would slot in well between the KTM 690 Duke and the KTM 1290 Super Duke R, which is a fairly obvious base to cover.

What is interesting about the KTM 800 Duke (our name, not KTM’s) though is that at the heart of the machine is a parallel-twin engine, which breaks from KTM’s general affinity for single-cylinder thumpers, and v-twin monsters.