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SuperDuke

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KTM continues to be the harlot of the motorcycle industry, as the Austrian company has again spread its legs open for our ever-growing two-wheeled lust — this time in the form of the 2013 KTM 1190 Super Duke. Some more “spy photo” nonsense, the KTM 1190 Super Duke is seen here in its unfinished prototype form, though we certainly won’t have to wait long before the bike’s official unveiling in a few weeks at INTERMOT.

Expected to get a de-tuned version of the KTM 1190 RC8 R motor, one can likely expect that KTM 1190 Super Duke to share its engine with the already leaked and debuted KTM 1190 Adventure. If that is the case, expect a torquey 147hp machine that should slot in nicely with competitors like the Ducati Streetfighter and Aprilia Tuono V4 R.

A two-wheeled speeding ticket made in Austria, I’m still bitter that the 2012 KTM 690 Duke isn’t coming to American soil. With all the dressings of a bare-knuckled hooligan machine for the street, the new Duke will surely live up to its heritage of angering elderly women, but a German company has thought up a more refined role for the big-displacement thumper. Adopting the bike into a more superbike trim, German suspension tuners Mototech have created what they call the KTM RC4 690R…and I like it.

We’ve seen KTM Supermono’s before, with perhaps one of the best examples coming from some KTM engineers who built a SuperDuke 690 sport bike on their own time. Don’t let those words discourage you from Mototech’s work though, as the team’s RC4 690R looks like it rolled out of the KTM factory floor this morning. You’ll either love or hate the dual-projector headlight setup, while the tail section remains very true to the lines of the original Duke 690. Everyone will be a fan of the 125kg (275 lbs) quoted weight figure