KTM’s 2024 990 Duke publicity photos show a test rider doing burnouts, wheelies and riding knee-down in what appears to be an abandoned parking lot. After riding this machine, I get it. The power, agility, and maneuverability combine to create a bike that’s easy to ride and encourages the rider to explore its performance boundaries. That’s a polite way of saying that it makes its rider want to do burnouts, wheelies and ride knee-down all the time, under any and all circumstances. Any bike that can make me want to act like that is more than OK in my book.

KTM 990 Duke Technical Specifications

KTM’s LC8c Parallel-Twin, four-stroke, four-valve DOHC engine powers the 990 Duke. A 92.5mm x 70.4mm bore and stroke gives the bike a 946cc displacement, a claimed 121.36 bhp at 9,500 rpm and 76.0 lbs.-ft. of torque at 6,750 rpm. New cams with more aggressive profiles and longer valve openings, plus a new exhaust system, bump up the power. The assisted slipper clutch operates with clutchless up- and down-shifting as an option.

Suspension is via WP Apex 3343 inverted front forks with 43mm tubes, and a WP Apex 3146 rear monoshock. The front forks have five clicks of rebound and compression damping, each representing a fairly significant change, and the shock has a new linear-rate spring, five clicks of rebound adjustment, and six spring preload settings.

A pair 300mm discs and four-piston radial-mount calipers handling braking at the front, and a single 240mm disc and single-piston caliper are at the rear. The steel-tube trellis frame is all-new with a gravity-die-cast alumium-alloy swingarm. The aluminum-alloy wheels carry Bridgestone Battlax S22 radials, 120/70R-17 in the front, 180/55R-17 in the rear.

The rider gets five riding modes – Rain, Street, Sport, Performance and Track. Traction control and wheelie control come standard; an enhanced wheelie control and electronic rear slip management system and electronic launch control are optional. The ABS can be switched off at the rear. Ready to ride, the bike weighs in at 424 pounds, and suggested retail price in the U.S.A. is $12,499.

Riding The KTM 990 Duke On The Street

On the street, the bike remains just as friendly as the smaller 790 Duke. The seat is narrow at the front and makes it easier for shorter riders to reach the ground. The throttle response is quick but not overly so and can be easily adjusted. The clutch pull is light, the brake response immediate. The seating position is standard-aggressive, somehow managing to combine a racer crouch, comfort, and legroom into a nicely managed compromise.

The torque and power are just like the 790, except there’s more of both, and it’s pretty much everywhere. It’s like someone took a 790 dyno graph and just moved the whole line up! The 990 has 18 more horsepower and 11 more lbs.-ft of torque, bumping up the throttle fun factor.

The suspension feels more controlled and still absorbs street irregularities. Brakes can handle anything a rider should be doing on the street, and the clutchless shifting feels immediate and direct. It’s a bike built to ride, not just cruise, and the Duke allows the rider to feel and enjoy everything about the ride.

Riding The KTM 990 Duke On The Track

A morning at the tight Streets of Willow course at Willow Springs International Raceway on the 990 Duke, during one of Compact Octane’s small-displacement, non-supersport track day, demonstrated what a difference power and torque can make in changing the riding experience.

Smaller Dukes are amazing on corner entry, with the upright seating position, relatively light weight, and easy-to-manage power making them incredibly precise on tip-in. The 990 requires the rider to be a little more deliberate in this phase of the corner to get the bike exactly where they want it and to full lean angle quickly.

But the extra torque, backed up by the electronic safety net of slip control and traction control, gets the bike out of the corner more quickly. So the focus shifts from entry and lean angle to exit and drive, which the 990 Duke does very well for a wide variety of riders.

Exactly as it comes out of the showroom, with the stock Bridgestone Battlax S22 radials, the 990 Duke is good for a full day of track-day fun, with only some pumping at the rear when on the power, over bumps. It’s easy to ride and it’s easy to enjoy its ample performance capabilities. That makes for a rewarding experience, on street or track.

Look for a full review in an upcoming issue of Roadracing World magazine!