Headquartered out of Bottrop, BRABUS is an elite German tuning company best known for its ultra-premium takes on the Mercedes G-Wagon. And while BRABUS already boasts a wide range of insanely-luxurious automotive offerings, the famed tuning brand has now announced that, for the first time in its 45-year history, it will be offering a bespoke motorcycle with the BRABUS 1300 R.
Built entirely by hand in extremely limited numbers, the BRABUS 1300 R is based on KTM’s new 1290 Super Duke EVO, though the naked superbike has been treated to a host of major modifications and upgrades. This includes a new circular headlight design set in a carbon fiber shroud and a set of carbon fiber intake ducts with built-in aerodynamic winglets replacing the donor bike’s angular front tank shrouds. The standard tail section has also been jettisoned in favor of a waspish carbon fiber mono-posto item with BRABUS’ signature stitch pattern and a BRABUS badge adorning the seat. In addition to being thicker than the stock seat — and slightly lower at 33.2” — the 1300 R’s saddle is also heated and set atop a custom composite subframe. As one would imagine, the 1300 R’s running gear is all top-shelf equipment, with Platinum Edition 17” nine-spoke forged monoblock Z wheels, WP APEX suspension with electronically-controlled damping fore and aft, and a set of Brembo Stylema four-pot monoblock calipers equipped with a carbon fiber cooling duct.
Interestingly, unlike with most BRABUS SUVs, the 1300 R’s engine goes almost entirely unchanged, with the liquid-cooled 1,301cc V-Twin putting down the same 180hp and 103ft-lbs of torque as the donor. The 1300 R also retains the donor’s PASC slipper clutch and PANKL transmission, though it receives a matte black ceramic-coated dual-can exhaust. Other noteworthy tweaks to the EVO-spec Duke include a carbon fiber trim package decorating the KTM’s stock tank cover, a state-of-the-art electronics package controlled via a 5” TFT display, CNC-machined adjustable levers, a bespoke triple tree design, bespoke CNC-machined BRABUS-logoed reservoir caps, circular drop-down bar-end mirrors, a carbon fiber clutch cover, and BRABUS-branded adjustable CNC-milled aluminum footpegs from fellow German outfit Gilles Tooling.
Available in Magma Red or Signature Black livery options, the KTM-based 2022 Brabus 1300 R will be limited to just 77 units of each color worldwide — with the production number being a nod to the year BRABUS was founded — and is priced at €51,466 (~$58,172).
