In 2008 Austrian marque KTM introduced the motorcycling world to its then-all-new 990 SMT model. Short for 990 SuperMoto Touring, the bike took two of the brand’s areas of expertise and applied them to the creation of a single motorcycle. After five years in production, the company pulled the plug on the 990 SMT in 2013, since which time the SMT spec has been absent from the Ready To Race brand’s lineup. Fast forward to today, however, and after a decade-long hiatus, it has once again introduced an all-new SuperMoto Tourer with the KTM 890 SMT.
Like the model’s monicker suggests, the latest SMT bike is a high-performance supermoto with turnkey touring capabilities straight off the showroom floor — not unlike Ducati’s Hyperstrada. Best described as a high-performance road-going all-arounder, the 890 SMT is built atop KTM’s existing 890 platform and sports a similar aesthetic design to the 890 ADV R, with some minor influence from the 890 Duke R as well. Details on the SMT-spec 890 include fork guards, a high-mount MX/ADV-style exhaust, a redesigned seat, a truncated windscreen, and a high-mount MX-style front fender positioned above a supplementary tire hugger. Changes to the platform such as a stretched swing-arm, a reconfigured rear mono-shock angle, and more compact overall geometry together result in a more aggressive, attack-ready position for the rider.
At the heart of the bike is the same liquid-cooled 889cc LC8c parallel twin found in the rest of KTM’s 890 lineup, though this version of the LC8c has been tuned to make 105hp and 73.75ft-lbs of torque. Unsurprisingly, this new long-range-capable SuMo sports markedly tighter suspension than its Adventure bike counterpart, with sport-focused WP APEX units fore and aft, both affording an even seven inches of travel. Fitted with Michelin PowerGP tires as standard, the 890 SMT also shares its 17” alloy wheels with the 890 Duke R. To introduce the new bike, KTM has also tapped AMA Superbike and Supermoto racer Chris Fillmore — who has previously set records at Pikes Peak aboard KTM’s 790 and 1290 Super Duke R models — to put the latest SMT through its paces on a picturesque mountain in Sardinia.
Available for order now, the 2023 KTM 890 SMT has been priced starting at £12,499 (~ $15,620). Sadly, the 890 SuperMoto Touring won’t be offered in North America — at least not for the 2023 model year, though this may change in the future.
