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KTM 990 SUPERMOTO T

Mark Hoyer

SUPERMOTO HAS BEEN A bit of an empty promise over the years, both in terms of the converted dirtbikes racing on asphalt and with the large street-bikes inspired by them. Don’t get me wrong, the racing is great and the bikes are a lot of fun. But neither has really attracted crowds to the racetrack or showroom. At least in America.

Europe has always gotten the idea better than we have. And Austria’s KTM, with its dirtbike roots and strong push into the street market, has built some pretty fun monster motarás, notably the 2006 950 Supermoto. Awesome bike, but sales were not strong and the 950 was dropped from the U.S. lineup.

Europe, though, has seen a continual evolution of the twin-cylinder KTM Supermoto line, with the natural progression to the 990 EFI version shown here. The 2009 Supermoto T (for touring) I recently rode in Austria is the latest bike to join the SM family.

Widely distributed throughout the KTM line, the 75degree, 999cc V-Twin in this role is as snappy as ever. In fact, the light-flywheel engine response, while a lot of fun for tearing out of the Alpine curves we were riding, did make the bike feel a bit edgy. Less-than-perfect EFI mapping at small throttle openings exaggerated the effect, and slightly excessive driveline lash aáded to the unrefined feeling. When I was on the throttle hard, neither the lash nor the fueling was an issue, and the bike felt every bit of its claimed 114 hp and 72 ft.-lb. of torque. It does make for fun “aggressive touring,” if you will.

Throwing a leg over the 33.7-inch-tall seat is best accomplished with some inseam on your side. I’m 6-foot-2, so once settled in, I found footpegs and grips were comfortably placed and the reach to the ground not unreasonable. Wind protection is decent, and the seat is excellent.

The accessory bags weren’t fitted to our testbike, but with those in place, it would be easy to envision long riding days, due to the comfort proviáed by the cockpit.

All the better if those long days are on a winding road. The first few miles of hard cornering revealed a surprising degree of fore-and-aft chassis pitch, and deep lean in bumpy turns gave an unsettleá feeling. Turns out the 48mm inverted WP fork and single WP shock give a mighty wide range of damping adjustment-30 clicks for rebound and compressionand the bike was set up on the very soft side. A quick inspection at my first stop showed 20 clicks out from full stiff. KTM recommends just five clicks out for fullsport-mode riding, and it made all the difference in the world for this claimed 432-pound machine. Suspension tightened up thusly, ride quality remained decent and chassis control was tops.

KTM chose not to import the Supermoto T this past year but it appears to be on the list for 2010. The SM-T incorporates some very road-friendly, utilityoriented qualities-such as longer-travel suspension, increased wind protection and a touring-oriented riding position-in a fundamentally sporty platform. The “Supermoto” name may not communicate well to American buyers what this bike is about, but the riding experience will.

A Supermoto with optional saddlebags doesn't seem to make much sense, but this unlikely combination of elements shows its appeal on the road."