KTM’s swashbuckling Duke 200 has to be one of the most awaited launches in the Indian motorcycle arena. The Duke was earlier scheduled for a 4th January launch, preferably at the Auto Expo in New Delhi but the Austrian brand pulled out and chose to postpone the launch to January-end.
Here in India, KTM will be backed by the sales and service might of the home-grown giant, Bajaj. To make way for the all-new Duke, a few Probiking outlets have already been converted to KTM showrooms. With an exposed trellis frame, meaty tyres, upside-down forks, an almost non-existent underslung exhaust and streetfighter bodywork - the Duke 200, unmistakably, is a KTM. This supermoto-like machine shouts aggression from every inch of its bodywork. The eyeball grabbing bit is the snazzy black and orange paint scheme – a KTM trademark.
The Duke comes with a single-cylinder, 200cc engine. This 4-stroke unit is fairly modern; featuring fuel-injection and four valves per cylinder. It churns out 25bhp of power @10,000rpm and 1.99kgm of torque@ 8000rpm. But here’s the best bit – the featherlite Duke weighs just 137kgs (much less than its rivals) so we expect it go like stink. KTM claims a 0-60km/h time of 3.33 seconds which is quite impressive. No word on the prices yet though we expect a competitive price-tag of under Rs 1.5 Lakh for this orange monster. The launch date, 24th January i.e. is not too far off now and all we have to say is- we cannot wait for this one!
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