Middleweight naked motorcycles represent a balance of performance and practicality—the 2020 KTM 890 Duke R and 2020 Triumph Street Triple RS are prime examples. We put them to the test on the track and street.
It’s hard to recall the exact moment when it happened, but somewhere between burning knee pucks through Chuckwalla Valley Raceway’s 70 mph bowl turn, with Senior Editor Adam Waheed flanking me, and exiting Turn 16 in a crossed-up wheelie, disbelief set in that these are the same motorcycles on the same tires we’d used to cover hundreds of miles on the street riding from the Cycle World office to the racetrack the day before. Long hours in relative comfort, countless black lines painted on winding back roads, endless entertainment, and an average of 37 mpg between the two are a testament to the Triumph Street Triple RS’s and KTM 890 Duke R’s balance of performance, fun, and practicality.
Outright performance and practicality are cool, but, like you, we’re mostly here for the good times. And we get a lot of that, thanks to the broad aim of both these bikes. Their design philosophies hearken back to the fabled Universal Japanese Motorcycle, except they come equipped with advanced rider-aid electronics, relentless engine performance, top-shelf components from excellent suppliers, and some of the most impressive production tire technology ever offered.
But what’s particularly interesting here is that these two machines conquer similar goals in very different ways...
Read the full test here: https://www.cycleworld.com/story/motorcycle-reviews/2020-ktm-890-duke-r-vs-2020-triumph-street-triple-rs-comparison/
Read more from Cycle World: https://www.cycleworld.com/
Buy Cycle World Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cycleworld
It’s hard to recall the exact moment when it happened, but somewhere between burning knee pucks through Chuckwalla Valley Raceway’s 70 mph bowl turn, with Senior Editor Adam Waheed flanking me, and exiting Turn 16 in a crossed-up wheelie, disbelief set in that these are the same motorcycles on the same tires we’d used to cover hundreds of miles on the street riding from the Cycle World office to the racetrack the day before. Long hours in relative comfort, countless black lines painted on winding back roads, endless entertainment, and an average of 37 mpg between the two are a testament to the Triumph Street Triple RS’s and KTM 890 Duke R’s balance of performance, fun, and practicality.
Outright performance and practicality are cool, but, like you, we’re mostly here for the good times. And we get a lot of that, thanks to the broad aim of both these bikes. Their design philosophies hearken back to the fabled Universal Japanese Motorcycle, except they come equipped with advanced rider-aid electronics, relentless engine performance, top-shelf components from excellent suppliers, and some of the most impressive production tire technology ever offered.
But what’s particularly interesting here is that these two machines conquer similar goals in very different ways...
Read the full test here: https://www.cycleworld.com/story/motorcycle-reviews/2020-ktm-890-duke-r-vs-2020-triumph-street-triple-rs-comparison/
Read more from Cycle World: https://www.cycleworld.com/
Buy Cycle World Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cycleworld
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Today, we have two motorcycles that represent a balance of versatility and performance.
00:05 The updated 2020 Triumph Street Triple RS and the all-new 2020 KTM 890 Duke R.
00:13 Our street testing includes a ride from the Cycleworld offices over the mountains of Southern
00:18 California where we'll finish by ripping laps at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway, putting every
00:23 performance aspect of these machines under the magnifying glass.
00:27 [Music]
00:53 All right, guys.
00:54 We are back from two epic days of testing.
00:57 I got senior editor of Motorcyclists, Adam Wahid here.
01:00 Adam, those days were rad, weren't they?
01:03 Well, Michael, it's always good to twist some throttles with you and spend some time aboard
01:08 two high-performance motorcycles like the Triumph Street Triple and the KTM 890 Duke R.
01:16 Oh, for sure.
01:16 We had a blast.
01:17 And just to get right to it, man, these motorcycles, although they're in the same class and kind
01:23 of have the same goal, they're different approaches to getting there at the same time.
01:27 The Triumph, as we talked about on our test, is very well-polished.
01:30 It's been around for many, many years.
01:32 KTM is a bit newer to the class.
01:34 Obviously, it's the offspring of the 790.
01:37 And it's a little bit more rowdy and rough and tumble.
01:41 And that kind of goes along with the engine characteristics.
01:44 Obviously, one's a parallel twin and the other one's an inline triple.
01:47 And the characteristics of those motors, too, identify it.
01:51 Yeah, I mean, Triumph's been building that inline three engine for well over a decade,
01:58 14 years now, I think.
01:59 And really, when you think about it, they invented that whole inline three, modern inline
02:05 three format.
02:06 Now, a bunch of other companies in different countries are making that kind of engine configuration.
02:11 It's all really because of Triumph, because of how smooth it is, how much power it has,
02:15 per cc, the packaging of it.
02:18 And then KTM, of course, they are known for their twin cylinder engines, specifically
02:23 their V-twin engines.
02:24 But they wanted to get with the times, so they came up with the compact parallel twin,
02:29 hot-rodded it in the 890 Duke R. And here we go.
02:32 Yep, for sure.
02:33 And to get right to those power figures, the Triumph, obviously, it had a little bit more
02:37 peak power, 115.2 horsepower at 11,800 RPM, a little bit lower torque than the KTM, 56.2
02:45 foot-pounds at 9,200 RPM.
02:47 Now, that KTM, even though it has that larger capacity, just the parallel twin nature of
02:53 the bike, it made 106.1 horsepower at 9,400 RPM and 63 foot-pounds of torque.
02:59 So we have 124 cc displacement here, and you have two very different characteristics, like
03:06 we talked about.
03:07 And to take advantage of that extra peak power that the Triumph has means taking advantage
03:14 of its extra revs, the extra 2,000 RPM that the motorcycle has.
03:18 And we felt that out on the road, huh?
03:20 Yeah, I mean, that Triumph, it just has one heck of a power band.
03:24 I've always loved that inline three.
03:26 It's smooth, tons of torque, the sound on those things.
03:30 And very, very tractable, like really easy to ride.
03:33 Yeah, I mean, ever since they came in with the engine, it's been smooth, and they've
03:36 been steadily refining it, adding some displacement to it over the years.
03:40 And yeah, it's just a really polished engine.
03:45 Yet, at the same time, that 890 Duke R, that's the LC8C engine they should have came out,
03:51 they should have skipped the 790 and went right to that thing.
03:54 You know, that thing is just a powerhouse.
03:55 Yeah, it just packs a punch, doesn't it?
03:57 It's a little bit more rough and tumble, if you will, than the Triumph.
04:02 And I think you even noted for me in the story is you said that it almost feels like it wants
04:07 to explode at any RPM.
04:09 Yeah, it feels like there's race gas in the engine.
04:12 It's like, "Ahh!"
04:13 Right.
04:13 And you feel that.
04:15 Like, to me, when we're out on the road, specifically, we're out on the road, and you can kind of
04:20 be in any gear.
04:21 And you just get on the gas, and the thing lifts to the sky, and it goes somewhere.
04:25 Whereas the Triumph, kind of getting back to that extra RPM it has, you almost had to
04:29 keep it in the right gear and really be able to spin the thing out.
04:32 And it really liked faster sections of road or racetrack and be able to kind of let things
04:38 loose.
04:39 Do you agree?
04:39 Yeah, yeah, I agree.
04:40 You know, the Triumph, it's a great engine, no doubt, but it's just a little bit too conservative
04:48 for me.
04:49 You know, KTM's really upped the volume, I guess, on the performance and packing a punch
04:53 and having some character that not only is like, sounds cool and feels good, but it actually,
04:59 you know, makes it-
05:00 It goes.
05:01 Yeah, it goes.
05:01 You know?
05:02 So it's fun to ride.
05:03 It's got tons of power.
05:04 And I just really like what KTM did with the power band.
05:07 Likewise.
05:08 And it's a different take.
05:08 You know, we've been used to the midsize inline three in the Triumph for a very, very long
05:14 time now.
05:14 And it's cool to taste something different.
05:17 You don't always want to eat the same meal every day.
05:19 And that's what KTM offers with the 892 car.
05:21 Right, right.
05:21 And it's not a knock on the Triumph either.
05:24 It's just, it's like we said, it's been around for so long, it's so well polished, but it
05:30 kind of maybe lacks that charisma that the KTM has.
05:34 I wouldn't say that.
05:35 I, like the character on the Triumph is awesome.
05:38 It sounds cool, but like we just touched on it.
05:41 Just it's not as punchy in the face as the KTM.
05:44 Yeah, yeah.
05:45 You know?
05:45 For sure.
05:46 And, you know, moving along with that KTM, with that big punch and power hit that we
05:52 have, thank God we have some good electronics on that.
05:55 Like really race spec.
05:57 I'm impressed with what KTM has done.
05:59 Yeah, KTM, they fitted the 1290 Super Duke R electronics, you know, from 2020 model year,
06:04 which was a significant update for that bike.
06:07 You know, historically KTM electronics have always been not good.
06:11 Now they finally have a contemporary electronics package that allows you to ride the bike hard.
06:18 Right.
06:19 It makes me feel like with these electronics, like I say, it's race spec.
06:24 And what I mean is it's a package that allows you to extract performance out of the motorcycle
06:29 rather than feeling like you're getting held back by it.
06:32 Right?
06:32 It's not so much a safety net.
06:34 Well, exactly.
06:35 The greatest thing about the KTM electronics is just the amount of adjustability.
06:39 You know, they deem it, you know, slip control is what they're, they call it.
06:42 Their traction.
06:43 Yeah.
06:43 And you can adjust it, I think from one to eight was the...
06:46 I think it's nine.
06:47 One to nine increments.
06:48 Plus off.
06:49 And I remember when we were riding it during our first ride, you know, you really like
06:53 setting two or three and I like setting four.
06:56 On the racer.
06:57 Yeah, of course, man.
06:58 So, you know, having that adjustability in the bike to tweak it based on your skill level
07:05 or level of comfortability with wheel spin is huge.
07:10 And that was really the thing that really made me not like the Triumph was just its
07:16 basic, rudimentary electronics package where, you know, even in track mode, that thing is
07:21 just pulling back the power, pulling back the power.
07:24 The only really way you can feel the performance of the Triumph is by disabling it.
07:28 It has to be off.
07:29 When we were at the racetrack, specifically when I went out to collect data and like really
07:34 kind of get after it at the racetrack, I turned everything off.
07:37 It's the same thing.
07:38 It's interesting that this platform, this Triumph Street Triple platform has been around
07:42 for so many years and everything is very well polished and kind of feels like everything
07:47 has its place.
07:48 And then you kind of have the electronics that maybe feel a little bit aged.
07:52 They're totally feel aged.
07:54 You know, it's funny because Triumph really, to be fair, they've never really had to
07:59 come up with an electronics package because, you know, organically that engine is so easy
08:04 to ride.
08:05 You know, when you have TC off, if you spin the tire on that thing, it has a good connection
08:10 between throttle, engine and tire.
08:13 You really can kind of almost manhandle that thing without TC.
08:16 So to be fair, Triumph really never even needed to have traction control on that bike.
08:21 And, you know, for KTM to come along and really advance things, that's what's really going
08:26 to be pushing Triumph here.
08:27 And they're going to have to find a solution to that very quickly.
08:29 For sure.
08:30 For sure.
08:30 And, you know, I feel like it's such a similar, this whole comparison is such a similar aspect
08:35 because when we start talking about the chassis, it's sort of the same thing too.
08:39 Like the Triumph feels so neutrally balanced, just very well riding, not in composed, doesn't
08:46 really get upset.
08:48 And the KTM is a little bit like the motor is, like it's a little bit more rowdy.
08:53 It's agile.
08:54 I think it's 12 pounds lighter, fully fueled and you feel that and it's active.
08:58 Like it wants to change directions and do things.
09:01 But then at the same time, you're rewarded with more feel, more feel from the chassis.
09:05 What's actually happening underneath you.
09:07 Yeah.
09:07 I mean, again, Triumph, you know, great bike, but that whole chassis, it's an older chassis,
09:12 you know, where they really go down to brass tacks.
09:16 It's the same kind of chassis from the old Daytona 675, just tweaked and evolved a little
09:21 bit where KTM, they have something a little bit more unique and a little different.
09:26 And they have that high spec suspension on there.
09:29 Even the tires.
09:30 I like the Michelin tires a little bit more than the Pirelli's and I love Pirelli tires,
09:35 but, you know, I feel like Michelin did really good with their new Power Cup street tire.
09:41 And then even the ergonomics, the ergonomics on the KTM.
09:44 The KTM feels like a modern bike.
09:46 You feel your elbows are up.
09:47 You're in a very aggressive attack position, not overly so, but the Triumph just, it feels
09:53 very old school in the ergonomics package.
09:55 And you never know about this until you ride the KTM.
09:58 Oh, this is how it's supposed to be.
10:00 Yeah.
10:01 Well, you know, like the Triumph does a lot of positives.
10:04 I know that you say the chassis is old and it might be, but at the same time, where I
10:09 want to come from is like, it's a really well-balanced motorcycle.
10:13 It is.
10:13 It's composed.
10:14 It does everything really well.
10:16 If you're going to go for a long haul, you're going to go log a few hundred miles or even
10:20 maybe just ride to and from the office, your commute, I'd probably pick the Triumph.
10:25 You know, the foot pegs are a little bit lower, the bars swept back a little bit more.
10:28 So it does have that more relaxed feel and it has a softer seat too, to where it's just
10:33 a little bit more comfortable.
10:34 Like you say, the KTM is a little bit racier.
10:37 Like it has 2020 performance in mind.
10:39 Yes.
10:40 Yes.
10:40 I would agree with you completely.
10:42 You know, if I was the kind of rider who was going to do a little bit more utilitarian
10:47 style riding, you know, touring on the freeway, going from point A to point B and not so focused
10:52 on that pure sport handling experience, I could totally go with the Triumph.
10:57 No problem.
10:57 But for the times when you really want to wick it up and if you are a little bit more,
11:03 you know, experienced, high performance style rider, just the attributes that the KTM offers
11:09 are just a no brainer to me.
11:11 Totally.
11:11 And, you know, when we were at the racetrack too, just kind of those things that were put
11:15 under the microscope, it's the same thing.
11:16 Like the brakes, they're very similar components.
11:19 They both had the MCS master cylinder, which is a really neat touch that actually allows
11:23 you to adjust the feel and the throw of the lever to your liking.
11:26 I really, to have that on two relatively well-priced middleweight nakeds, that's rad.
11:32 MCS on everything.
11:33 I love that.
11:34 Yeah, I agree with that.
11:35 But where I'm getting to is the KTM still had even more feel there too.
11:40 I thought that the Triumph, it just felt a little bit wooden.
11:42 Like when I reach for the brake lever, especially at the racetrack, because I'm driving into
11:46 the corner, I just felt like I don't really understand what's happening at the calipers.
11:51 The KTM for sure has a more aggressive brake pad compound.
11:55 You can feel it.
11:56 It's real obvious.
11:57 But really the biggest thing to me was just the KTM's ABS.
12:01 It was, you know, the Triumph's ABS, again, it's very rudimentary.
12:05 Yep.
12:05 And that KTM-
12:06 It wants to intervene at every-
12:08 Yeah.
12:08 Totally.
12:09 I, correct me if I'm wrong, but there was no offset.
12:11 You can't even turn it off.
12:12 No, ABS is always on on the Triumph.
12:16 You know, obviously, you know, the European Union has established that law in 2020 where
12:22 all street bikes have to have ABS.
12:24 You cannot disable it.
12:25 But, you know, that kind of takes the fun out of that Triumph.
12:29 And the crazy thing is that Triumph, like that thing has a great slipper clutch, great
12:34 chassis.
12:34 You're going to want that.
12:35 You want to wail on it heading into the corner.
12:36 You want to be able to slide and do that stuff.
12:38 It's got the chassis to do it, but because you can't turn off the ABS, you'll never be
12:42 able to tell.
12:42 Right.
12:43 Exactly.
12:43 So, you know, if I made that Triumph mine, we would pull that fuse and not have ABS.
12:49 On a closed course.
12:51 Closed course.
12:51 Professional riders only.
12:53 All right.
12:54 So we got to talk about price a little bit too.
12:56 Both these motorcycles, middleweight nakeds, mid $12,000.
12:58 In my opinion, might be a little bit pricey for a middleweight naked, but at the same
13:04 time, what you're getting is, you know, high envelope performance.
13:08 The KTM $12,439 as tested.
13:11 That's what the additional packs that gave us the adjustability at TC and some things
13:16 like that.
13:17 The Triumph $12,850.
13:18 Adam, what would you choose?
13:21 For me, you know, obviously I've always loved the Triumph Street Triple 675 and now 765.
13:30 But, you know, KTM really has something special on their hands in the 890 Duke R.
13:36 And for it being a little bit less expensive, I mean, this is very minor.
13:41 It's very, yeah.
13:42 Even if it wasn't less expensive, even if it was a thousand bucks more, I still would
13:46 buy the KTM because it's just that much better of a motorcycle for, you know, a performance
13:52 minded rider who wants to go fast.
13:54 Yeah, no, for sure.
13:55 I'll be honest with you.
13:56 I'm in the exact same boat.
13:58 You know, the KTM to me encompasses everything I want out of a middleweight naked.
14:03 It's polished.
14:04 It has enough to where, yeah, you can use this for everyday riding or whatever you want
14:09 to do.
14:10 But then it packs that little bit of rowdiness and hooliganism that I want out of a middleweight
14:15 naked.
14:16 So absolutely.
14:17 It's a motorcycle that you're probably not going to grow old or grow tired of as fast
14:22 as the 765.
14:23 765, you ride it for, you know, a couple months a year.
14:26 Like, ah, maybe I should get, you know, the 1050 Speed Triple.
14:30 You know, this 890 Duke R, you're going to want it for a while.
14:33 You're going to hold on to it for a while.
14:34 Yeah, it's a cool bike.
14:34 All right, guys, there you have it.
14:37 You have two class-leading middleweight naked machines.
14:41 We have the Triumph.
14:42 The Triumph's been around for many years as the 675.
14:45 Now the 765.
14:46 It's well polished.
14:48 It's a very just neutral, overall, all-around performing motorcycle.
14:53 The chassis is really settled.
14:55 Like you said, we have that engine that's very tractable.
14:58 It's still entertaining and it's got a little bit more comfort than the KTM too.
15:02 So, you know, if you're looking for a motorcycle that's your do-it-all machine,
15:06 I think the Triumph is definitely a worthy look.
15:09 But KTM has come in in 2020 and delivered the 890 Duke R,
15:13 which is just performance-minded in every aspect.
15:16 You got a rowdy engine.
15:17 You got a chassis that really communicates to you really well
15:20 and electronics that kind of complement it all.
15:23 You know, obviously it's got those race aerodynamics that we talked about.
15:26 But for the class and what we were looking for,
15:30 KTM 890 Duke R steals the show and wins this comparison.
15:33 If you guys like this video, be sure to give us a like, comment.
15:37 We want to hear from you and subscribe to the Cycleworld YouTube channel.
15:40 Go ahead and go over to Cycleworld.com, read the full story, and we'll see you next time.
15:46 So,
15:56 so,
16:02 so,
16:05 (whooshing)