Ready to race and 90% new

If there is one major manufacturer that looks out for a younger audience, it is KTM. For the Austrian factory, its entry-level machinery is every bit as important as its rangetopping flagships or adventure bikes. Remember big or small, a KTM has to be ‘Ready to Race'.

- Adam 'Chad' Child

• KTM 390 Duke 2024

It's an attitude that appears to work. KTM products look young and feel exciting, and the smallercapacity bikes aimed at new riders generally have a sporting authenticity less evident elsewhere.

For 2024 the Duke and Super Duke range of sporting nakeds get a refresh and, as KTM's entry-level bikes are just as important for the factory as the headline makers, it's therefore no surprise that the enduring, entrylevel 390 has been lavished with as much attention and development as its big-cube siblings. For 2024 there's a distinctive new frame, a muchmodified LC4c single-cylinder engine and distinctive looks, including a redesigned LED headlight pattern that will present a new-look face across the entire range.

As ever, KTM's targets for this '90% new' model were more power and more responsiveness. Bigger bangs, sharper handling. We headed to southern Spain to put the new 'Ready to Race' mini-Duke to the test.

Starting with the motor, capacity of the LC4c has gone up from 373cc to 399cc via a 4mm longer stroke (though, in keeping with the larger redesign ethos, the cylinder head is more compact than before). Peak power is up fractionally from 43hp to 44.3hp (thus staying within European A2 licence regulations) but arrives 1000rpm earlier at 8500rppm, while peak torque is up to 28.8lb-ft at 7000rpm from 25.8lb-ft at 7250rpm.

In the real world those numbers translate to extra punch. The new 390 is notably lively off the throttle but also revs with a new fluidity, making its speed without the need to go near the rev limiter. Considering this is an A2 compliant single, cruising at 80mph is now more relaxed, while around town, at lower revs, it's super-smooth for a single, as it darts between columns of lumbering cars like an excitable dog.