2023 KTM 890 SMT Confirmed

[Hugh Janus]

News directly from the horse’s mouth: The brand-new KTM 890 SMT that we tipped you off to recently is now being teased by KTM, confirming an official announcement on April 24. (KTM/)

In early February, our spies snapped images of a near-production prototype of KTM’s upcoming 890 SMT, and now the Austrian company has confirmed exactly how near to production it is, stating that the bike will be officially presented on April 24 this year.

That means it’s likely set to be a 2023 model, and not one we have to wait until 2024 to get ahold of. The fact that KTM is teasing the bike’s existence on the US-market website confirms that we can expect to get it on this side of the Atlantic as well.

Teaser for the new KTM 890 SMT. (KTM/)

KTM’s teaser is in the form of a video showing a dummy news story about the SMT appearing on a fan’s phone. It gives glimpses of a styling sketch and a clay model of the new bike, which we’ve enhanced to show here. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, they’re a close match to the machine seen in our spy pictures.

Teaser for the new KTM 890 SMT showing the clay model. (KTM/)

KTM confirms that the 890 SMT, as its name suggests, is based on the 890 Adventure, using the same 889cc parallel-twin engine that makes a claimed 103 hp in the Adventure, and is likely to be in the same state of tune in the SMT. The exhaust and tail unit, as well as the frame and swingarm, are borrowed directly from the 890 Adventure, which also loans its front side panels and headlight to the new model. The biggest differences between the two are the suspension, wheels, and brakes. The SMT is fitted with 17-inch cast-alloy wheels and the dual front discs with radial-mount calipers are nabbed from the 890 Duke naked bike.

Here is the recent spy photo we ran, showing the prototype 890 SMT during testing. (Stefan Baldauf/)

The 890 SMT also eliminates the belly-mounted fuel tank of the Adventure. As a result, the exhaust and lower section of the engine are clearly visible. On the prototype seen a few weeks ago, the fuel tank appeared to be a conventional design, like the one used on the 890 Duke, but the design sketch and clay model shown in KTM’s teaser hint at side-mounted tanks that are mounted higher than the Adventure’s. There’s certainly a pronounced bulge below the side-fairing panels that weren’t present on the prototype. Given that the “T” in SMT stands for Touring, any additional range that a larger tank would offer would be useful.

Design sketch of the upcoming 890 SMT. (KTM/)

There are still six weeks before the April 24 release date, but KTM’s confirmation of the 890 SMT means we can be sure that the spied prototype was not just an idle “what if?” engineering project.

A close up of the image on the teaser image’s smartphone screen. (KTM/)

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[Pedro]

Ktm is from now on to be known as a chinese brand except for EXC or MX bikes!