I don’t know if you’ve heard, but KTM ain’t doing all that great.
Now, maybe you’ve been living under a rock? Maybe you were one of those two astronauts stuck on the International Space Station for the last 9 months. Maybe you just don’t pay attention to anything outside the world of archery? Whatever the case may be, KTM basically went bust a few months back and has been doing its level best to pick up the pieces of its crumbling empire.
The company is hurting. Its dealers are hurting. Its customers are still reeling from its camshaft debacle. And the deck is seemingly stacked against the company’s future as of this writing. I mean, it supposedly just restarted production of the new 2025 motorcycles in late March. KTM won’t tell us which bikes that is, and it’s postponed others, but at least there’s that.
So it feels slightly odd that the company would be out testing a prototype of what appears to be a 690 Adventure R, and spied by ADV Pulse, when it still has countless past-date motorcycles sitting on lots, and manufacturing isn’t exactly humming along. But maybe that’s just me?
Look, I get that you have to plan for the future even in the face of utter terror. You have to, to borrow a phrase from the great philosopher Dory, “Just keep swimming.” But it’s seriously weird that KTM is putting any effort, energy, and cash into a bike that hasn’t even been launched yet at a time when they’ve postponed bikes that have been.
Granted, multitasking is a thing. Working on multiple projects makes sense when you have the manpower and resources. KTM, however, has neither of those. The brand also doesn’t have the leeway to make a mistake, and given the fact that the company as a whole is hamstrung by not having enough resources for multiple production shifts, it’s suspect as to why they’d devote any sort of resources toward this particular motorcycle development mule.
I mean, couldn’t those resources be used elsewhere for better effect?
I will say this, the bike looks great. KTM’s middle-weight adventure motorcycles have always been good things. Overpriced, sure, but so too is the vast majority of its lineup. And speaking of that fact, isn’t another expensive offering one of the reasons KTM is in the mess it’s in? Put away all the other resource-driven factors as to why a development mule is a bad idea, but shouldn’t KTM be focusing on motorcycles that are more affordable? Things that’ll sell to the regular public instead of a $20,000 middleweight adventure bike that most other competitors sell for half that?
Anyways, KTM seems to still be KTM’ing. Good luck, Mattighofen!
