KTM’s 390 Duke has always been a favorite here at Cycle World. We even went so far as to name the bike Best Lightweight Streetbike two years in a row. You can imagine then, how as I boarded a plane bound for Turin, Italy, where I’d test the latest iteration of the 390, I was having a hard time figuring how KTM could’ve improved on the platform. After just five minutes with the 390 Duke, I was most definitely convinced; KTM had worked its magic yet again.
That magic starts from the outside in, the designers at KISKA—KTM’s design partner—having updated the 2017 Duke with more distinct lines and a sharper tail. A newly designed LED headlight replaces the less-aggressive unit on the previous-generation 390, whereas the graphics kit has been redesigned and simplified, all of which helps align the bike more closely with its big-bore siblings, like the beastly 1290 Super Duke R and 1290 Super Adventure