KTM will officially reveal the new 890 SMT on April 24 but the firm has already submitted the bike for type approval in Europe – resulting in details of its dimensions and performance emerging ahead of the official debut.
The SM-T – which stands for Supermoto-Touring – is a derivative of the existing KTM 890 Adventure and has already been subject to a substantial teaser campaign. Images of clay styling models and design sketches have been released, along with the usual video teasers showing snatched glimpses of close-up elements. As a result, we know that the bike’s chassis and appearance are closely related to the 890 Adventure, even sharing the same tail bodywork and very similar front side panels, as well as the nose styling treatment. Where the SMT really differs is in its road-biased, 17-inch alloy wheels and 890 Duke-derived brakes. It also features a different fuel tank, doing away with the long-range, 20-litre design of the Adventure, which extends down each side of the engine, right down to the bash guard below the exhaust. Instead, more of the tank sits above the engine so it rises more noticeably in front of the seat. There are still side-mounted extensions to the tank, but they stop halfway down the bike rather than reaching all the way to the bottom. On the SMT, there’s no bellypan.
The type-approval figures show that the resulting machine is lighter than the 890 Adventure it’s based on. The figures show it weighs 206kg including fuel, down from 215kg for the 890 Adventure.
The SMT is also more compact, with a shorter overall length of 2165mm – 56mm less than the Adventure thanks to the SMT’s smaller front wheel – and the wheelbase is a fraction shorter at 1502mm, 7mm less than the Adventure. That’s probably a reflection of a different-sized sprocket chosen for the SMT, so the rear wheel is adjusted slightly further forward when the chain is tensioned.
The smaller front wheel and a lower screen mean the SMT is shorter than the Adventure – 1271mm compared to 1447mm – but there’s no substantial difference in the bikes’ widths, suggesting the bars are unchanged.
There’s also no change to the engine, with the SMT adopting the same state of tune for its 889cc LC8c parallel twin, with a peak of 77kW on tap.
Ben Purvis
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