2009 · Supersport · Buyer's Guide
Orange Attack, Zero Filter
This is KTM's V-twin answer to the supersport class, and it commits hard. The 1195cc 75-degree twin makes 165 hp and 91 lb-ft, hung in a trellis frame with full WP suspension you can tune deep into the setup sheet. There's no traction control, no ride modes, no slipper clutch. What you get instead is feel: a chassis with class-leading lean clearance and a front end that reports everything happening at the contact patch. It's the orange alternative to a row of inline-fours, built to involve the rider rather than insulate them from the road.
On the road it rewards commitment. The motor pulls cleanly from low in the rev range right to the top, the brakes are strong without a heavy lever, and the riding position lets you stop thinking about the bike and start reading the road. It suits the rider who wants involvement over convenience, someone happy to set a machine up and live with its character. The caveat is real. That deep adjustability cuts both ways, and there's no electronic safety net under you. Get the setup wrong and it turns nervous. Get it right and it's planted, precise, and fast.
Spec sheets don't ride bikes, but they set the baseline.
| Power | 165 hp (121 kW) @ 10,250 rpm |
|---|---|
| Torque | 91 lb-ft (123 Nm) @ 8,000 rpm |
| Displacement | 1195 cc |
| Engine | 75° V-twin |
| Cooling | Liquid-cooled |
| Gearbox | 6-speed |
| Final drive | Chain |
| Fork | Upside-down (USD) |
| Front tire | 120/70-17 |
| Rear tire | 190/55-17 |
| Seat height | 31.7 in (805 mm) |
| Fuel capacity | 4.4 gal (16.5 L) |
| Top speed | 174 mph (280 km/h) |
Equipment check
Chassis
Throw a leg over and the first thing you notice is presence. The twin still buzzes with mechanical character, though the reworked crankshaft pulls the worst of the old hand tingle out, so longer stints don't leave your palms numb. The riding position is the surprise. You can lay your chest on the tank through a corner without fighting the bars, and arm load under braking stays low enough that your attention drifts to the road instead of the effort. Shifts snap home cleanly with no hunting for false neutrals. The brake lever asks for less hand force than the hardware suggests. One note for the street: swap to the longer-travel throttle grip in the box before your first ride, because the stock short-travel grip is set up for the track. In the wet, expect plenty of spray off the back.
My own 0–100 score for this bike against the class, area by area — the marker on each bar is the class average.
What stays with me is how little persuasion this bike needs. One push at the bars puts the nose on line, with no winding up and no settling first. The drive off a corner is the headline. It hooks up under power and keeps hooking up deep into lean, enough that I found myself lofting the front into lean-angle wheelies on the way out, not on purpose but because the motor and the balance conspired to make it easy. The adjustment range is huge, right down to ride height and stepped swingarm positions, and I'll be honest that it can dig you a hole as fast as it digs you out. I built stability with it and I built a nervous mess with it. Two habits need rethinking. Roll off mid-corner and the line washes wide rather than closing, so I rode it covering the rear brake. Get greedy with the throttle and the front goes light, and that's where I missed having a steering damper to settle things.
The Brembo setup does its job without making you clamp down on the lever, and the lighter hand effort registers within the first few stops. Hardware this good also tends to keep its power when a long track session would leave lesser calipers fading. The catch sits right at the top of the braking range, where it wants a measured hand to work cleanly. Street riders will rarely get near that point. On track, give it a few laps to learn where the edge lives.
For a long time the regular RC8 struck me as a little too well-mannered to wear orange, capable but short on menace. The R settles that argument. There's more genuine shove on the straight now, and the engine's attitude finally squares with the badge on the tank. Better still, it never leaves a hole in the delivery. Crack it open low and it answers, hold it to the top and it keeps coming, with the same honest pull at every point in between.
The moment that sold me happened on a half-wet circuit with fifty journalists all pushing hard, and nobody crashed. A bike that keeps that many fast riders upright on a greasy surface is telling you something about how little it demands. The physical effort is so low that the machine stops occupying your attention and the road takes over, and you can ride hard stint after stint without it wearing you down. What I keep coming back to is the direction of the R. KTM made it quicker without making it tougher to live with, which almost never happens in this class. Even the engine's mechanical character, still plainly there, has been calmed at the edges enough to take the fatigue out of a long ride.
Nobody buys this to run errands, and the rear fender makes the point for you. The second the road turns wet, the back tire flings water everywhere with almost nothing to catch it. You get soaked, your passenger gets soaked, and the rider stuck behind you takes a faceful too. Keep it to dry days and none of this matters. Ride it through a downpour and you'll learn fast where this bike's priorities really sit.
Plastic fuel quick disconnect prone to breakage
The plastic fuel tank quick-disconnect coupler can become brittle and crack, causing fuel leakage. Replacing with a metal aftermarket unit is recommended.
False neutrals and jumping clutch
Reports of missed shifts, false neutrals, and clutch grabbing during takeoff; often fixed with a shift spindle brace or later factory updates.
Unbalanced throttle bodies cause poor low-rpm running
Poorly synchronized throttle bodies can lead to rough idle and stalling; a professional sync or ECU remap resolves it.
Where this KTM 1190 RC8 R pulls ahead of — or falls behind — its rivals on the numbers, and the typical bike in its class on character.
Power
Torque
Displacement
Top speed
Seat height
Forget spec-sheet bragging. Here's who the 1190 RC8 R is actually built for.
If your weekends run from LA traffic out to Angeles Crest, this is your kind of tool. It turns in instantly, holds huge lean, and rewards a precise hand. Set it up well and it'll carve all day.
Made for Angeles Crest Highway · Coronado Trail / US 191 · Highway 1 / Big Sur
Built for exactly this. The adjustment range is deep enough to dial in for any circuit, the brakes hold up, and lean clearance is enormous. Just budget a session learning the setup before you chase times.
Made for Barber Motorsports Park · WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca · Circuit of the Americas
On tight East Coast twisties this bike sings. Light handling and instant turn-in suit technical corner work over outright speed. Cover the rear brake, since there's little engine braking to tighten your line.
Made for Back of the Dragon · Blue Ridge Parkway · Cherohala Skyway
If you're cross-shopping the older generation, here's what changed.
Previous generation · 2008
KTM's First Superbike, Delivered
Compare to the previous model →If this one isn't quite the fit, these are the bikes worth riding back-to-back against it.
Any price note compares both bikes at the same age — the youngest age both have on the used market — against this KTM 1190 RC8 R. “cheaper/pricier” is what that bike costs second-hand, not how worn it is.
