KTM hasn’t had an easy road. But you can’t argue that there are easier ways to save a motorcycle company than building a 690-cc single-cylinder rally bike. You could make a cheap commuter. You could build another middleweight adventure bike with a comfortable seat, a 19-inch front wheel, and enough electronics to make a fighter jet look analogue. You could even slap some retro paint on something and call it "heritage."
KTM, apparently, has chosen the rally bike route instead. Meet the 2027 KTM 690 Rally: a long-distance dirt weapon built around the company's LC4 single. And given where KTM finds itself today, the timing is rather interesting.
The Austrian manufacturer has spent the last couple of years dealing with a very public financial crisis and restructuring, while simultaneously trying to reset its product strategy. So when the company unveils a motorcycle this unapologetically KTM, it's hard not to wonder whether this is more than just another new model. Could going back to its dirt-bike roots help KTM get back on its feet?
At its core, the 690 Rally is based on the existing 690 Enduro R platform. Except KTM has taken that relatively lightweight dual-sport and turned it into something considerably more ambitious. A proper middleweight adventure bike with "Rally" in its name.
The star of the show is the LC4 single-cylinder engine. The 692.7cc, liquid-cooled four-stroke produces a claimed 78 hp and 53.8 lb.ft (73 Nm) of torque, with power sent through a six-speed transmission. There's ride-by-wire, twin ignition, and a Keihin engine-management system, with KTM's Quickshifter+ allowing for clutchless shifts.
For a motorcycle designed for the rider to spend considerable amounts of time standing on the pegs, getting bounced around by rocks, that's a pretty healthy amount of shove. But the engine is not the complete story here.
The rally tower is a big clue. Instead of simply fitting a larger fuel tank and calling the Enduro R a rally bike, KTM has given the 690 Rally a proper rally-style cockpit. It comes with an integrated windshield, giving the motorcycle that wonderfully serious desert-racer look.
Underneath sits a compact 4.2-inch TFT display that’s far more useful than its size suggests. And then there are the dual front-mounted fuel tanks that push the total fuel capacity to approximately 5.28 US gal (20 liters). That's precisely what turns this thing from a glorified dirt bike into something intended to disappear properly into the wilderness for days.
To do that, though, you need some serious equipment – which, thankfully, KTM has offered. The chrome-moly steel trellis frame is carried as is from the Enduro R, which is suspended on 48-mm WP XPLOR inverted forks with adjustable compression and rebound damping, and a WP XPLOR shock working through KTM's Pro-Lever linkage, with compression, rebound and preload adjustment at the back.
In true-ADV fashion, it rolls on 21-inch and 18-inch wire-spoked wheels, which come wrapped in Continental TKC 80 rubber, with a 300-mm front Brembo disc and 240-mm rear disc. ABS comes as standard and is switchable.
Ground clearance is a healthy 10.4 in (265 mm), while the wheelbase stretches to 59.3 in (1,506 mm). KTM quotes a dry weight of 356 lb (161.5 kg). That's fairly impressive for a machine carrying a 5.28-gallon fuel capacity, rally equipment, and proper off-road capabilities. Though the 36.8-in (935 mm) seat height alone will likely turn a large chunk of riders away even before they've reached the showroom. So, the 690 Rally is lighter and simpler than most big adventure bikes, but considerably more substantial than an out-and-out competition enduro.
KTM calls it the spiritual successor to the old 640 Adventure, and that comparison makes sense. The 640 Adventure was never interested in being a plush, road-biased adventure tourer. It was essentially a rally bike that had been given enough concessions to make it usable outside a race paddock.
The 690 Rally is chasing that same idea with considerably more modern hardware, while still being a relatively simple motorcycle underneath. It has one cylinder, it has no interest in going faster than modern sports bikes, and neither does it come with a 30-liter aluminum luggage system to carry your house with you.
The 690 Rally occupies a pretty unusual niche. Its closest competition comes from sister brands in the form of the Husqvarna 701 Enduro and GasGas ES 700, both of which share the same basic 693-cc LC4 architecture. The bike’s rally-specific bodywork, long-range fuel capacity and more serious navigation setup, however, give it a distinctly different flavor from the more conventional dual-sports and ADV bikes like the Honda CRF450RL and Yamaha Ténéré 700.
Production starts in Austria from this month, with the motorcycle scheduled to reach authorized KTM dealers in October. KTM has not yet announced pricing for the model.
So, can it change KTM's fortunes? Probably not by itself. One motorcycle isn't going to balance a company's books. But the 690 Rally does feel like the sort of bike KTM should be building.
And it might change something equally important: the conversation around what KTM is trying to be.
Source: KTM
