Duke is one of the, if not, the most popular nameplates owned by Team Orange. These sporty street fighters have a reputation of being loaded to the brim with features and technology and bring a fun quotient to overall riding experience. 790 Duke is embodiment of that and is the most affordable Duke to come with 100+ bhp of power.
KTM is working on a new 790 and it has been spied testing, which is exciting news for motorcycling enthusiasts around the world. Spy shots from MOTOBOB show the design aspect of this upcoming street fighter along with its revised componentry. Let’s take a closer look.
2026 KTM 790 Duke
Where design is concerned, upcoming 2026 KTM 790 Duke continues to look quintessentially like a Duke. Which is not a bad thing as the aggressive silhouette and attention-grabbing design language is what established Duke brand across the globe. With this update, KTM has done subtle revisions with upcoming 790 Duke.
Changes immediately visible from these spy shots include a much sharper and aggressive LED headlight design that sort of gives it a new fascia. It looks like KTM is offering a mono projector headlight engulfed by LED DRLs, which seems to be inspired by its bigger brothers like 990 Duke and 1390 Super Duke R.
The sculpted fuel tank is now a lot more chiseled and detailed. Tank extensions also look new and lend it a more muscular look. Side body panels look likely they are given a revision too and we can see a new exhaust end can as well. When compared to current model, upcoming 2026 KTM 790 Duke looks more like its bigger Duke siblings than ever before.
New Components
KTM has its in-house suspension brand called WP and we have seen the company offer WP suspension components with their motorcycles. This WP brand has braking components on offer too, which we saw with 2026 390 Duke.
For the first time, WP brake callipers can be seen on a 500cc+ KTM bike on 2026 790 Duke. In-house components help keep price in check as licensing costs are reduced. This also shows an increased vertical integration of KTM AG within their ecosystem. These recent spy shots show a testing data logger on the pillion seat, suggesting final stages of testing.
Powertrain continues to be the same 799cc parallel twin-cylinder liquid-cooled engine which is capable of generating 105 bhp of peak power and 89 Nm of peak torque, mated to a 6-speed gearbox. Given how close-to-production this test mule looks, launch might be soon. However, KTM India has not confirmed whether 2026 KTM 790 Duke will make its way to India.
