Staff bikes: KTM 990 SMT ABS - Retuned to perfection

Although the KTM 990 SM-T looks the same black and white bike I’d left at BSD Performance for a dyno run and fuelling check, the bike I got back now runs like a completely different machine.

The KTM’s low-rpm throttle snatch around town is now nothing more than a memory. Throttle response in first and second gearis smoother with the same, if not more, Cantona-like power kick to the chest.

Cruising at 70mphs is vibe-free to leave me to enjoy the V-twin engine’s lazy beat – a beat that picks up crisply and instantly simply by twisting the throttle. It also revs 300rpm further past the original rev-limit and the increased top-end power that is so obviously apparent hangs right in there until the limiter cuts in.

Read the full report on the difference that the ECU remap and new Remus exhaust system has made to the SM-T in this week’s MCN (5 October), on sale now.

SMT11 BLOG11