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The rumour about Bajaj bringing the KTM brand to India with its hot favourite, the Duke has long made us wait with bated breath. However, we came to know earlier that the Duke 125 that is being manufactured at the manufacturing plant of Bajaj in Pune is not going to come to India. Rather, they are going to bring a much more powerful sibling of it, the Duke 200. Today, the wait is over and the official technical specifications of the Duke 200 have been revealed! This super cool, super aggressive looking bike is due to get launched in December, 2011. The KTM Duke 200 is going to be powered by a 200 cc, single-cylinder, 4-stroke engine having 4 valves which is liquid cooled and has fuel injection. The bike has a kerb weight of just 137 kgs making it one of the lightest ones in this category. The engine is mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox having a 1-down, 5-up shift pattern.

The Duke also sports a under-slung exhaust system that goes right below the swing-arm pivot section. This is designed to keep the center of gravity of the bike as low as possible for excellent handling capability. The swing-arm is ultra-lightweight inverted die-cast. The bike also sports low profile tires that roll on 17-inch wheel rims both at the front and the rear. It has disc brakes both at the front and the rear with the front being a 300 mm disc and the rear being a 230 mm one. Bajaj Auto will price the KTM Duke 200 around Rs. 1.40 lakhs, making it an excellent alternative in front of the Honda CBR250R.

The KTM Duke 200 produces 25.51 BHP of power at 10,000 RPM and 20 Nm of torque at 8000 RPM. Now its closest rival will undoubtedly the Honda CBR250R, as there is no other machine in a similar price range. The Honda CBR250R not only weighs much more at 167 kgs, it is a tad lower on power as well, producing 25 BHP of power at 8500 RPM. The baby CBR does produce a good amount of torque with 22.9 Nm at 7000 RPM. However the KTM will a more fun to drive machine, owing to its relatively higher red line and lighter weight. Till we don’t ride the KTM Duke 200, we would like to reserve our comments, but on paper alone, the baby Duke seems all set to uproot the baby CBR.

KTM Duke 200 Specifications

Engine: 200 cc, Single-cylinder, liquid-cooled, 4-stroke
Power: 25.51 BHP @ 10000 RPM
Torque: 20 Nm @ 8000 RPM
0 – 100 kmph: 6.5 seconds (est.)
Top Speed: 150 kmph (est.)
Gearbox: 6-speed
Kerb weight: 137 kg
Wheelbase: 1361 mm
Ground Clearance: 170 mm
Fuel Tank capacity: 10.5 litres
Suspension: USD Telescopic forks (front), Adjustable monoshock, alloy swingarm (rear)
Brake: 300 mm (front), 230 mm (rear)
Tires: 110 x 17/17 (front), 150 x 17 (rear)

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