On February 21, 2023, KTM officially confirmed that a new SMT is on its way. Rumors have been floating around about the return of those three little letters for some time, but you know how rumors can be. Even the ones with a solid basis in things like patents might not happen any time soon, if at all.
Now for the bad news: So far, we don’t have any official details just yet. Instead, KTM says that we’ll have to wait until April 24, 2023 to find out all about the upcoming SMT. For those of us living in the northern hemisphere, that’s right in the middle of spring, when rider dreams are thawing out and we’re forming our next plans for where we want to ride to this year.
KTM’s official microsite for the upcoming SMT calls it “an exciting Supermoto Tourer that extracts its DNA from a revered KTM platform,” but of course does not list the specific platform to which it’s referring. It goes on to say that, “this new model is the answer to all the questions that riders constantly ask themselves. Unless your question is: “Should it be ridden slowly?” Then YES, the new SMT is up for it!” It then provides a button where interested riders can sign up for updates about the upcoming bike.
What engine is likely to be inside? At this point, we (and everyone else) can really only offer speculation here. However, given the fact that KTM has been spotted clearly testing its 890 mill in a number of configurations since at least 2019, including an SMT, that seems like the most probable option. If that does end up being the case, it’s also a strong choice to supply the characteristics that someone wanting the best of both a sport touring bike and a supermoto might want.
Since KTM announced its impending arrival just over two months ahead of its impending release, that gives interested riders two more months to figure out where they can fit it in both their monetary and space budgets. In that way, it’s a little bit of canny thinking on KTM’s part, letting the people who care know what’s ahead so they don’t settle for something else while they’re waiting. Will the actual bike live up to their expectations, though? That remains to be seen a couple of months from now.
