But here's the kicker: on the road it really doesn't feel that fast to ride. There's no doubt that the tight motors weren't helping, and the smooth power delivery does a fantastic job of disguising the speed, but for riders looking for that brutal, yee-har V-twin power surge, it's surprisingly clinical. I was expecting the RC8 to be the superbike version of KTM's lunatic 990SM, a rough, rampant beast of a thing. But while it will wheelie all day it's not the berzerker you might expect. This RC8 is far more sophisticated than that.
It's on the track that the KTM really comes alive. Maybe it was because the track bikes were looser and more run in, but around Ascari's curves the RC8 was fantastic. With the motor singing between 6000 and 10,000 rpm, the bike is properly fast. There's a flat bark from the pipe as the RC8 hustles around the track, the stepless power curve allowing you to feed in the throttle as early as you dare exiting corners. For the circuit the KTM techs raised the rear ride height and the RC8 dived into corners with indecent haste. I had to seriously up my game to stay with the bike. Body position is far more crucial on the track than it is on the road, and the roominess of the RC8 (and everything is fully adjustable) means you can just clamber from one side to the other with complete freedom, pulling the bike down on top of you in corners.
The Brembo brakes are massive and mash the front tire into the tarmac on the way into corners and allow you to leave your braking point as late as your ride ability allows. However late you brake, trust me, the RC8 can brake later.
The view from the cockpit is excellent. The ingeniously designed dash gives you all the information you'll ever need just a glance away. There are two modes-road and race-that give you everything from fuel range and tire pressure to data acquisition and lap times. It's comprehensive and very clever. But this is a mere aside when you're riding the RC8 on a track-all you'll be concentrating on is riding faster and harder, lap after lap.
There is, however, a blot on the landscape. The gearbox, specifically between first and second, is a bit-how shall I put this-temperamental. To the point where it dropped out of gear three times on the road and on the track I had to keep my toe under the gear lever coming out of Ascari's first-gear hairpin just to keep it in. Like all new sportbikes the RC8 is geared to the moon, pulling an easy 75 mph in first, and when that puppy jumps out under full throttle it doesn't half make you jump. Nearly every journalist on the launch had this problem and KTM admit it's an issue. It was tackled head-on by the staff at the launch with an unerring honesty, but using the 990 gearbox in this new engine was always going to be a tall order. (We've just heard that KTM has pushed final production back a few weeks so here's hoping it's got a quick fix up its sleeve.)
It's fair to say the RC8 represents a massive step forward for KTM. It's a huge gamble for the Austrian firm, unknown as it is for sportbikes of this nature, but it's a gamble that's paid off. It would have been so easy to produce some mental, lunatic wheelie machine that would have appealed to a mental, lunatic rider and nobody else. A bike like this would have had a limited shelf life and become a curiosity, "another crazy orange bike from those off-road dudes."
But the RC8 is a hugely sophisticated superbike with many different model variants to come and a long future ahead of it. When the Ducati 916 first came out in 1994 it made just over 100 horsepower. When it was finally replaced in 2002, it made 125 hp, and there had been 12 different models and countless Limited Editions.
So it is with the RC8. KTM has huge plans for this bike, from racing in World Superbike to an S-model next year and a super-expensive homologation R-model slated for 2010. To come out with the most explosive and exclusive version of its RC8 for this first model wouldn't leave KTM anywhere to take it over the next decade.
The wait has been worth it. The new generation of road rider who demands high performance with user-friendliness gets everything he wants, while the committed headbanger will be leading the fast group of his trackday on the best-looking bike out there.
Buyer's Box - 2008 KTM RC8
MSRP: N/A
Motor:
Two-cylinder, 1148cc, four valve DOHC
Bore x stroke: 103x69mm
Compression ratio: 12.5:1
Suspension
Front:
43mm fully adjustable WP USD fork
Rear:
Fully adjustable WP shock