Remember when the Ducati Hypermotard 698 Mono debuted in 2023, and it took the title of the world’s most powerful single-cylinder production engine? It seems the engineers at KTM were most unhappy with this development, and have returned fire with the latest version of their LC4 design—and they’ve one-upped the boys from Bologna.
Or at least, that’s the claim. The good guys at Motorrad magazine have just published an article that shows the updated engine on display at the Moto-Austria trade show earlier this month. Considering the mayhem in KTM’s overseas business this year, it seems hard to believe their representatives are appearing at trade shows, considering the weeks of no-wages-paid treatment they reportedly got. Regardless, even as the workers at Brit bike factories toiled away for little or no pay in the 1970s to create left-hand-shift versions of their parallel twin engines in the middle of labor unrest, it appears KTM’s engineers have done the same and improved their big-bore four-stroke thumper.
The claim is that the next-generation LC4 engine will make 79 horsepower at the crank. Ducati’s 698 platform makes 77.5 horsepower at the crank, so KTM’s new engine will edge them out by a very small number.
Does that really matter? If Ducati wants to fire back, no doubt it would be pretty easy to find another couple of ponies in their platform. But it is good to see KTM not giving up on the LC4; they’ve been refining this for decades, and the improvements over the past decade have made it a truly great engine. The dual-counterbalancer and the new clutch slave cylinder are massive improvements on what was already a classic design. Finding more power would be even better.
Motorrad also notes that torque may rise slightly on the 2025 LC4 engine, and both the KTM 690 and Husqvarna 701 platforms will get this single-cylinder; no word on GasGas. Both of those bikes will be Euro5+ legal, and they’ll gain some weight this year as well. Expect full spec sheets in a few months, as KTM sorts out its plans in the face of its financial straits. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll see the new 690-based travel bike that we first saw spy shots of back in 2023?
