2023 KTM RC 8C Review

It had been quite a while since I last rode a multi-cylinder KTM on a racetrack – all the way back to 2011 and the Red Bull-sponsored factory RC8R 1200cc V-twin on which Martin Bauer was victorious in that year’s IDM German Superbike Championship, with teammate Stefan Nebel third. That was a key moment in the Austrian dirtbike specialist’s climb up the ladder to equal status with the likes of Honda and Ducati in the road racing pantheon, and showed that orange was a color to be reckoned with on-road as well as off it.

The chance to be one of only two fortunate journalists invited to join the 30 privileged owners of the new KTM RC 8C Version 2.0 in lapping the Valencia GP circuit on their first acquaintance with their blind dates – which they’d paid serious money for six months earlier ( 2023 KTM RC 8C – First Look) – meant going back to the future. As KTM looks to rediscover its road racing mojo, it has once again devoted a small slice of its massive R&D capability to developing customer road racers, albeit at this stage for just a few lucky customers with high-speed internet connections who could grab their chance with both hands to own this iconic piece of Austrian moto art.

It was also the chance to finally square the circle by riding a Krämer Motorcycles product, for after visiting Markus Krämer’s workshop 12 years ago in the humble converted cowshed where his spare time Supermono R&D project was taking shape in between his day job working for KTM R&D, I’d never yet been able to take up any of his many invitations to ride one of his bikes. Was it worth waiting for? You betcha....

But, climbing aboard the RC 8C in Valencia’s pit lane ready for my first of six 20-minute sessions on a gloriously sunny Spanish Spring day, had me practically asking for a stepladder, the seat was so high. I mean, I am used to riding pretty extreme GP race bikes, but this seemed quite a bit over the top. But to compensate for that in the pursuit of comfort and rationality it was easy to tweak the multi-adjustable footrests and clip-on handlebars to feel at home on the bike – at 5’ 9” in height it seemed to be tailor-made for me, a sentiment shared by every owner I spoke to, whether tall or short, thin or – well, less thin, about their blind dates. KTM and Krämer have rather improbably made this a truly accessible motorcycle. None of the dozen owners I spoke to complained of not feeling comfortable on their bike. With a 55.1-inch wheelbase it’s definitely rational in size – that word again – while also, as I’d later discover, decidedly handy in turns.

Time to fire it up via a magnificent roll of midsize thunder from the Akrapovič pipe – thanks to its 75° offset crankpins the Parallel-Twin engine sounds just like a V-Twin, only not as deep and muscular as a 1200cc RC8 true 75° V-Twin did. Hearing it triggered my memory banks, though, transporting me back in time to more than 25 years ago, and my series of dates that I enjoyed so much success with on TRiXi Yamaha, the first modern parallel-twin TRX850 ProTwins bike I raced for Yamaha Europe, with side-by-side cylinders and a 270° crank, resulting in a similar offbeat boom to its Over exhaust. That delivered the best of both worlds, with the compacted mass of a parallel-twin motor delivering enhanced handling vs. a 90° L-twin Ducati with its inevitable rearwards weight bias, but the added traction of such a bike delivered via the offset crankpins.

The KTM RC 8C is straight out of the same box, complete with a useful 54/46% forward weight bias which invites you to crank up turn speed in Valencia’s several third-gear turns – but only after making sure that the right side of the front Pirelli is truly ready for action on the notorious Turn 4/5 combo where so many have crashed through being impatient. Fortunately, the Italian tires fitted to the Austrian bike’s British wheels heat up quicker than any other tire manufacturer’s, so from my second flying lap onwards I could start using the great feedback from the WP front suspension to start building turn speed on those mid-speed sweepers.

But it’s that 889cc motor that’s the main attraction, replete with exceptionally broad midrange torque peaking at 8,250 rpm with 72 lb-ft on tap, and completely devoid of undue vibration at any revs despite losing one of its twin counterbalancers in the pursuit of reduced inertia. This, combined with the much lighter crank assembly on this latest version of the RC 8C motor, gives a really noticeable zip to the way it picks up revs at almost any engine speeds – plus on top of that, there’s an extra 1,500 rpm available at the top end, so instead of having to shift gear at 10,500 rpm as on the Gen.1.0 version of the same bike, you can – indeed, must – rev it right out in the gears, to take full advantage of the extra power on tap at higher revs. There’s 135 hp available at 11,000 rpm, by which stage the shifter lights on the TFT dash are flashing at you madly to grab a higher gear on the race-pattern gearshift I’d opted for, though it’s the work of a moment to reverse that to a conventional road shift.

Yet pulling out of the slow second-gear Turn 2 where Valentino waved goodbye to his 2006 MotoGP World title from as low as 5,000 rpm had the KTM engine driving cleanly away as the lightened crank assembly delivered a real zest to the way it picks up revs. Above seven grand is where it really comes alive, though, and while you can perfectly well short-shift at just a little over that, as I noticed others seemed to be doing as a matter of course, and I did on my first session spent dialing myself into the bike and a Valencia GP circuit I hadn’t ridden at since the pre-COVID era, it was a lot more enjoyable, as well as effective, to take advantage of the increased performance obtained by revving it right out. Jeremy McWilliams told me he revels in this particular KTM’s appetite for wheelies, but if you’re just trying to focus on the Go rather than the Show you’ll find the anti-wheelie program contained in the Bosch ECU does a pretty good job of keeping the front wheel earthbound. But you’ll still need to keep the WP steering damper tightened up a little to keep the front wheel from flapping the ‘bars in your hands accelerating out of the final turn before the Pits at Valencia.

You can tell that Markus Krämer is used to designing quick-steering Supermono racers, because even with a few dozen extra kilos on offer thanks to its extra cylinder more, the RC 8C has the same agile handling as the modern-era singles I spent so much of my later racing career aboard. In fact, it reminded me a lot of the works MZ RennSkorpion I raced at Daytona for the German factory, with its slightly porky upright-cylinder five-valve Yamaha motor. The KTM had the same feeling under braking, where you’d be leaning on the front tire to trail-brake into a bend, with the rear wheel just on the point of parting company with the tarmac to start street-sweeping from side to side. There was a hint of instability as you did this – but that was more than compensated for by the extra front wheel grip delivered by that extreme forward weight bias. Add in the vestiges of engine braking still left dialed in to the slipper clutch setting, and you have a truly effective package, where the twin 290mm front brakes are more than sufficient to stop the RC 8C hard, yet thanks to their smaller diameter compared to the ubiquitous 320mm discs you see on so many other bikes which are actually overbraked, have prevented the extra unsprung weight from impacting negatively on the suspension, as well as reduced their gyroscopic effect on the handling, resulting in more precise, sharper steering.

And that’s where the RC 8C really excels in handling terms, as demonstrated by its appetite for speed through the fast right/left Champi Herreros Turn 12 flick leading out of the infield down to the last turn at Valencia. I’ll admit that it took me quite a few laps to work up to doing this in fourth gear as Jeremy McWilliams told me he did, but eventually I managed it – albeit at first without any real conviction. The RC 8C’s handling is just the right side of nervous – thanks to that quite sharp steering geometry with a 23.3° rake to the WP fork and just 3.9 inches of trail, it changes direction almost on autopilot – more like a Supermono rather than the ProTwins racer which it is. However, by really working at it I ended up giving a reasonable imitation of Yer Maun doing it a gear higher than I’d previously dared – and that was entirely due to the KTM’s beautifully balanced steering, as well as its engine’s forgiving midrange torque, which repeatedly rescued me after I let the revs drop in the middle of the turn, before finally getting it all done right. Phew!

And that experience is one that I’m sure many owners of this lovely motorcycle will replicate themselves as they take increasing advantage of its ability to forgive, but also to teach. I suspect that most of the owners of this bike will be track day riders who won’t race it in anger – but that doesn’t mean they won’t learn how to go faster than they’ve ever ridden before on this paragon of performance.

Hmm... If this bike is so good that even Jeremy McWilliams wants to have one in his garage, maybe I better start saving up to give TRiXi some company in her retirement. Wonder if KTM will have a Gen 3.0 version anytime soon…?