This Austrian naked-bike nameplate entered production in 2005, when the brand expanded its street lineup with a larger-capacity V-twin machine built around the LC8 engine. It marked a clear step beyond the company’s earlier single-cylinder road bikes, pairing a more muscular engine character with the stripped-back, aggressive streetfighter formula that would become a defining part of the brand’s modern identity. The original version established the template: compact chassis, minimal bodywork, and a performance-first attitude aimed at riders who wanted a roadgoing machine with a strong supermoto-like edge.
A higher-spec performance variant arrived a few years later and helped push the family deeper into the enthusiast market. By the early 2010s, the range had entered a second phase with updated versions that refined the styling and hardware while keeping the same basic concept intact. KTM’s own 30-year DUKE history materials identify the original V-twin-powered introduction in 2005, and the later factory parts catalogues show the family still active through 2013, after which the larger 1290-era naked bikes took over the performance end of the lineup.
As a result, this is best understood as a single continuous production run from the mid-2000s through the 2013 model year: an important bridge between the company’s early single-cylinder street bikes and its later high-performance V-twin naked models.