KTM puts Venom project on hold

KTM’s Venom naked superbike project has been put on hold while it concentrates on making the RC8 a success.

The concept shown in 2004 was expected to materialise as a production model for 2009 (one year after the RC8 superbike), but it never appeared. KTM’s Thomas Kuttruf explained to MCN the reason for the delay:

“The bike is standing in Kiska’s (Gerald Kiska, the man behind the design company responsible for the look of all KTMs) office, but is currently a no-go for production.

With the Venom project we had the idea to make a naked superbike, we still think this idea is worth following and the project is not stopped, but it is a bit on hold.

“The clear priority for us at the moment and the clear idea from the Stefan Pierer was to say ‘guys, before we have a naked superbike, we must have a successful real superbike.’

That means the RC8R – we are going in to racing, and the superbike project this year is in a good position.