KTM 250 Duke

The KTM 250 Duke has been the mild-mannered good boy of the Duke family. However, things are not the same with the 2024 model with an all-new engine, chassis and other changes. So what is new now, and how does the new 250 Duke perform? Let’s take a look: 

The KTM 250 Duke has quite an attention grabbing design and its styling is very similar to that of its bigger sibling, the KTM 390 Duke. It gets three beautiful colour schemes that compliment the overall design of the bike quite well. The Ceramic White colour scheme looks especially gorgeous. It gets front fenders and tank extensions painted in white along with wheels, body panels surrounding the headlight and tank painted in orange. 

Fit and finish levels on the bike are quite sophisticated in general. But, on closer inspection, some of the panel gaps do look a bit odd.

The all-new 250cc, single-cylinder, liquid-cooled engine on the KTM 250 Duke makes more power and torque than the previous-gen bike. This fits perfectly with what KTM bikes are known for: fun and thrill. Riding the 250 Duke in the city is easy and fun, but it really shines when you take it on highways or curvy roads. On these open roads, you can easily keep the speed between 100-110 kmph. It's great for fast rides and also works well for everyday city riding.

What makes the new 250 Duke special is its bi-directional quickshifter, which lets you change gears quickly and smoothly. The gearbox is generally smooth, however, it might feel a bit rough at slow speeds.

The new trellis frame and aluminium subframe on the 250 Duke has improved upon the already great handling characteristics of the previous-gen bike. The bike feels very agile and remains composed when tackling corners at high speeds. The suspension setup is a bit on the softer side and better grip from the rear tyres would have provided more confidence at high speeds. 

However, for everyday use and tackling city traffic, the slightly softer suspension setup is quite practical. The brakes do offer adequate performance. If you are feeling confident and want to have fun sliding around with the bike, you can switch off the rear ABS completely thanks to the Supermoto ABS feature.

The slightly softer suspension setup in the KTM 250 Duke helps the streetfighter in absorbing small bumps and speed breakers very well. The bike does get a committed yet comfortable riding posture but if you are a taller rider, then you might find your lower body position to be a bit cramped. 

The KTM 250 Duke comes with a decent list of features. It gets a 5-inch TFT screen with Bluetooth connectivity, two riding modes: Street and Track, lap timer, turn-by-turn navigation, music control and more. The ability to control the music on your helmet communication device using the switchgear on the left hand side is pretty useful and practical. 

The 2024 KTM 250 Duke is now more refined and has more exciting performance than before, which will be appealing to you if you want to enjoy the thrilling KTM character. It offers a sweet balance between very exciting performance and everyday practicality. If you are on the market for that experience but don’t want to be overwhelmed by something like the 390 Duke’s performance, then the 250 Duke is the one for you.