KTM tease semi automatic AMT adventure concept at Red Bull Erzbergrodeo enduro event

KTM have teased what appears to be a new semi-automatic large-capacity V-twin engined adventure bike at the gruelling Red Bull Erzbergrodeo, in Austria.

Ridden by French enduro legend Johnny Aubert, the demo bike is being called the KTM AMT which has been confirmed as standing for ‘Automatic Manual Transmission.’ It uses no clutch lever and was teased on the Austrian brand’s social media pages – with a spokesperson later confirming to MCN that a new gearbox is in development.

Should it go into production, it will be aiming to cash in on the success already enjoyed by Honda’s Dual Clutch Transmission (DCT) models – already selling over 200,000 bikes with the system. BMW also recently revealed a clutchless option aboard a prototype R1300GS adventure bike called Automated Shift Assistant.

Although the mystery model looks to be based on a KTM 1290 Super Adventure R, KTM themselves would not confirm the capacity of the bike – only stating that it’s an LC8 V-twin made from a hybrid selection of parts.

This suggests it may be climbing to a larger 1390 to help meet Euro5+ standards from 2025. This would be no surprise, given that their flagship Super Duke R super naked family already made the jump from 1301cc to 1350cc for 2024.

Officially, more information will arrive in September, however from the pictures we can see that it uses manually adjustable WP suspension. There’s also a TFT dash mounted portrait, rather than landscape – something we’ve recently seen in other spyshot photos of suspected 1390 models.

There also looks to be subtly revised styling, with a smoked short screen barely taller than the chunky black handguards – which should help with off-road pursuits, but wouldn’t be our first choice for a long journey.

Although no more official detail is available until September 2024, back in May 2023 MCN intercepted patent images of a suspected centrifugal clutch and auto shift set-up for large capacity KTM twins.

Rather like the SCS (Smart Clutch System) offered by MV Agusta, the 2023 design appeared to use a centrifugal clutch to connect the engine and transmission, engaging when revs rise much above idle to let you start and stop without using a clutch lever.

Once you are on the move, an up-and-down quickshifter and blipper system means gearshifts can be performed without disengaging the clutch. Whether that is how this new system works remains to be seen.