The winds of change blow through the motorcycle world, and sometimes, they carry a whisper of what’s no longer coming ashore. KTM has, with a quiet nod, pared down its American lineup.
For a while there, we saw the 790 Duke, a sharp street scalpel, and the 790 Adventure, a capable wanderer, gracing the virtual showrooms. But now, like a desert mirage, they’ve simply… faded from the U.S. website.
Goodbye to the 790 Adventure and 790 Duke Due to Tariffs?
They were solid machines, built for carving corners or exploring dusty trails, and they held their own in the middleweight arena. Husqvarna, KTM’s white and blue kin, also saw its Svartpilen 801, a stylish urban scrambler, vanish into the digital ether.
Now, why the disappearing act? Well, speculation, like a good tall tale, is always abundant. But the whispers on the wind point to a familiar culprit: tariffs. These bikes, you see, were born from a collaboration in China, their very existence tied to the intricate dance of international trade. It seems the powers that be in the land of the free and the home of the brave might be making things a bit costly for these particular imports.
It’s a curious dance, indeed, when trade winds dictate what iron we can, or cannot, ride. While the web pages for these vanished machines still linger, like ghosts in the machine, it leaves us wondering if this is a temporary pause or a more permanent farewell.
Only time, and the ever-shifting sands of global economics, will tell if these capable machines will once again grace our American highways and byways. Until then, we’ll keep our eyes on the horizon, ever watchful for the next chapter in the two-wheeled saga.
Source: KTM, Motorcycle.com
That’s what you’re going to see a lot of, with a lot of different products not just motorcycles. They’ll just disappear. They won’t ever be made in the US, they just won’t be available in the US.
I agree with you. There’s no way they can ship them with these big tariffs and no way they can afford to build a whole new plant to make them here. Say goodbye to a fair number of bikes, I think.