KTM 690 Rally: Everything We Know About Specs, Price and Release Date

KTM spent five months walking the 690 Rally from disguised spy shots to a real price tag, and I’ve been reloading this story at every stage like it’s going to change my own riding schedule. It hasn’t. Here’s every confirmed fact in one place, with the story of how we got here, so you don’t have to dig through three separate posts to find the number you actually want.

I ride a 2024 690 Enduro R that’s had a flat battery since August, so watching KTM turn the same basic engine into something with three fuel tanks and a rally fairing is a particular kind of torment. Let’s get into what’s actually confirmed.

What Is the KTM 690 Rally?

The KTM 690 Rally is a rally-raid-styled adventure single built on the KTM 690 Enduro R platform, which KTM positions as the spiritual successor to the KTM 640 Adventure (1997-2007) – the bike that made KTM’s big-tank, single-cylinder ADV formula famous in the first place. It’s not a new engine or a new frame: it’s the Enduro R’s chassis and 692.7cc LC4 single wearing a long-range body kit, the same trick KTM pulled with the original 640 Adventure off the 640 Enduro.

That lineage matters for anyone cross-shopping it against a twin-cylinder rival like the KTM 790 Adventure or Yamaha Ténéré 700: this is the lighter, simpler, single-cylinder end of the rally-adventure spectrum, not a competitor to KTM’s own bigger twins.

The Story So Far: From Spy Shots to Showroom

• 22 July 2026 – Caught testing near KTM’s Austrian HQ in near-production trim: dual front fuel tanks, a rally tower styled after KTM’s factory 450 Rally racer, and a near-final finish, all built on the familiar Enduro R chassis.
• 8 September 2026 – Officially revealed with full specs: 79 PS, the 20-litre three-tank fuel system, and the direct 640 Adventure comparison KTM leaned on for the launch.
• 28 September 2026 – UK, US and Canadian pricing confirmed, undercutting the Ténéré 700 Rally Edition on UK list price, with October dealer deliveries locked in.

That’s a little over two months from disguised prototype to confirmed price – quick even by KTM’s own standards. Its bigger 990 Adventure is still only at the spy-shot stage as of this writing. This page gets updated as the next piece lands – eurozone pricing, Australian pricing, or the first independent road test.

Engine and Performance

The KTM 690 Rally’s 692.7cc liquid-cooled LC4 single produces 79 PS (58.1 kW) at 8,000 rpm and 73 Nm of torque at 6,750 rpm, through a six-speed gearbox – the same engine family as the rest of the 690 range, tuned for a bike built to be ridden a long way from the nearest fuel station.

Worth saying plainly, because it’ll come up in the FAQ anyway: 58.1 kW is well over the 35 kW ceiling for an A2 licence, and KTM hasn’t announced a restricted version. If you’re shopping by licence category rather than by spec sheet, this one’s firmly in full-licence territory – our roundup of A2-legal adventure bikes is the one to read instead.

The Fuel System: Why Three Tanks

The headline spec is still the fuel system: the standard 690 platform’s 13-litre rear tank is joined by two 3.5-litre tanks mounted up front inside the rally tower, for 20 litres total. A handlebar-mounted switch lets the rider pick between front and rear tanks, each with its own reserve warning – the classic rally-raid layout, and the same trick that gave the original 640 Adventure its reputation for going a very long way between fuel stops.

Twenty litres on a bike this light is the kind of number that gets me mentally routing a Morocco loop I am, once again, “definitely doing this year” – last year’s version of that plan died somewhere between a flight price and my daughter’s school calendar, and I’d put honest money on this year’s going the same way. At KTM’s claimed 4.3 L/100 km, that’s a real range over 450 km, which actually changes where you can plan a day’s riding around rather than just extending the daydream.

Photo: KTM

Chassis and Suspension

Up front sits a 48 mm WP XPLOR fork with 265 mm of travel and 30 clicks of compression/rebound adjustment; the rear gets a fully adjustable WP XPLOR shock with 250 mm of travel through a linkage. Brakes are Brembo, twin-piston up front and single-piston at the rear, clamping 21-inch front and 18-inch rear spoked aluminium wheels. Dry weight is 161.5 kg, seat height 935 mm, ground clearance 265 mm. The rally tower carries an integrated windscreen, and the bike gets a wide rally-style seat, handguards, and a skid plate with centre-stand mounts as standard.

That’s a genuinely off-road-biased spec sheet wrapped around a long-range fuel system – the rally-raid format’s whole point is riding hard on terrain a loaded GS would rather avoid, for longer than a standard enduro single’s fuel range would normally allow.

How the 690 Rally Compares to the 640 Adventure It’s Succeeding

KTM itself drew this comparison at the reveal, and it’s a genuinely useful one for anyone who remembers the original: the new bike beats the old one’s power outright while trading some fuel capacity for a lot more suspension travel and a modern electronics package the 640 never had.

Pricing and Availability, Market by Market

KTM confirmed UK pricing at £11,499 (~€13,400) in late September, alongside US pricing of $14,199 (~€13,150) and Canadian pricing of C$15,599 (~€14,450). Production began in Austria in September 2026, with UK, US and Canadian dealer deliveries from October 2026.

One gap worth flagging: KTM hasn’t put out a eurozone RRP for mainland Europe yet, despite the bike going on sale in the UK, US and Canada this same month. The EUR figures in that table are currency conversions of the UK/US/Canada prices, not an actual continental European price – if you’re shopping in Germany, France or anywhere else on the euro, that number is still an open question.

How It Stacks Up Against the Yamaha Ténéré 700 Rally Edition

KTM’s own pricing announcement framed the 690 Rally against the Yamaha Ténéré 700 Rally Edition, its closest rival on paper. On UK list price they land within a few hundred pounds of each other, but the hardware differs more than the price tags suggest: a single against a twin, a lighter claimed dry weight against Yamaha’s wet kerb weight, and 4 more litres of fuel capacity on the KTM.

That weight row needs a caveat the spec sheets don’t give you: KTM’s 161.5 kg is a dry figure with no fuel aboard, while Yamaha quotes the Ténéré 700 Rally Edition wet, full of fuel and oil. Fill the KTM’s 20-litre tank (roughly 15 kg of fuel) and the real-world gap closes a lot – it’s still almost certainly the lighter bike, just not by quite as much as putting those two numbers side by side suggests.

What We Know / What’s Still Unclear

What we know: - Full engine, chassis and suspension specs, confirmed by KTM at the official reveal on 8 September 2026 - UK, US and Canadian pricing, confirmed by KTM on 28 September 2026 - UK/US/Canada dealer deliveries from October 2026; production running since September 2026 - It’s built on the existing 690 Enduro R platform, not a new engine or frame

What’s still unclear: - Mainland European (eurozone) RRP hasn’t been published - Australian/New Zealand pricing and availability timing haven’t been confirmed - Whether the titanium Akrapovič exhaust seen on the July prototype ships as standard or stays an accessory, as it does on the 690 SMC R and Enduro R - Independent real-world fuel range and handling figures – everything above is KTM’s own claimed data

FAQ

When does the KTM 690 Rally go on sale?

Production started in Austria in September 2026. UK, US and Canadian dealers get their first bikes in October 2026.

How much does the KTM 690 Rally cost?

£11,499 in the UK (~€13,400), $14,199 in the US (~€13,150), and C$15,599 in Canada (~€14,450). KTM hasn’t announced mainland European or Australian/New Zealand pricing yet.

What engine does the KTM 690 Rally use?

A 692.7cc liquid-cooled LC4 single, the same engine family as the rest of the 690 range, producing 79 PS (58.1 kW) at 8,000 rpm and 73 Nm at 6,750 rpm.

Can I ride the KTM 690 Rally on an A2 licence?

No. At 58.1 kW it’s well over the 35 kW A2 cap, and KTM hasn’t announced a restricted version.

How does it compare to the Yamaha Ténéré 700 Rally Edition?

It’s priced within a few hundred pounds of it in the UK, carries 4 more litres of fuel, and has a lower claimed dry weight, but it’s a single-cylinder bike against Yamaha’s twin – different character as much as different numbers.

Why does the KTM 690 Rally have three fuel tanks?

It’s the classic rally-raid layout: two 3.5-litre tanks mounted at the front plus the standard 690 platform’s 13-litre rear tank, selected via a handlebar switch, giving 20 litres total – the same formula that made the 640 Adventure famous for going a very long way between fuel stops.

Official source: https://www.ktm.com/en-us/models/adventure/2027-ktm-690-rally.html

Reporting via: mcnews.com.au, motorcyclenews.com