Kramer, maker of high-end track bikes, has announced a new hot-road naked bike at the EICMA show in Milan. The new Kramer GP2-890XX is a big departure from their previous fully-faired machinery, but it is a very interesting-looking brute of a bike.
If it has the same engine as the GP2-890 R, then it should make 130 hp from a re-tuned 890 LC8c parallel twin—the same power that KTM just announced from the 990 Duke R, which uses a big-bored version of the engine.
While the PR doesn’t overwhelm us with lots of tech specs, it does say the GP-2 890 XX has “top-shelf brake components from Brembo, suspension pieces from WP, and electronics from Mectronik.” Other highlights include a lot of carbon-fibre componentry, including bodywork, air scoops, number plates, and BST Star Tek wheels. There’s also a new GP-style titanium exhaust that is supposed to offer “a rowdy and booming aural experience on the race track.”
Also, this bike is made to be the first entry into Kramer’s new customization program, so buyers are able to choose their frame color and the color of their decals, since production is so limited, the factory can tweak any specific order. Note that Kramer hasn’t listed a specific production run number, though—but they will be very limited. In the future, Kramer says it plans to expand this customization program to other models.
Check out that flat handlebar, made for an upright hooligan riding position, not a bent-over clip-on hunch. Kramer says the bike is “Built for wheelies, not podiums, and that the Kramer GP2-890 XX “focuses on the exhilaration of riding a thoroughbred motorcycle on the race track, rather than shedding every tenth of a second from a lap time.” Or as Jensen Beeler, CEO of Kramer Motorcycles USA put it:
“When we looked around the paddocks we were going to, we noticed that a little over ten percent of the motorcycles on track were large-displacement naked models, which is an interesting trend developing in the industry,” explained Jensen Beeler, CEO of Kramer Motorcycles USA. “Until now, no manufacturer has produced a hypernaked that is focused solely for the race track, even though the demographics are skewing more into this category with each passing year. The Kramer GP2-890 XX aims to give these track riders a more purpose-built motorcycle for this segment of circuit riding, in the same way our other motorcycles have done in their model segments.”
Very cool stuff indeed. The bike is supposed to be at dealers next spring, with an MSRP just shy of $50k in the US. Can you get one into Canada? Probably, since it’s not street-legal. If you try it, let us know how that works out for you…
