Then there’s the riding pleasure, something no touring bike comes remotely close to – one tug of the handlebars and the SM T is transformed from stable, comfy tourer into highly flickable sinuous road weapon, beautifully balanced from high speeds down to full lock U-turns, which are trial bike tight and so easy on this machine, you can come to a complete stop without putting a foot down.
I thought bike of the year had been sewn up by the 1198 S, and that’s still the ultimate track tool, but as far as real world road bikes go, the KTM dark horse has just reared its head: it has everything from cosseting comfort to supreme agility with an overdose of excitement and saturated satisfaction. It ain’t cheap at almost £10,000, but think of it as so many, so good bikes in the one package and suddenly it looks like a serious bargain.
