Brabus 1400R confirmed in approval documents
By Ben Purvis
The appetite for high-priced, low-volume motorcycles aimed at wealthy customers appears to be immune to the ups and downs of the global economy - with a headlong rush to snap up expensive limited-edition machines whenever they're launched. It should therefore be no surprise to hear that a new Brabus 1400R is being readied on the KTM 1390 Super Duke R platform.
Brabus is a name more associated with cars than motorcycles. A tuner with a longstanding association with high-performance versions of Mercedes-Benz machines, it's also worked with other vehicles, including speedboats, and in 2022 it entered the world of two wheels with the 1300R, a high-performance naked bike based on KTM's 1290 Super Duke R.
Given the huge profit margins that exclusive bikes based on mass-made machines can offer, it's logical that with the advent of the larger-engined KTM 1390 Super Duke R, powered by the new 1350 cc, variable-valve-timing version of KTM's LC8 V-twin engine, another Brabus model is planned. The name Brabus 1400R was trademarked a year ago for the project, and now the machine has appeared in newly-released type-approval listings from the EPA in the USA.
The listing shows that the Brabus 1400R, like its predecessors, is mechanically identical to the KTM it's based on, with the same 1350 cc, 140 kW (188 hp) V-twin engine and unchanged emissions. Notably, the 1400R is the first Brabus to get approval in the USA - the previous versions weren't sold on that side of the Atlantic - so there's a whole untapped market of customers there who haven't previously had the opportunity to buy a Brabus-badged bike.
When the machine's name was trademarked a year ago, Brabus actually filed three distinct registrations - Brabus 1400R Signature, Brabus 1400R Rocket, and Brabus 1400R Tailor Made - indicating that, like the previous model, we can expect more than one production run.
Since KTM's manufacturing has been on hold since the start of the year, as the company wrangles with its insolvency issues, the Brabus project is likely to have been delayed, but with production starting to ramp up again and new investment expected by May, the project is likely to emerge officially before the end of this year.
