The Africa Eco Race is over and the development of the Frusta, our prototype of the KTM 790 (newly released at the time we undertook this project) has reached a very advanced stage. Unfortunately, it’s incomplete....

Photo by Alessio Corradini (Rally Cool! Photography)

The bike was radically modified, although the frame, forks and engine remain pretty much original, which makes it different from our KTM 950s and 990s which were radically altered. For a rally of this kind, with an over 7,000 kilometers of sand and gravel course and 300K between refueling stops, we had to remake the front and rear tanks. That made it necessary to replace the fuel pumps, the main cause of the breakdowns and problems that arise during races like this where sand and dirt overwhelm the bike at every stage.

The front set-up needed changing as the KTM 790 was born as a light off-road dual-sport, not for a real rally, so many of the stock components were not up for the job. By changing the excursion to the forks, we obtained excellent bike guide. And drawing from our experience with similar bikes and the nature of the African race, we also altered the geometry of the steering plates.

The front structure on which the windshield, roadbook and all the instrumentation is installed, was completely redesigned and welded to the frame to better withstand the constant pounding. Likewise, the electrical system and instrumentation were completely redone. And the foot pegs were lowering and moved back a few centimeters to better adapt to the rider and thus completely changing the feel of the bike. In addition, the trellis where the foot pegs were attached was reengineered. To better accomodate the tanks and lighten the bike a wee bit, we gave the bike a smaller and lighter saddle. Further alterations were necessary to make space for the installation of electronic control units and some tools the rider would need during the Africa Eco Race.

Photo by Alessio Corradini (Rally Cool! Photography)

Then came the crucial suspension. In our opinion, the stock KTM 790 suffers greatly from the incline of its shock absorber. During the months of the bike’s development we met with the makers of a new and innovative system called AirTender, which completely changed our approach for the better. A recoil issue was discovered during the first stages and with AirTender’s help we were able resolve about 80–90% of it. We also tested both a WP shock, the original supplied by KTM, and another made by Mupo, a great Italian product, but nothing substantial arose so we used both during the race.

Photo by Alain Rossignol + Jorge Cunha

For the engine, we used pretty much a stock KTM 790 power plant, simply making changes to the control unit to have a slightly sweeter delivery and lessen it’s horsepower somewhat. Without doing this the bike has a “nervous” behavior, where it’s too powerful and demanding when driven over difficult terrain, which is pertinent to long races such as Africa Eco Race.

It was also necessary to remove the stock exhaust and fortunately SC-Project provided us with an ad hoc version to get the bike through the race.

Photo by Alain Rossignol + Jorge Cunha

Although the bike was radically changed, its heart remains KTM.

Paolo Caprioni
Rider and President, Team Kapriony