Does anyone else find the constant adding CC's weird? They announced development of the 890 soon after the 790 launched. Then it will be the 990 again, and they will start with another smaller one.
For all manufacturers, why not just define a few key displacements (like 300cc, 650cc, 900cc), and refine them at their current size..?
it likely also depends on the markets...small bikes don't sell well here...in other parts of the world (Asian markets, for example) those bikes dominate.
Oh yeah, in asia my bike would be considered "big". They make a 250 Vstrom as well for those markets.
Does anyone else find the constant adding CC's weird? They announced development of the 890 soon after the 790 launched. Then it will be the 990 again, and they will start with another smaller one.
For all manufacturers, why not just define a few key displacements (like 300cc, 650cc, 900cc), and refine them at their current size..?
Because if you have a 790, now you want an 890 
. I think it's half marketing, half engineering.
This is the reason right here!!
I can only comment on KTMs reasoning. They always have a goal or vision for their "R" model. And during development their vision couldn't be reached with the 790cc mill. So they decided to have the 890 for the R model.
How true is that? Beats me...but they said it fairly early on.
That can't be true every couple of years, it just keeps going!
Oh...well yea, every few years all the manufacturers jump into a new "class"...usually depending on what consumers want...or trying to inject new excitement into a class that was lagging. As far as KTM goes, they've always had odd-ball engine displacements relative to the classes. (150cc, 300cc, 380cc, 390cc, 450, 520, 535, 550, 625, 640, 690, 950, 990 etc etc),
I'm old enough to remember when the hottest class was the 250cc and 400cc classes. They got all the goodies before the bigger bikes did....with price tags to match. Then the 750cc was the market darling class. Then 1000s became lightweight...new interest. Then the 600s came on hard...and no more 750cc class to speak of. Etc etc etc
As you point out, it's perpetually changing.
**EDIT**
Here's somewhat of a blurb about the 790 vs 890. I don't know where I read it originally. But it was along these same lines. This is from CW.
In fact, the 890 project dates back to 2012 when KTM engineers first began work on creating the LC8c parallel-twin motor. “We always intended to develop a 790 Duke R, which was in our planning from the start,” states Sinke. “But then during the development program it got to the point that we weren’t happy with our prototype of this—it wasn’t enough R, not enough KTM. So we decided to produce just the 790 Duke to start with, and then go full attack on the R, and make it what we believe a KTM Duke R should be, if necessary with a bigger engine. So we basically tore up the spec sheet of the original, and went back to the drawing board to figure out how far we could take that engine and that chassis—and the 890 Duke R is the result.”
