You can still see the fire everywhere. Long drips of melted insulation swing off power lines. When wet clouds soak the south-facing slope of the Topatopa Mountains you can smell it too. A rich, earthy, and sodden charcoal smell. It fills your nose when you angle your head and drive it low into a corner. If your eyes look deep to pick your line, they’ll see wisps of scorched chaparral, denuded and black, and stripes of burned-over guardrail. But mostly you see road. Cambered and carving, a dark curling pen stroke, rolled out through bright rock.
In the lower reaches of Highway 33 there's not much for the 2019 KTM Duke 790's brilliant quickshifter to do. A corner is a one-click job, a downward stab to keep the engine spinning hard, and you gather the gear change back the instant you sniff an apex. Second, third, second, third, and so on. The new LC8 engine is a wonder. It's eager in a way that a single can't be, and urgent in a way that an inline-four seldom is.
Words by Chris Cantle
No items found.