It’s surprising so few motorcycle manufacturers are doing it: offering ready-to-race Superbikes to the buying public. But considering that’s KTM’s corporate motto, who better to do so?

Not since the hazy days of Grand Prix two-strokes have customers been able to purchase production roadracers. Should you want to campaign a modern four-stroke Superbike, you basically have two choices: Build one yourself or develop the connections necessary to rent one. And even then, it will likely be last year’s model. Aprilia and Erik Buell Racing are the only other companies currently selling race-ready Superbikes, and both of those are prohibitively expensive: $65,000 for Aprilia’s RSV4 Max Biaggi Replica and $40,000-plus for Buell’s 1190RR.

All of which makes the $19,999 KTM RC8R Race Spec a winning proposition. In a nutshell, the Race Spec is a stripped-down RC8R outfitted with KTM’s club kit, intended to let an RC8R owner transform his streetbike into a racebike. Except in this case, the bike is delivered in race trim with no street equipment whatsoever—which means it can’t ever be registered for street use.

From the backside of a telephoto lens, the Race Spec doesn’t look that different from a standard RC8R. Obviously there’s no street equipment, such as a headlight, taillight, turnsignals, horn or mirrors. Thus the racing bodywork has no hole for a headlight, and there’s no rear fender, reflectors or license-plate bracket. The front numberplate and belly pan are painted orange, but the rest of the bodywork is refrigerator-white to allow for application of sponsor decals.

Look closer and the differences become more apparent. Tires are Dunlop slicks. Wheels are forged-aluminum Marchesinis. Suspension consists of a WP 4354 fork with a black diamond-like coating on its stanchions and a WP 4013 VP shock with separate circuits for compression and rebound damping, a la an Öhlins TTX. Brakes are Brembo Monoblocs like those on the RC8R, but with race-compound pads. Hand levers are hinged “as a precaution against ground and enemy contact.” Although the electric starter is retained, there’s little in the way of switchgear beyond a killswitch and a trigger for the onboard lap-timer. Wires springing from the gearshift linkage betray the existence of an electronic quick-shifter, permitting wide-open-throttle, clutchless upshifts.

When KTM’s Tom Moen told us about the Race Spec, we invited him to bring one along with a stock RC8R to Chuckwalla Valley Raceway, where we were conducting our “Class of 2011” sportbike comparison. We rode the stocker first, and found that the main complaint we voiced during our “Class of 2010” comparison had been addressed: abrupt throttle response, caused in part by a long-throw twistgrip coupled with a light return spring. There’s no sign of that on the 2011 RC8R with its new dual-spark ignition, as the bike accelerates off of corners as smoothly as any other big-bore V-twin sportbike, even over bumpy pavement.

It took us a while to get the RC8R to handle at Infineon Raceway (our 2010 test venue), though admittedly that was because we had to backtrack from the Austrian factory’s recommended settings. No such issues with the 2011 model, as it proved both flickable and stable right out of the box—even when fitted with the hard-compound front Dunlop Sportmax D211-A that wreaked havoc on the other bikes’ handling. Moreover, the RC8R was easy on its medium-compound rear Dunlop, showing even wear in marked contrast to the shredded rubber on the traction-controlled bikes. Ironic, no?