KTM Updates Its Dashboard, Switchgear - Adventure Rider

Oct 17, 2024

The new vertically-oriented V80 dash. Photo: KTM

KTM continues to drop details on its updated 2025 lineup, with news now of new TFT screens for its premium bikes and a revised switchgear interface to go with them.

The updates start with the new V80 and H88 touchscreen dashboards. The V80 is a vertical 8-inch screen, and the H88 is a horizontal 8.8-inch screen (in other words, not just the same screen turned sideways). The screens now have 1280 x 720 resolution and can display 256,000 colors; previously, they had 65,000 colors. Do those stats matter to ADVers, considering many of us grew up on analog gauges and then a monochromatic LCD dash? Will you enjoy the Kalahari’s scenery more, with a flashy display? Maybe, maybe not, but it’s there if you want it, and perhaps the update will make it easier to read maps or other data. With new Anti-Reflex, Anti-Fingerprint, and Anti-Glare screen coatings, the screen should be easier to read anyway.

The H88 dash sits in horizontal configuration. Photo: KTM

The new inductive touch screen is supposed to work well regardless of weather or your riding gear choice, even if you’re waring riding gloves, says KTM. There are also “shortcut buttons” built into the sidescreen that KTM says will eliminate the need for auxiliary switches. There will be less switchgear to navigate on the handlebar, because the on/off buttons are built into the dashboard, allowing quick access to your heated grips, heated seat, fog lights, etc.

If you aren’t happy with your screen’s layout at first, KTM offers five different configurations to choose from, with split-screen. KTM says there are pre-set options that let riders choose what they want to see, from adaptive cruise control functions to map navigation, to telemetry, or favorites, or even music as their core home screen. Or they can just go with a reduced, bare-basics layout.

And they’ve also tweaked the switchgear a lot, since they’ve taken some of the functions away and put them on the screen:

… the switchgear has also been completely revised and optimized. It now features a dedicated Ride Mode button, a new 5-way joystick and back button, new cruise control buttons, new A/M (automatic/manual) button for AMT models, light, and ignition switch and new paddle buttons that are customizable for models that are not fitted with AMT. The new buttons are also backlit and with graphics placed in optimal and logical positions to make it easy to find while riding in any conditions.

No doubt users will have their own preference as to which dash they want on their bikes. Photo: KTM

One major change that KTM seems to underplay in its PR is an updated Offline Map Navigation system. According to their email, this navigation system is now built into the bike’s connectivity unit (the same gadgetry that connects to your mobile device). Because of this change, offline navigation now works without syncing or tethering your phone to the bike, meaning you can get active route guidance and planning and other nav functions even if your cell has no service. Or at least, that’s what the PR seems to say.

That connectivity unit now has 32 GB of storage and 3 GB of ram, running Android Automotive OS:

This allows for IoT connectivity with eSim, a GPS Antenna, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi.

The CCU3.0 ensures seamless reconnection with your smartphone on every ignition cycle, allowing riders to pick up where they left off in their music app on the split screen – now with album covers – and access their complete contacts list from the phone.

With this new approach it will be much easier to update functions and features throughout the life of the motorcycle in a way that we know from many other products such as phones and personal electronic devices. Initially, all updates will be done through the KTM dealer, but in the future also over-the-air directly to the motorcycle.

KTM says the new dash will come to their premium models first, and it will spread throughout the lineup in years to come. More details inbound at EICMA, we’re sure.