German tuning house Brabus is better known for its completely over-the-top Mercedes and....er.....Smart Cars! Now, could they be turning their hand to motorcycles?

Is there a Brabus KTM on the way?

In the car world, the names of AMG, Alpina and Brabus are well known for taking already fast and expensive - mainly German - cars and making them even faster and more expensive.

Strangely, however, this has never happened in the motorcycle world. It's not as if any of the cars undergoing the treatment are any less insane than their bike counterparts, so quite why the tuning houses have ignored bikes until now is a mystery.

Having said that, it's not as if bikes are not already reaching the point where they are just too fast for the road, so why would anyone think they need to be made faster? Mind you, the same could be said for the cars as well.

In truth, a lot of modifications to cars are based around cosmetics as opposed to pure performance upgrades but couldn't the same philosophy be applied to bikes as well?

Well, perhaps it is about to be. Brabus has registered the 1300 R model name with the European Patent office, according to German website motorradonline.de

While the patent application doesn't specifically mention the KTM 1290 Super Duke RR, Motorrad seems to think it knows that this is the bike it refers to.

Motorrad quotes 'leaked information' that claims the bike will remain untouched mechanically but will shed 5kg of weight. Brabus being Brabus, expect that to mean lots and lots of expensive carbon fibre parts, perhaps altering the overall styling of the bike.

Personally, this sounds like the sort of toy all those rich and unimaginitive people out there who have everything will buy because they can't think of anything else to spend their money on. Given that the price is going to be pretty eye-watering, it's unlikely that any real motorcycle enthusiast would choose to spend money on what is already the most potent naked bike out there.

What next? Brabus already gives the treatment to the Smart Car, so maybe we could see a Brabus Vespa or an AMG Honda Super Cub?

Don't bet against it: people will buy anything!