Hi all,

Two weeks ago I bought a black SD. My fourth KTM. It's only 4 months old with just 1700 mls on the clock. Complete with a full Ti Akra Evo exhaust & fuel map on it.

The first owner got scared on it and looking at the chickenstrips on the rear tyre I understand that. His wife didn't want to be pillion on it either. Gee, what a nasty story...

My previous bike for the last three years was a 950 Adventure. Tweaked'n modded I only used it as (huge) funbike on tarmac. With 19 & 17" wheels it was great but at the end of the day still a big all road. The height, weight, long wheelbase, soft long travel suspension and soft(ish) brakes will never make it a sportsbike. And it shouldn't be. But I rode this bike too close to its limit too often so it was time for something else. Then this opportunity came along!

Holy smoke the SDuke IS something else!!

Besides this my first impressions after a few hundred miles on the 'to do' side are the rock hard rear suspension. Geez, this is insane. At least for my 180 lbs weight. It kicks and jumps around hard with way too little sag. The rear tyre looses traction because of this too and doesn't help the bikes' road holding. I think there's a lot of room for improvement here. Next up is the fuel light coming up at 100 KMs or so.

I'll do some reading first before asking too much questions!

Welcome KTMax (Richard?). I recognise you from the MonoManiacs website and forum. I too have just bought an SD after eight years on a Duke I and five years on a Duke II. I still have them both, just can't let go!. SD is awesome, makes the Dukes feel like slow old tractors, though I think they would still beat the SD along a twisty bumpy back road!.
Jim

Hi Jim, yes the same old KTManiac...

I've had a fully tricked Duke I too. With a 660 factory Rally engine. Did some 30K KMs of total hooliganism on it. I had such a great time on it. But last saturday I was at a bike shop with a friend on his Duke II to get our bikes dynoed. A good Duke II with a Del'orto pumper, DAM exhausts and a gas flowed head by Sommer. This friend bike did 61 RWHP (SAE) with some great curves. That's healthy.

The 40KM ride back we switched bikes as he wanted to try my SDuke too. It was a jawdropping experience for me. It felt dog DOG slow, the frame felt sloppy and flexy, suspension squashy, footpegs sit like forward controls etc. etc. In short, I thought it was a nightmare. The SDuke steers a lot faster and is more flickable on anything but a 1st gear 90 degree turn. The brakes are twice as good and it is twice as fast with 1/10th of the vibrations.

The SDuke is a different universe all together IMO. I think with equal skilled riders there's no way you can beat an SDuke on any twisty road with an LC4. Apart from an extremely bad, extremely bumpy, extremely tight one. But you don't want to ride there anyhow. BTW this friend thought so too and he's sure his next bike will be something with two slugs from Mattighoffen...

Welcome to the forum

Hello and welcome