Hi to the list,
I've been thinking about buying an SD but am a little put off by the local dealer who can't be bothered to respond to some simple queries about accessory prices, servicing and so on. It's a bit of a shoestring operation and I guess my appearance - middle-aged, bearded and broad-of-beam -may have raised some questions about how serious I am.

I'm hoping therefore to get feedback from the list as to how dependent an SD owner is on his/her dealer - is the support from the factory good enough to for an inexperienced but (let's assume) willing dealer to look after the bike properly ? Am thinking not so much of normal maintenance - the LC8 is used in several of the KTM range - but of SD-specific stuff like new maps for the ECU and sorting out what appear to be general problems on the SD like the low-speed fuelling, noisy starter motor and so on.

On a different note (putting on my tourism-promoter's hat) the Western Cape where I live could have been designed for the SD. Great roads, fabulous scenery, good weather and not too much traffic. The downside is the abysmal standard of driving so defensive riding (on an SD ?) is the order of the day in town.

An off-topic question aimed at Australian listers - what do you chaps do to produce so many top-class racers ?

Welcome too! You're right about the scenery. Last April I've spend a week in Cape Town. Boy did I missed a bike riding that jawdropping coastal road to the Cape point in my rental car...