Riding a 1290 gratis this summer: http://www.1290superduker.com/cms/ (Select Special #8)

Yes, Baron. Local vlogging hero.

WTF though? This is such BS. it's not a fair competition if you're a mini celebrity with 50k followers on you tube.

KTM marketing dept. can GFT's

Can't blame them. It's a very clever bit of PR. If it was a lottery they wouldn't have asked any info about you, just thrown your name in a hat and drawn them out. They want as much free PR as they can get and he will do that. I look forward to his videos.

They could've made it clear in the Ts and Cs that the best profile/submission would be chosen.

Or maybe I was blinded with hope and didn't think further than: "You could win a new SD."

And yet they want us to pick the winner........fook off.

That site is complete bollox. I'd not seen it before. Reading through the comments made me cringe a bit, most of the posters sound like teenage dicks. It all smacks of marketing too hard and targeted at the wrong people. I'm getting increasingly embarrassed for KTM and the way they have launched the 1290.

I certainly won't be following or voting for any of those "winners".

What they should have done is ensured that there were an adequate supply of demo bikes for people like me to have a go on. If it was brilliant then I maybe would have been tempted to buy one by now. But so far all get is non committal shrugs from KTM dealers and not one of them has called me up or sent me an e mail inviting me to come test one, (as they all promised to do so).

I'm not going to buy a bike or even think about buying one from reading a blog written by some guy I don't know who isn't even qualified to do an honest comparison or have an informed opinion about the things I want to know.

Get real KTM.

PS. Just spent ten minutes on the youtube site where the "Baron" is to be found. Not my cup of tea. Banal. He might ride bikes but his idea of interesting is to take a Gixer 1000 green-laning. He reports it's hard to steer and falls off a lot.

No wonder he keeps his identity secret. But Banksy he is not.

I will absolutely not be interested in what he has to say about the 1290.

I think all this has put me in a bad mood.

+1 but from KTM's perspective, you, me and others like us are already in the bag so why bother?

Have KTM ever acknowledged/recognised that this site exists, that some of us have been buying their bikes, services and spares for at least three times longer than the 'winners' have been riding and the contribution this forum represents to their brand ?

Meh, maybe I'm just a bad loser..........

I didn't win either but I would say KTM have done an outstanding job of marketing the new SD.

They have turned a bored out RC8 with mandlebars into a press darling and sold out phenomenon through their relatively inexpensive "beast" campaign and will win a lot of converts as well as the much more commercially important halo effect on the smaller bikes. A marketing masterclass if you ask me.

Yes the price will drop later when the novelty wears off and the total volume sold will never be all that high but I bet it remains profitable for KTM as a line and helps shift a shit load of cheaper product as well. They are in business to turn metal into money, in that context its going to be a great success I'm sure and as a by product we get a shiny new way to turn gass into noise so why worry.

Bikers often remind me of the people's popular front of judea from monty python - splitters!! Most ordinary people struggle to spot the difference between a Harley and a fire blade while we get worked up over different brands of steering damper.

Hats off to KTM for a hugely successful launch. I hooe they shift shitloads so that I can bag a nice heavily modded cheap second hand one in a few years time.

KTM UK know they have messed up. They didn't request enough bikes.

The lack of units is why poor old Bic can't get a demo ride.

There is a chance KTM will dip into other European markets and move some stock if the bike isn't moving elsewhere.

fook em , thats what i say

but then again i did'nt enter

My feeling is that KTM have fooked up big time. The marketing campaign had touches of brilliance for a bike that is just a SD with more horsepower. It has attracted a lot of NEW interest but by the time bikes can be supplied to new customers that interest will have moved on. As an owner of a 1290R I can't even buy a smaller sprocket because it's not in the catalogue, and even if it was, the supply of accessories is also months away. The problem is that they commissioned Marketing to do a smoke and mirrors campaign but didn't have enough faith that it would work so they didn't produce enough bikes ready to go. Every day that ticks by KTM is loosing the sales they could have had. My prediction is that in six months the bikes will eventually be on the showroom floor and in twelve months those same bikes will be still there. Timing is everything. The True Believers will pick up some bargains and the boy wonders will be swooning over supercharged Kawasaki's. Such a shame because big sales could have really cemented KTM into the road-bike scene.