I figured I should probably go to the drag strip at least once in my life and having a new 1290 is probably reason enough to try it out so I went out the Bandimere (Colorado, elevation 5,800') tonight and ran it down the quarter mile a few times. Best was 11.139@130mph. I didn't think that was too bad considering it was my first time going and the mags only got 10.93 out of it.

Times from the night...

Did you leave TC on?

Yeah, I tried it once without and almost looped the damn thing. I threw the slip away from that run, but I think it was a 12 something

Excellent! A few mags, just recently, have gotten 10.2 and 10.3 runs. Don't know if they left TC on or not and I presume KTM gives them a broken-in bike. My 1290 is the hardest accelerating and quickest bike I've ever owned.....up to about 125mph. Then rpm and aerodynamics and the realities of owning a torquey v-twin allows my other inline 4 more aero bikes to catch up. More like "scream by". How often do I ride over 125 (which is what the end of the 1/4 mile replicates)? Rarely. I'm more of a 0 to 100 guy. In these parts doing 35 over posted limit is enough cause for police to take me to jail as if I didn't need more reason not to ride at those speeds on public streets.

Your 130mph trap makes me smile! My aforementioned inline fours are topping my 1290 by about 5 to 8 mph.

On a somewhat related note, the Diavel is posting quicker ET in this video (with a lightweight pro at controls) than the mags initially posted: http://www.cycleworld.com/2014/08/07/sm ... drag-race/

Pretty consistant times there.
I took my 990 down last year and managed best ET of 11.4 so would expect better than that out of the 1290.
Found reaction time was the biggest factor in achieving a good ET.
Will find out this summer.

Beyond the elevation (17% power loss @5,800'), I think my 60' times should be closer to 1.6, which if you go by the rough rule of every 1/10 at 60 is 2/10ths off the ET, that would put it around 10.3ish with a good drag racer. I imagine that kind of 60' time would be difficult to achieve on this bike though given the amount of torque and the geometry. There's a lot of traction on a drag strip, much more than the street or a road course, so it's difficult to keep the front end down while still accelerating quickly.

I imagine the consistency in times between what I ran across several runs and what the mags I read ran, involved leaving the traction control on. I bet you could run faster if you turned it off and really know what you're doing (and don't care all that much about burning up your clutch).

My understanding is that the reaction time actually has nothing to do with the ET, the clock for ET starts when you move, not when the light goes, so you could technically still run a 11.1 with a 12 second reaction time. The reaction time only comes into play when you're racing someone, as you could actually win a race with a slower ET if you significantly beat the other person's reaction time. As it was explained to me, to win racing, you need the lesser of the ET and the reaction time.

Track here is jsut above sea level so probably counts for a bit.
The two times I have been down the strip reaction time definitely counted, clock starts when green light goes on.
Biggest issue I had with the 990 was keeping the front wheel down, got quicker when I learnt to keep an eye on the tacho and change before hitting the limiter.

Made the list...who'd have thought you'd ever see a KTM on there

What rpm did you launch at with TC on?

Did you sit further back with the "band-aid" tc helping front end loft?

First gear start I presume.

How did the bike react, with TC, with such a violent launch at whatever rpm?

I remember in one of the first videos of the bike the journo found that he got a better 0-100mph time by starting in second and abusing the clutch. Wonder how much difference that would make at the drag strip?