2020 K TM 1290 SUPER DUKE R
R I D E R E V I E W
P84
Rennie hounded by his
old KTM teammate Chris
Fillmore. Chris got by,
unsurprisingly easily.
lean-angle stability and feel. It's the same length
as before but sits five millimeters higher on the
frame to give better anti-squat characteristics—es-
sentially to stop the rear from sagging when you
get hard on the gas and eventually running wide.
One of the signature Super Duke features is
now gone, as the exposed tubular steel subframe
gives way to a die-cast aluminum unit which saves
a claimed 3.3 pounds. Those with a keen SD eye
will notice this is the same unit found on the little
brother 790 Duke, which debuted last year.
On the suspension side, the WP APEX fork
retains the split system (compression damping
adjustment on the left, rebound on the right), but
fork now comes with preload adjustment for the
first time.
On the rear, the shock is fully adjustable with
a handy remote preload dial. But, crucially, the
shock now uses a linkage system rather than
operating directly off the swingarm, with the end
result being a much more supple feel from the
back on the road.
The 2020 chassis
(left) with the long front
downtubes, versus the
2017 edition. Note how
much beefier the new
frame is!
