VOLUME 57 ISSUE 7 FEBRUARY 19, 2020 P91
(Above) Despite having
an extra catalytic
convertor added, the
overall exhaust weight
has been dropped by 2.2
pounds. (Above right) If
you get one PowerPart
for your Super Duke,
make it the Akrapovic full
titanium race exhaust.
Man, that thing sounds
awesome!
foam a touch firmer, which is a good
thing in my book as your ass doesn't
sink into the seat during a long ride.
There's plenty of ways you can
change the ride position—the
handlebar can be moved into one
of four positions with a 22mm range
of movement, the brake and clutch
levers are span adjustable and the
pegs can be moved on an eccentric
so you'll always be able to find the
right setting.
Immediately, you're smacked in
the face by the stupendous low-end
torque from the 1301cc four-stroke.
At traffic speed, you barely need
to go out of 4000 rpm, short shift-
ing your way up the massive torque
curve and letting the motor pull you
from corner to corner. Throttle re-
sponse at this speed is simply beauti-
ful and belies the fact you have so
much immediate go underneath you.
Wind it up, however, and things
start happening very quickly.
Hunched over the front, you begin
gunning for apexes in a much more
purposeful fashion than on the 2017
Super Duke. It's not as though the
2020 bike feels completely different,
it's just tighter, more direct in every-
thing it does.
It takes days to work out the dash
and all the various functions within
it. If it were my bike, I'd figure out my
setting and leave it there, because
you can very easily get lost on the
range of electronic adjustment. One
thing desperately annoying is when
you simply kill the motor (let alone
switch off the ignition), the electron-
ics default to the base settings for
throttle, traction control, wheelie
control, ABS, etc. Having to con-
stantly rewire my own settings drove
me nuts.
