VOL. 50 ISSUE 44 NOVEMBER 5, 2013
P43
(Right) The bike
gets a singlesided swingarm.
(Left) The Super
Duke has that
unmistakable
KTM look.
(Above right) The cockpit has it all,
including a separate screen for the
stuff you can control.
(Right) By re-designing the
existing RC8 R motor, KTM was
able to make it lighter while
also increasing both torque and
horsepower and gaining some
extra fuel economy to boot.
they don't need a purpose-built
bike for a given segment of motorcycling, they can really reap
the rewards of one such model –
a motorcycle that combines the
best of street riding and is pretty
damn good on the track as well.
The new Super Duke 1290
represents the fourth generation
of the Super Duke family. It all
started in 2005 with the first 950
Super Duke; then, in 2007, came
the second edition - complete
with fuel injection. In 2008, KTM
launched its 990 Super Duke
and corresponding R model. And
now we're near the end of 2013
and the new 2014 1290 Super
Duke R is on its way.
After a very successful showing
of the concept bike (The Beast)
in 2012 at the EICMA show in Milan – a motorcycle that featured a
RC8 R Superbike motor with an
extra 1.3 liters of overbore fitted
into a Super Duke-styled chassis
- KTM decided to bring it to the
street for 2014.
Maximum performance was the
goal of the new 1290 Super Duke,
but they wanted to retain its lightweight trellis frame and minimalist street fighter looks. The KTM
engineers were not concerned
about all out horsepower, but they
were very keen on making the
new Duke as user friendly and
versatile as possible while still retaining its brutish facade.
Weighing in at 416 pounds
and producing 106 foot pounds
of torque and around 163 horsepower at the wheel, the new Super Duke R was going to be a bit
challenging to control. So why
not take advantage of the now
well-established use of electronic aids and controls to tame the
new beast?
KTM choose a new Keihin engine management system complete with a ride-by-wire throttle
system that controls new larger
56 mm throttle bodies, up from
the previous 52 mm. The system
also contains new Ride Mode
Technology, which offers three
different power settings to choose
