FIRST RIDE
P46
2014 KTM 1290 SUPER DUKE R
was too soft or too stiff for the
conditions at hand. The new 1290
Super Duke R gives you a confident and very predictable feel as it
soaks up anything and everything
the road had to throw at us.
The new Ride Mode selection came in quite handy as well.
Whether cruising through town
or on questionable surfaces, the
Ride Mode selection was useful. I switched between Sport
and Street mode quite often,
using the left handlebar switch
and easy-to-read dash display
all while cruising down the road
(ride modes can be activated
while riding, but the ABS and
traction control changes require
the bike to be stationary).
The initial hit is softened up a
bit in the Street mode, but the
power range was not that noticeably reduced. The Bosch ABS is
another nice feature and really
comes into play when encountering some of the rougher and unpredictable sections where panic
braking might be an issue. The
ABS has a very subtle feel and
unless you are really on it you
would never know the system is
working. No matter how hard you
try, the ABS-assisted brakes just
work and slow you down better
than you can do on your own.
We finally arrived at our destination and after my first initial ride I
found myself quite impressed with
the performance of the new 1290
Super Duke R. The thing that
sticks out the most on the new
bike is its chassis. KTM has retained the lightweight, highly rigid
The new 1290 R
comes in KTM
orange and an
all blacked-out
version.
chrome-moly steel trellis frame
and link-less rear suspension.
WP provides damping at both
ends with a new 48mm inverted
fork complete with compression
adjustment on the left tube and
rebound on the right tube. In the
rear you will find a new WP shock
with compression and rebound
adjustments; and spring pre-load
can be accessed by loosening a
set-screw on the spring retainer.
Then you just dial-in the pre-load
to your preferred setting. I never
once found the need to adjust
the settings front or rear… they
worked that good.
One thing that is noticeably different on the new Super Duke is
the introduction of a single-sided
swingarm. I asked why they made
the change and the answer was
so that the new exhaust has more
room to keep the weight more
centralized under the bike while
not losing any ground clearance.
By switching to a single-sided design, the KTM engineers found
they could also better control the
rigidity of the swingarm. Whatev-
