VOL. 53 ISSUE 17 MAY 3, 2016 P85
need any more horsepower.
I'm not one of those riders like
Jeremy Toye who can genuinely
use everything the engine has to
offer, so for me the Super Duke
already has plenty of power.
What I want is a chassis that
turns direction nicely and stops
when required.
Initially, former KTM factory
Superbike racer Chris Fillmore
and I started with a 180N/mm
spring in the rear from the WP
catalog. This, we soon real-
ized, was way too hard even for
Fontana, let alone the bumps
we'll see at Pikes Peak. We
also didn't have enough range
of adjustment from the KTM
PowerParts WP race shockâthe
Super Duke's rebound was noth-
ing short of violent. We'd already
maxed out on the clickers and
gotten nowhere, so the shock
was sent back to WP for a re-
valve and now we have a much
wider scope of adjustment,
racing 250 Production RGVs
in Australia. The Super Duke
doesn't mind this style but the
sheer force the engine puts out
means to get the best from the
chassis, it's got to be a point-
and-shoot riding style, especially
in the slower mid-section of the
mountain. This is where I re-
ally need to work on my style to
get the best from the bike, but I
think we're in not too bad shape
from the front of the chassis. It
changes direction super fast,
almost too fast between some of
the slower chicane sections of
along with the 170N/mm spring
in the PowerParts catalog.
We also sent the forks back
and now they also sport the
0.9kg spring in the PowerParts
catalog, although the forks them-
selves have not been re-valved.
The front hasn't been too hard
to get into what Chris and I both
agree is a sweet base spot, but
the rear has caused us a few
troubles, hence the re-valving.
My style is I like to carry high
corner speed and feed the gas
on, a remainder from my days
Fontana, which is a good prob-
lem to have.
One area Chris and I both
agree on is that the high-speed
stability of the chassis is very
good with the latest suspen-
sion on board. The chassis
overpowers the standard KTM
steering stabilizer, so we've got
a new WP one on order, but
along the banking at Fontana
and through the ultra fast left/
right of turn one, the Super
Duke feels super tight, so that
should serve us well for the last
We've had a few problems with
the shock but we're working
through them.
The WP fork has been pretty
easy to set up so far.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
CALI
PHOTOGRAPHY
