FEATURE
2016 PIKES PEAK INTERNATIONAL HILL CLIMB – PART I
P108
The list of parts we put on the
machine read: Akrapovic full
titanium exhaust system, Power-
Parts air filter, race fuel map-
ping, PowerParts triple clamps,
race bodywork, wave rotors, rear
sets and axle sliders, WP racing
fork internals and race shock,
Pirelli SC1 slick tires and later, a
belly pan from Airtech, and Drive
Systems sprockets to shorten
the gearing.
Six days of suspension testing
ensued at Fontana, Chuckwalla
and Buttonwillow, each throw-
ing up their own sets of issues
and each ultimately proving
to be nearly useless by the
time we got to the mountain.
Spring rates were constantly
changed, shocks revalved and
revalved again—it was proving a
bit of a challenge just to get the
KTM handling in a manner that
wouldn't see it buck me off the
cliff at the first opportunity.
We finally found a base set-
ting that seemed reasonable,
realized we were out of time
and packed our boxes for the
mountain.
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE
Prior to landing at Pikes Peak
and our base of Apex Sports in
Colorado Springs, the last six
months had been spent learning
the course by playing the Sebas-
The second day of official practice on the mid-section of the mountain.
Our Super Duke 1290 R came a
long way over the last 12 months.
Stripping it down and building it
into a racer was great fun.
