VOL. 54 ISSUE 6 FEBRUARY 14, 2017 P67
(MSR), which cracks open the
throttle butterflies just a touch if
the reverse torque under braking
becomes too high and causes the
rear wheel to lock, the KTM stays
true to its line and won't tie itself in
knots on corner entry.
Conversely, it's nice when you
get on the gas and the weight
shifts to the rear, combining with
the new traction control settings
and a revamped, stiffer shock
to lay the power down thick and
fast as you feed the rear tire to its
death one revolution at a time.
The new Super Duke doesn't
feel overtly faster than the out-
going model on the track, which
means it's still sublimely, stupidly
quick all through the rev range,
but it's definitely smoother in
acceleration, as noted on the
road ride. The Super Duke feels
eager to rev, and you can take
the action 500 rpm higher than
before thanks to the revamped
pistons and combustion cham-
bers before you hit the soft-
action rev limiter.
Playing around with the Super
Duke's new electronics is great
fun, you can really tailor the ride
to your style, and as such for my
time at Losail I settle on traction
map two out of nine, anti-wheelie
off and ABS on Supermoto mode.
The nine-stage traction control
system is excellent in that it's so
unobtrusive it's hard to feel the
system working below level three,
although above level four any hard
yank of the throttle will have the
yellow traction light flashing up on
the dash rather quickly.
New also for the electronics
suite is the launch control, which
we experimented with in a quick
two-man, two-heat drag race
down Losail's massive straight.
Launch control systems vary
from manufacturer to manu-
facturer, and KTM's works by
having you pin the throttle to the
stop, dump the clutch and never
back off. That last point can't be
under-estimated.
The trick to getting a Super
Duke off the line smoothly, in my
experience of owning and racing
the original model, is to go old
A KTM
PowerParts-
equipped
Super Duke
on brand new
slicks really is
as good as it
sounds.
