FEATURE
PIKES PEAK BUILD 2017
P100
The reason for the delay came
down to the Super Duke being all
new for 2017 (click here for our
launch report from Qatar). When
I built my racer last year, the bike
we used was a 2015 model so
getting bikes, parts, time, etc.
was never an issue. The 2017 Su-
per Dukes have only just arrived
in the U.S., and we still don't have
all the parts required to race at
Pikes, but we are getting there.
Tom Moen and my teammate
Chris Fillmore at KTM have been
on the front foot as far as getting
parts together for the two race
bikes, so this past week we set
about turning our street bikes into
mountain racers and getting a
much-needed day at Chuckwalla
to test tires and get some suspen-
sion dialed in.
One thing I'm constantly amazed
with when it comes to motorcycles
is just how much work you must do
to get them into a race-able state.
It's hours of little things—changing
exhausts, drilling and lock-wiring
what seems like hundreds of bolts,
sending suspension off—and that's
before we'd even turned a wheel on
the 2017 machines.
Chris and I had each other and
his old HMC Superbike Chief
Tech, Ulrich Toporsch, for a day
and a half, so we ripped into our
2017 Super Dukes by removing
anything that didn't need to be
there like number plate holders,
rear seat cowls, mirrors, mufflers,
(Top) Uli gets
to work, ripping
the headlight
out, then the
real work starts.
(Middle) Uli is
mounting the
shock in on
the 1290 Super
Duke which is
not the easiest
thing to do.
The clearance
between the top
and bottom on
the shock and
frame/swingarm
is super tight.
(Bottom) If you
want to make a
race bike, you
better get used
to drilling bolts!
We've lost count
how many we've
drilled and
lock- wired.
