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All KTM Super Duke Reviews

KTM Super Duke 990cc Sept '07 (57)

Overall Rating:

Review

The spirit of the TL1000 Suzuki lives on, in the shape of the Super Duke 990, reckons Alastair Walker from www.insidebikes.com mag.
www.insidebikes.com
I tested the KTM Super Duke in the summer of 2007 and despite the appalling weather, spent a week with a massive grin on my face. After 30 years riding motorcycles this one made me feel like a teenager again, let loose for the first time on a `proper’ motorbike.

The secret of the Super Duke’s old fashioned appeal is simple; raw power from the 1000cc V-twin engine, matched to a high-performance chassis which eats up twisty roads like a pack of chav youths guzzling alcopops in the park.
This bike revels in its arm-wrenching lunge, its cat-quick handling ability and sticks two fingers up at those who think we all have to wear designer stubble and parp about at 55mph on Sundays, in some kind of Viagra-man parade.

KTM have a different take on biking and the Super Duke has raw, red meat adventure in its soul, and a healthy dose of bad attitude into the bargain. It reminded me of the original TL1000 Suzuki – and not in a bad way either, as the KTM handles very well.

What I’m driving at is that the KTM has the sort of performance that makes you respect the bike, take time to get to know it before you really start to hammer the living daylights out of it.

Just like the old TL1000, the Super Duke demands experience, a high level of skill and riding talent and I think that’s great. Not every bike should be novice-friendly, soft `n’ cuddly. There’s room for mad bastards in the broad Church of Motorcycling.

KTM design their own engines and they’ve done brilliantly with this V-twin motor. It has meaty poke everywhere in the rev range, an excellent fuel injection set-up and a class-leading gearbox. It isn’t crude, but has got a rough edginess that a Japanese V-Twin usually lacks.

Chassis-wise, it’s hard to fault. The Super Duke is good enough to race – in fact there’s a one make series for it, although I think there should be a Super Twins series, so that KTM can take on tweaked TL1000s, Aprilia Tuonos, VTR1000 Firestorms etc.

The KTM’s skeletel tubular frame, massive 48mm forks and beefy triple disc brakes let you make the most of the claimed 120bhp engine. It all works with unerring accuracy on the road.

In the end, there’s a real balance, a harmony between the power of the KTM Super Duke and its chassis qualities, which makes this a machine for riders who know how to ride fast - and yet don’t want a sportbike, for whatever reason.

At £8000-ish it is undeniably expensive for a Roadster type of bike, but what a brilliant fun-packed way to travel.

Submitted by

northpoint in Chester, Cheshire on 07/02/2008

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