Shortly thereafter, Forrest (AKA: Frosty) went on a group ride with a bunch of us from work. Up to that point, I had only seen the Duke II models which I really liked. I just assumed Frosty's would look the same. Oh how wrong I was. It's a shame that KTM doesn't make more effort in showing up at the big motorcycle shows with their new models. For a guy like me with 7 or 8 major magazine subscriptions to not even know of this bike for more than 5 years is just criminal. Frosty had spent a bunch of time detailing the bike including polishing out the bare aluminum Akront rims. It was a gorgeous sunny day when I first laid eyes upon her. She glimmered in the sun. The yellow paint isn't solid, nor is the black. Both are a subtle metallic finish that sparkles under sunlight. It was spotless, it had those W I D E aluminum rims laced up with stainless spokes and shod with low profile, sticky radial tires. It was little more than a dirt bike with huge sticky tires--a go-cart with two wheels. This is not a bike about touring comfort, all out speed or profiling. It's about the celebration of sudden, sometimes violent directional changes--pulling G's for the sake of pulling G's. From that day forward, we had an agreement that while I didn't need another motorcycle, I got first shot at her when he decided to sell.
I guess you have to start with what a Duke is NOT. It's not a dirt bike. The Duke has wide 17 inch rims front and rear, setup for sport radial tires. The Duke is painted, not just molded plastic. It has street instruments. It has a helmet lock. I guess if you had to compare it to anything that already existed I would have to say that it's a flat track / TT bike built for the street. In the past few years, the European phenomenon of Supermotard or Super Moto has started to catch on here in the United States. Supermotard was born out of a nearly forgotten ABC series done in the late 70s called SuperBikers where motocross bikes were fitted with dirt track tires and wheels and raced on a combination of pavement and dirt. The series was kind of a flop here but the Europeans took to it where it has been growing ever since. The Duke isn't exactly that kind of bike but it's pretty close--in street trim.
They were produced in limited numbers and each was serialized on the top of the triple clamp. These are the world-wide production numbers I've seen listed elsewhere on the Internet:
Some think the cluster goes too far for the bike's mission: a small speedo and a few idiot lights is all it should need. I disagree. It's complete without being overkill. It's got a resettable odometer and a tachometer that appropriately is graduated in "beats per minute". The tach needle bounces frenetically, adding to the bike's hyperactive feel. The biggest annoyance is the oil pressure idiot light. It's calibrated a wee-bit too high. It falsely reports a "low oil pressure" condition under 2000 RPM. I've since found out that this was a common and known problem. The solution? Replace the switch. I guess KTM quietly replaced the switches in the pipeline and the new ones are calibrated to a lower pressure. Frosty chose to ignore it. I've done the same to this point, though currently, a replacement is in the mail.
Braking is by Brembo. White Power suspension keeps those huge tires
in contact with the road. Yeah...I almost forgot...it's "WP" suspension
here in America. Unfortunately "white power" means something entirely
different
here than in Europe. In the United States it's WP Suspension (now owned
by KTM). In Europe it's a company started by a guy named White.
Eccentric
chain adjusters with dished-out cams, replace the normal slotted
adjusters.
The travel is shorter than on the off road bikes: 5.5 inches up front
and
6.7 Rear. It's enough to soak up terrain you're likely to find in the
street
without so much that the bike pogo's or pitches going into corners.
Based
on the specs, you might expect the bike to be skittish or jumpy. Quite
the contrary. The bike simply becomes an extension of you. The road
feels
150% wider and mid-corner line adjustments aren't just possible but
downright
routine. Riding on mountainous roads, you never know what you'll find
around
the next corner. Avoiding a mid-corner rock or pine-cone is no sweat on
the Duke. While the Duke performs very well at lower altitudes,
climbing
big grades above 6000 feet, the big single starts starving for oxygen.
At that altitude she only pulls up to about 80 MPH. After that,
acceleration...umm...gets
sluggish. The good part is that most of my local roads are ridden at
much
lower speeds (read: much tighter). In that environment the Duke takes
over.
Nothing like chasing a guy on a big liter-bike into a section of road
and
chomping on his heels for ten miles.
From the factory, the US Spec KTMs in the mid to late 90s came with Edelbrock QuickSilver carburetors. I guess they were chosen for their performance at wide open throttle and their ability to be tuned to meed US emission requirements. The rest of the planet got the normal Dellorto 40mm that came on all of the off road KTM's here in the US. The Quicksilver seems to really have poor low end fuel control (based on what I've read and heard from others). They don't seem to start well, hot or cold and also surge at light throttle settings. Ironically, the off-road, quad people seem to love them. On Ebay, you can find them listed under KTM with no bids but under TRX 400, they'll be bid into the hundreds of dollars! My 1997 KTM Adventure 620 also had a Quicksilver that the previous owner unceremoniously pitched in favor of the Dellorto. For those interested in doing this swap, you have to look no further than the KTM Duke parts manual. It seems that the listed throttle and choke cables are for the Dellorto and the carb itself is available as an assembly (on the carburetor page). Ironically, the Quicksilver is 'the exception' and is listed on a 'US Parts Only' page in the back. Despite arguments to the contrary on the Yahoo KTM discussion group, I feel the Dellorto is the easiest solution to the carburetion problem on this bike. Other solutions will run into problems with proper cables and getting air boot plumbing to fit. You might squeeze an extra few peak horsepower out of a flat-slide Mikuni or Keihin but I doubt it is worth all the trouble. I rarely ride my bike at peak RPM with a wide open throttle and I have few complaints about the 40mm Dellorto, now on three of my motorcycles.
Greg: Help find a home for the DUKE!I've omitted the price but suffice it to say that it was a give-away, put up or shut up deal. It was well under low blue book. He didn't want to deal with low ball offers and guys who call but never show up. He knew it was going to a good home and the sale would be painless. Obviously I took it. Bike number eight in the garage. Life is good!
I have a SPECIAL PRICE for you today as the airplane kit fund is broke (ouch)!!!
Special veterans day sale!!!!
Give me a Call
Frosty
What am I going to change? I removed the passenger foot rests (and lovingly packed them in a box). I ordered the factory luggage rack to replace the twin grab rails. While not as pretty as the minimalist rails, I have a really nice KTM tail-pack for my Adventure that is too convenient to leave at home. Because of its rare nature, I'm going to leave the bike pretty much stock and enjoy it. I'd rather ride than tinker.
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