Nutz's 990 Superduke

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D6Nutz
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Nutz's 990 Superduke

Post by D6Nutz »

I was going to post this last night but after getting back and sorting stuff out I was too knackered..

After some quick deliberation over bikes, I decided that a drop in cc wasn't really going to do it for me. I've got used to the power and delivery of a litre vtwin and I really enjoy it. Wanting something a little more upright, but still with the handling abilities of a sports bike, leaves only a few bikes to choose from. I've always liked the looks of the KTM, and the reviews backed up desire for handling etc...

Yesterday was the first real ride of the bike, with a last minute descision to "pop" up to Birmingham to meet Kwacky and have a gander at some new bikes. The meet point was Stow, which for me was perfect as it's a well ridden route with some of my favourite roads. This gives me a chance to focus on the bike rather than the roads (if that makes sense)

My initial concerns where the SD's reputation for being a bit of a handful, coupled with the fact it is shod with supercorsa's and it wasn't exactly warm. The first concern was laid to rest very quickly, as coming from a litre vtwin, the engine and power delivery felt perfectly natural. The power delivery is stronger than the RSV and the throttle response is a LOT more direct, this will take some getting used to. The other thing that felt a little alien after years on sports bikes are the very wide bars. The supercorsa's just don't seem to be the right tyre for the bike, even in the afternoon when it had warmed up quite a lot, it was virtually impossible to get an real heat into the tyres. They also feel very skittish on bandings or any break in the road surface, and there is also a distinct lack of feedback at lower speeds. I'll live with them for now but they won't be replaced.

The route up to Stow is a nice mixture of fast flowing A roads with a few narrow bumpy back roads thrown in. The SD dealt with everything we came across with out breaking a sweat. It's quick to turn into corners and feels very agile for a large bike the seat is comfortable and the riding position make is easy to see over cars and hedges. The suspension soaks up all the bumps easily, by may need to be a little stiffer on the front to suit my weight and riding style. The brakes are fantastic, as a pheasant decided to "help" me test them by running across the road in a national limit.

After meeting Kwacky at Stow we headed on up to Brum and I got the first chance to see how the bike coped with urban riding. This used to be the hardest part of riding the RSV. The SD, like the RSV, has a hydraulic clutch which I never liked on the RSV. However the SD has a very light clutch and the tall riding position and wide bars make it really easy to navigate the bike round tighter turns. Filtering and taking quick changes of direction between cars is frightening easy with a quick squirt of power.

After checking out some KTM's, Kwaks, and Trumpets Kwacky dropped me back off on the M42 (so I didn't get lost). Again the protection from the little screen makes motorway blasting relatively easy, with the few junctions I needed to cover being done in no time at all. Then back onto some fast and flowing roads back to Stow and then home. The ride back was a little more restrained as there where a lot of bikes about, and a hell of a lot of police.

Did find one nice little feature on the clocks. When the fuel warning light comes on the display automatically switches over to a special trip counter that shows the distance since the light came on. Very useful if you didn't notice when the light came on. I also got 125 miles out of a tank which is a hell of a lot better than the RSV.

The final part about the bike is the sound track. The twin akra's make a beautiful noise when you crack the throttle open, but are restrained enough with the baffles in not to annoy the rest of the world. The pops and bangs you get on the over-run are enough to make you giggle like a child. I've almost worked out how to make it pop on demand (devil)

All in all, best part of 230 miles covered yesterday and every one of them I had a stupid grin on my face.

The shopping list at the moment is quite short, and until I've ridden the bike more I don't know the order in which to buy yet.

* Number plate, already ordered
* Wider gate so I can get the bike in the garden without having to undo the mirrors. |(
* New seat cowl (unless someone finds the one that went missing between Stow and Brum :@ )
* Full service (probably with valve clearances)
* Adjustable levers. I can't get the biting point of the clutch where I want it and I like a shorty for the front brake.
* Tail tidy.
* Rearsets. Not 100% convinced these are needed, may just get some replacement pegs as the position feels good
* Fluid pots.
* Tyres with a more road bias (M7's maybe) research needed.
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Re: Nutz's 990 Superduke

Post by C00kiemonster »

Great write up Jon. If you have any issues etc - drop me a line as there is not much i haven't sorted on my RC8 and the engines are very closely related.

In terms of shopping list - an oberon MC for the clutch will help you as the plastic one that comes on the bike can overheat - especially in town and the clutch becomes grabby.

The supercorsa's felt the same on the RC8 - the M5's are the best tyre i've had on mine so far, so i imagine the M7's will serve you well too.

You can get a slower action throttle, which is way better - especially for town. I have one on mine as they all come with an on/off switch throttle - this is great for the first few rides (and wheelies) but it gets tedious after a while. It's just a change of throttle tube and cam.

The best dealer I've used for KTM is Redline near melton mowbray. I used to take mine there every year - a bit of a ride, but they know their onions and deal with KTM race teams too.

If you want to tune the bike there are loads of maps using TUNEECU which is free. I have a cable and KTM adaptor (it's not a standard OBD port on KTM) and it's relatively easy to do. If you need a cable and adaptor let me know and i'll post them to you for a bit.

The only other element on KTM's is the rear spring rate - mine was too high for me so changed it - i assume yours has WP suspension - it's really good out the box but softening the rear on mine made a big difference (might be different on super dukes).

Enjoy :)
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Re: Nutz's 990 Superduke

Post by kiwikrasher »

Great write up Jon. I was about to hassle you for a review of there was nothing in here tonight! (lol)

Glad you're getting on it with it well and enjoying the beast (y)
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Re: Nutz's 990 Superduke

Post by Kwacky »

It's a cracking bike. Lovely sound from it.
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Re: Nutz's 990 Superduke

Post by Perkles »

It's worth getting good a tune ecu lead and refreshing the ecu yourself to smooth the snatched throttle
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Re: Nutz's 990 Superduke

Post by duke63 »

Worth looking at the BSD website for a retune and the servicing.

http://bsd.uk.com/ecu-remapping-what-we ... he-moment/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Nutz's 990 Superduke

Post by D6Nutz »

@cookiemonster cheers mate loads of useful info there. I had no idea you could get a slow action throttle, I'll look into it. Clutch master added to the list. I'll bite your hand off for the tuneecu cable, not sure it's been remapped after the akra's where fitted.
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Re: Nutz's 990 Superduke

Post by C00kiemonster »

D6Nutz wrote:@cookiemonster cheers mate loads of useful info there. I had no idea you could get a slow action throttle, I'll look into it. Clutch master added to the list. I'll bite your hand off for the tuneecu cable, not sure it's been remapped after the akra's where fitted.
Tuneecu website has tunes for the Akras :)

Let me know your address via PM and i'll try and post it next week as i'm in the UK for a few days at a relatives wedding (yawn)
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Re: Nutz's 990 Superduke

Post by Rossgo »

Superb review Nutz. Sounds like a brilliant blast you had with her. Can't wait to see her, hopefully soon!!

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Re: Nutz's 990 Superduke

Post by D6Nutz »

Couldn't resist.........Image
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Re: Nutz's 990 Superduke

Post by Kwacky »

what else have you got planned for it?
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Re: Nutz's 990 Superduke

Post by D6Nutz »

Depends on what I can sneak past the post monitor ;) the list in the OP stands for the bling.

For more functional stuff, I need to get to know it better to find out what bugs me.
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Re: Nutz's 990 Superduke

Post by D6Nutz »

So a good long run out today, and I'm really starting to understand how the bike wants to be ridden. It's really quite different.

The KTM doesn't seem to have any where near the same top end as the RSV, but my god does it accelerate. Opening the throttle hard at 4-5k is like pressing a fast forward button on life.

The handling style is also very different. The RSV liked to flow smoothly from corner to corner, the KTM however likes to be picked up, spanked, and thrown into each corner. The harder you ride it, the more it rewards you.

Managed to get the chicken strips looking a lot more reasonable, but the tyres are hard work to get any heat into.

The front suspension needs some looking at. The forks probably need an oil change, but the settings are a little off as it pogo's a bit on turn in.

I'm looking forward to checking the engine map and changing it. The low down fueling is awful.
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Re: Nutz's 990 Superduke

Post by C00kiemonster »

The low down fuelling can be improved, but it will always be lumpy - mine is the same. The new clutch mc will help too as you need to use the clutch a lot in town.

You've found the magic 4k rev band :) - warp speed is now available! You have to ride it on the torque curve and they are really fast.

They do need riding hard to get the best from them - have a play with preload on the back - made a big difference to mine and corner exit and hard braking. The Superduke is softer and longer travelling at the front than mine - it is a giant supermoto after all.
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Re: Nutz's 990 Superduke

Post by D6Nutz »

Was planning on remapping the bike this weekend, but every good plan needs a flaw...

The TuneECU software recommends (very strongly) that the battery is fully charged and plugged into a charger. Well numpty here forgot to take the lead of the old bike before selling it, and the SD has an optimate cable already wired in. So a quick search on ebay and I turned up an optimate 4 for £25, except that I didn't notice it was collection only. So guess what I did today :)

I've now covered just over 500 miles on the SD, not quite up to kwacky's standards, but not bad. As expected priorities for mods are starting to shape up, bling is good but handling is more. So now I've got the tools to sort the fueling out, I want to find someone local to service the forks and do a suspension setup. I'm going to pop up to the local KTM place and see if they can offer some assistance.

From a riding point of view I'm so happy I went for the KTM. The handling is fantastic and the performance is something else. Today I started playing with the power delivery and see where the real kick is, the power band is quite short for a big bike with the most power seeming to be between 4k and 8k, but if you shift quick feck me does it accelerate quickly. I also learned today that slipping the clutch from a standing start is not a good idea, unless you like bird spotting that is (and not the dress wearing kind)
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Re: Nutz's 990 Superduke

Post by Kwacky »

:D Frankie has some competition
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Re: Nutz's 990 Superduke

Post by D6Nutz »

Tried out the akra specific map today. Oh my god, it's like a different bike.

Down low it's still a bit jumpy, but that will always be the case apparently. It has 2 fuel maps and if you catch it just as it's switching it can give that jerkiness. I guess that's some character ;)

After that the fueling is so smooth I though I'd done something wrong and robbed the bike of a load of power, the speedo quickly confirmed this was not the case. The only real downside is it doesn't pop so much on overrun anymore :(
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Re: Nutz's 990 Superduke

Post by D6Nutz »

Oh, and wherever from WP decided it was a good idea to put a white spring on the shock needs a kick in the nuts. Yes it looks trick, but feck me is it an arse to clean (swear)
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Re: Nutz's 990 Superduke

Post by Kwacky »

People who design bikes clearly don't have to maintain them
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Re: Nutz's 990 Superduke

Post by Blade »

Sounds stunning Jon 8) look forward to seeing it.

Good result with the remap. The popping and banging with open cans was most likely the engine running rich which is not good at all for the engine. It will also most likely been the cause of some of the jerkiness coming of a closed throttle.
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