New Bike Time - KTM 1290 Superduke R Special Edition

The Pipewerx Ti one sounds pretty good in BvGs video, that still has the cat. Only £200 also.

https://youtu.be/KfGz9D8AXls

00:20 Startup in forecourt at beginning.
03:18 Exhaust clip

Only so much you can do with a slip on really. I'd really like to hear decat with baffled Akra. I still get the feeling it would be too loud though.

I would have to stop myself from doing this though:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUCZCdkbvMk
 
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AndyCr15 said:
Yeah, it still has it's cat. I did have someone on the SuperDuke forum offering me a good price on pretty much the same exhaust but with the straight through. I was saying I was concerned it would be too loud, asked the seller why it's not fitted to his bike... 'the Mrs said it was too loud'...



Thanks. As above though, it's at a reasonable level I think. I don't think you can ever really recreate the real sound on a phone video though.
Click to expand...

Phone video no, but with a dedicated audio recorder I can get pretty close.

I see the 1290 also has an exhaust servo that is solely for noise and emissions. Have you had a play with that yet?
 
AndyCr15 said:
No, how do you mean? (I'm really not technical with bikes)
Click to expand...

There is a servo near the slip on exhaust that closes a valve in neutral/stationary and at low RPMs to pass noise and emission tests.

They have no effect on back pressure as there is a set of valves in the headers to deal with that, and they normally have no effect at high RPM.

Disabling this servo keeps the valve open and makes idle and low RPMs sound a lot nicer.
 
It also means you don't have to worry about keeping all the bits and bobs clean, greased and moving.
 
AndyCr15 said:
Okay, thanks. Mind you, when I look my bike up, it says it doesn't fit/work!
Click to expand...

That's because it doesn't have one. Mine didn't. I think they fit them on the GT.

The Austin Racing can without the cat is offensively loud. I've got a clip somewhere of mine and filtering was comedy gold. Never seen so many cars moving over to let you pass, because of bleeding ear drums, or the wtf effect :D
 
So I VERY very nearly bought one of these as a second bike today, I went and had a look and sat on it... loved it. The offer they have on is a new 1290R Special Edition for £12k (down from £15k+)

Must.Resist. :(
 
That's the deal I got. I believe you can get the 'regular' for £3k off too, but tbh the £1k for the extras doesn't seem to bad a deal.

They are of course offering this deal as the 2017 model has been announced and is even better! I'm not too bothered. To get the spec I got for £12k I would need to spend £16k I think. Quite a difference.

I honestly didn't realise this was a more expensive bike than the BMW S1000R (when the KTM is full price), which from what I've read, is possibly the better bike, but by looks, it just doesn't do it for me.
 
Hmm, I don't consider the BMW a better bike, but it depends what you want from a bike.

I loathe in line 4s though so I'm biased :p
 
I own a S1000R and am considering a change to a 1290. The cheap SE is very tempting but for not much more money the 17 model has caught my interest. Going to try one when demos are available.

For the money the S1000R is hard to beat bang for buck.

I personally find KTM's biggest let down is fixings. As an ex KTM owner (Austrian built, not Indian) the materials used are, in my opinion, sub-par for the prices being commanded. My 690, with less than 3,000 Miles, garaged and 12 months ownership from new/0 miles was rusting out fixings. Especially those where water tended to pool (rear hugger for example). Very annoying and entirely avoidable. For the price being paid for a 1290, their top of the line naked, I would expect quality A2 stainless at minimum. My S1000R has A2 SS throughout, good quality material. In 10,000 Miles and 2 years ownership as a daily there is not a single sign of rust/corrosion. I ACF50ed it once when I got it. I ACFed the KTM three times and it barely helped in comparison. I recall the nuts on the base of the clutch/brake levers of my KTM were COMPLETELY rusted, same for the base of the mirror stalks. KTM also stamp the frame number into the paint down to bare metal, then put a crappy sticker on-top of it. Moisture/water ingress is inevitable and then your frame is rusting also.

As much as I am really keen to look at a 1290 next year, those things really put me off. I would end up spending a fortune on a ProBolt kit for the entire bike :o
 
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