first day with the superduke

Well went on a 400 mile round trip yesterday to take my buell from birmingham down to plymouth to sort out a part ex deal on a bike.... upshot was i came away with a mint 05 matt black superduke strapped in the back of the van ... had quite a few hold ups on the motorway there and back,so unfortunatly didnt get back home till late,so popped the bike into the garage and had a few beers to celebrate

This afternoon once some free time had been earned off the wife ( involved spending money on her natch ) decided to go for a blast on the new toy to see if all the hype was justified,suited up,helmet on,hit the button...... nothing lots of rapid clicking signalling a very flat batttery ..... no idea why this happened,the bike has not been ridden for a while as the previous owner is in the armed forces and has been posted over seas recently,the bike has not had a good run for a while so i think the battery has discharged over time..... no probs i thought,stick the optimate on for half an hour and jobs a good un.... after tracking the battery down i left it for half an hour,enough to charge it to start,fired the bike up and checked the charge volts so that side is ok,refitted the chin spoiler and off we went

BLOODY HELL WHAT A LAUGH

This has got to be the best bike ive had,i normally take a few rides in order to feel at home on a bike,but an hour or so later im flying into islands at speeds higher than my usuall rate of knots and grinning from ear to ear,what a hoot,the seating position and high bar gives a lot of leaverage to throw the bike around,power is good as standard and found from the buell i was under revving by a long way ( not used to bikes revving so high )slightly flighty at the front when really pushing it over roads that are not ultra smooth,but nothing a relaxed grip on the bars didnt solve,the sport suspension settings seem fine for me,and i was very impressed to say the least from my short time in the seat
Just two points i found out
1) Standard exhaust has to go...... far too muted and can feel it holding the bike back
2) Brembo front brakes feel wooden to me with reduced feel to those that i am used to,it did get better as i progressed so guess its something i will get used to,power is there in spades,just not as subtle as my previous bike with 6 piston calipeer and rim mounted disc

And to the guys on here who used to have a Buell.... and there are a few i recognise

What the hell were we thinking about!!!!

martin

That's exactly how i felt when i test rode the SD last year, ultra confident very quickly.

Although i was very impressed with the brakes on the SD compared to my Buell (XB12s). I even did my first ever stoppie whilst out on the test ride of the SD .

And you're right, what the hell were we thinking about The SD is miles ahead of the Buell. I used to like the look of the Buell and enjoyed the handling. But that engine was awful .

Gary...... yea did fire the bike up to hear it,but only for a short time,did strugle to turn over but i thought that was due to the rather large slugs throwing themselves up the bore..... didnt test ride it as the bike was mint,under warranty so any probs would be covered,just did the normal hpi checks and that was that..... and he never rode mine either,did the same.will try to fire her up again later to see if its ok,did over 50 miles so should have had a goood charge
the guys on ukbeg are unaware ive traded rather than just selling,i got flamed for having a nearly buell ever since i purchased it,so telling them the truth about how crap they really are wont go down to well

D4NPH,

Strange i felt the other way about the brakes,dont get me wrong they are great,but just lacked some feel to them,the buell brake was easy to modulate to get the desired retardation,almost a connection between the right hand and the disc if you like,gotta agree though with the styling comment,looked fantastic,but no connection beteen right hand and engine that engine is crude and lacking in power,shame as the chassis could handle a lot more quite easily

no matter now though

martin

And you guys have started a trend to defect off the tractors to the orange side,as Enigma from the buell site also moved to ktm and has a 950sm,and is very impressed with that too

and on the exhaust front ive tracked down some Leo Vinci carbon cans from a guy on a general ktm site that ive said im gonna have



much shorter than the Akro's so should suit the bike better,and the carbon will be better with the stealth matt black colour of the bike
Also having some carbon heel guards .... only one day am im spending money like water

martin

hacksaw

Trying to put pics on

ill help ya




very nice.......

Undecided on the eliminated mudguard, normally first thing I get rid of and put on a straight plate. The standard SD guard is not as bad as some and I've said before I quite like the 'cut off' style of the standard pipes, I'll think I'm keeping mine but will put a 'sensible' size smaller plate on (7"x5" in the picture?) or buy a cheap irish/private plate with 6 digits and make a smaller plate using standard size letters/tighter spacing.

But those mirrors and end weights are well smart - who/where did they come from & what are they like to use?

Where's the rear indicators in that last picture?