I think im outta here.

well i think ive had it boys. i was out for a long ride today, very hot into the 90°s. typical story, smelled coolant... stopped, sure enough it was running
down a the bottom of the hose on the left side of the rad. grabbed a couple of bottles of water just in case i had to top it off. by the time i got home the left side of the bike was covered including my boot. i took a mini mag to see where the leak was coming from. thought it was coming from the clamp but couldnt see it. so i started the bike and low and behold i found the tiniest geyser of coolant jetting out of the hose itself about the diameter of a hair. it only does this under pressure. so bottom line, i have to get a new hose. the really cool part is that the coolant etched everything with paint on it. i scrubbed everything down but it was too late. clutch cover, all the castings. the side of the oil tank. now i know this could have happened with any bike, it is a hose defect after all. thing is it hasnt. i have never had a bike with so many freaking little issues. its a fantastic bike to be sure but i am sick of not knowing whats gonna leak/replace next.

i havent sold a bike in the longest time, always traded them in. whats the best way to unload this thing? ill fix the hose and throw on a new set of tyres.
its a 2007 with 30,000 miles on it, full SS akro race system, motobox, PC, i replaced the waterpump a couple of years ago.
im thinking its probably worth 4k with that kind of mileage does that sound about right?

I think your too low. I would start at 5500 it has some trick stuff and for the most part is unreliable enough to only get first time buyers interested. They wont know the bike will plague them with honey do lists to the party gets old.
One thing nice about a bike like this is the two best days of ownership are the first and the last.
Going to try a Scrambler?
Sorry for your pain, I'd be pissed too. How can the greastest bike be the shittiest?
SD, superbly deft or sickly and dieing.

Sell the goodies for some nice pocket change then hock it for your original 4k. Interested in selling those pipes? i could re-post my stock cans.

Sad to here about issue's with the SD. I put 12k mile on my old one and didn't have one problem... well at least that wasn't cover by the warranty. The dealer did replace the front wheel (no cost) and the shock (no cost).

You're gonna be sorry... I was. Maybe buy another one... we could start a club, the second SD owners club of America.

Man just fix it and get the engine properly coated in black, next time out you will be all smiles again. It is just a freaking hose.
If you sell it someone will get a properly fixed bike with all the problems ironed out and you can start all over again!
And BTW who is going to play the guitar here when you leave????

Dude must be horrible riding the bike and wondering every time what might go wrong Not what you want going through your head. Hope you find some confidence in it again.

You still like the bike except for the issues so just get new hoses and clamps, renew some other small parts in advance.
Then DO NOT SELL it but just ride it and have fun again!

I had another half day to contemplate your delimna.
DONT DO IT.
The financial hit alone should be cause enough to hold on.
You know very well that this is a smashing bike. You have ridden for many years and I would bet a dollar to a donut that this is one of the finest motorcycles in overall pleasure you have been graced with the pleasure of owning.
You own it and therefore the only way you loose is in disownership.
This bike will piss you off one out of every seven outings and that leaves six that were successful.
Leaving motorcycling is not as easy an option as you profess is capable of, nore should it be an idea that is bantered about so carefree and nonchalant.
Go out in the garage and kick it, I mean kick it hard, it pissed you off and needs to know you wont be puting up with any issueing forth spew. By new tyres replace a hose and take her for a ride out to VIR on a club race weekend.
DONT DO IT.

+1

Fix it and then punish it by riding it like it 's stolen. The next 30 thou will be better.
Compared to my Norton and my 640 the SD is a marvel of reliability, it doesn't piss oil or leave me stranded with bad electrics, tranny, headgaskets, etc, or shake itself to bits.
What's the longest you've been without a bike? Remember the feeling of emptiness and haunting need whenever you'd hear a bike. If you sell it you'll regret it.

I went through the same as you - 25,000 miles and tons of joy, but laced with too much pain - and decided to sell. What pushed me over the edge was not entirely the pain part, but lust for a Triumph 675R. I got about $5k from my dealer over a year ago and thought I was lucky. My bike is still sitting on their floor. They want $7,000 but I think the bike will sit there forever at that price. There are two or three on ebay right now with low miles for less money.

Since you are thinking about taking a break, rather than getting a different bike, why not just put the SD on stands and a battery tender, pop in a little fuel stabilizer and cover her up for a while. I bet in a few months you'll be itching for a ride and will fall in love again. You've already spent the money on the SD and aren't trading bikes, so this is a free way to defer the decision. Why make an irrevocable choice now when you don't need to? Just park it and ride your couch while you decide!

oh the weekend got even better, and probably only Dribble will appreciate thispart so this is for you dude.

i went to my shop to grab the shop vac (yes the SD is cowering id the corner). i notice over near the bench the floor is wet with a browninsh liquid (i cant win with the leaks i tell ya!) so i trace the liquid back to the top of my bench where a 5 year old unopened glass bottle of Coke has exploded... all over my router bits (30 of them...) and my 20" Lie Neilsen jointer. it happened sometime last nite and rust was already forming so it took a good 2 1/2 hrs to soak all the bits, relube em and clean the rust off the plane. wait it gets better... im wiping down the walls with 409 and the side of a little mahogany cabinet id been building when i feel this sharp pain in my hand and there is blood everywhere, when the bottle exploded (why? i haven got a clue) it drove shards of glass a 1/8" deep into the side of the cabinet!! when i wiped it down i opened a half by a quarter inch deep gash in the palm of my hand! WTF???

Are you calling me a girl!?!

i thought you knew...

Time to sell it off and get a "different" one,,,,all machines are not made the same,,,,,,,and at 30 thou on the clock's,,a fresh ride may be in order,,,,

I'll trade you a 06 600RR.

Mine has also spent much of it's time pushed in the corner while I wait for the free time and motivation to sort the problem. In fact it is in need of a water pump seal. Last week I replaced the left engine cover and starter gear because it had cracked and was leaking oil. JB weld lasted for most of one ride and then the leak got much worse. Perhaps the best way to enjoy the SD is to have two. And I revert to my previous statement. I love it and have made it do everything I want it to. Having a couple of other bikes to ride has definitely saved it's ass from being sold though. I stay on two wheels but not even the ex AMA 1000RR is as much fun to ride as the SD and I always return to it with a smile.

I've been meaning to call you for some rides but I always think about calling during the day or right before the ride starts. Met up with a couple other guys from here a few weeks ago and we had a good ride 3 Dukes deep. The gf just hit me with "we need to save xx,xxx amount of dollars in x amount of weeks" for our wedding in December so I don't have any cash, but I do have a nice black 600RR with 11k miles on it. Hate to see you so upset with it but if you want I'll hold on to her for a while and you can get it back whenever.

Man...even at 30K miles...
In time...any 2 OR 4 wheeled vehical
needs maintanence.Even a bicycle needs maintanence..
It's just how it goes...
Some guys have had it far worse...
I'd say fix it Strat...
I personally have had my share of issues...
Mostly fuel leaks...I've got the 5 year warrantee...
but...even with that...I ended up doing alot of my work
by myself..I'll take it in for what is required for the warrantee
and to keep it covered...Might be that some of the mods I've
done "could" void it..but they are cool...as long as what mods
I have done don't affect it or cause it to fail...they will work
with me...
One thing..I've learned alot about my Superduke...
It's just in my opinion...part of the beast...it is going to need
to be watched over to keep it fit...My Silverado has needed more
repairs than my Superduke has...but..again...that's just part of
ownership as I see it...Part of the privileage to riding/driving..
Ride on bro...Keep it..!!!!!

Been reading this as it goes, and was kind of torn on whether to post "goddamn you're a fooking whiner" or not ... as in "Fix it, ride it like you stole it, and STFU already!". But I didn't.

I guess this thread started out of one owner's expectations. Can't really rail on someone about that.

I blame the Japanese Big 4 for these expectations. And I blame them in a good way. Many here haven't been riding since the stone age (:oops:) when nothing moto was all that reliable, we had to mix our own fuel, use an actual kickstarter, and WTF - turn signals?

Yes, we've come to expect our bikes all to be as stone reliable as our Honda and Toyota passenger cars and trucks. I have to confess a wee bit of schadenfreude every time someone starts a thread about a dead battery, some tiny oil seepage, or some other like insignificant issue. Their misery is so slight, and somewhat misplaced IMO. What always crosses my mind is "Welcome to the realities of moto ownership".

KTMs aren't the cheapest bikes, and it's reasonable to expect "better". Then again, it's NOT Japanese, and some may argue that this is justification alone for having purchased it. Its these other qualities we all purchased our SDs for. Qualities that the Big 4 don't offer in their products. One of those is its uniqueness and what some refer to as "character". SDs actually have character. As for uniqueness, this is part of the problem, isn't it? Low production volume anything will have issues. The manufacturer can only take the engineering and testing so far before it bleeds money. Its a great thing this site was created: Virtually all issues have and continue to be addressed. And the level of expertise of those who address them rarely fails to impress. Few moto forums offer this degree of support.

I have but one Japanese bike at the moment, and the euro bikes all have their little quirks and "issues". While the Japanese bike is very reliable, the one thing I don't like about it is how frail (as in lowest-possible-cost engineering) some of its bits are. And they're no cheaper to replace than the equivalent KTM, Triumph or Ducati parts.

All said, I'm not going to encourage you (or anyone) to sell or keep their SDs. But if its a leak-free, damn near perfectly reliable moto you want - look to the Land of the Rising Sun for your bikes. If its a unique, high-end, european bike with some distinctive "character" you seek - you're going to suffer some quirks that an engineer will always respond to first with a shoulder shrug followed up with "... we never tetsed for that ...".

I wish you well in whatever you decide to do.

I bet this is just a case of a mid-life doldrums (a bit like a crisis) but a situation where one thinks one needs to simplify
ones life because one hasn't got the time. I've had about a dozen of each (doldrums and crises). Eventually when you've had a bit of a break
you'll be sitting in comfortable land one day with kids grown up, mortgage paid off, parent long since gone, wife grown afar drinking
a Latte on the pavement and out of the blue some young kid will cruise up on the sexiest motorcycle in the world ... You'll stroll over
and chat and say "I used to have a KTM Superduke" and he'll look blankly at you and say "That's nice Grandpa". The girl in the tight
jeans will jump on the back and they'll ride off ignoring you. You'll think "I wonder if I could still get my knee down ... "

Just pack it up nicely, buy some parts and store it in the shed. It'll still be good in twenty years and you will be able to get
your knee down after a while. Sell the leathers now because they won't fit.