Soo,
I bought my SDR new 2009. It now has around 16500km's on the clock. Have used it for touring, twisties and quite a bit on the track. I would describe it as a kind of love/hate relationship between me and the Duke. When everything clicks it is the best bike in the world.
I ride the bike with round Acras, side panels off the airbox and the KTM Acra map with O2 sensors still in place (and yes, my conclusion is that they are still active with the Acra map).
Some days on some roads or tracks the bike has felt ok, other days not good at all. The throttle response is better than stock but still worse than anything else I have ridden. It works well on smooth open roads or on the track where it is ok to trail brake into the corners. On slower bumpier twisties it is horrible to ride. The stiff front end together with the touchy throttle simple doesn't inspire confidence. I can live with the jerkyness when I open the throttle. The "Hockey stick in the rear wheel" feeling when you go from small throttle openings to closed is more dangerous and difficult to handle for me.
I have developed techniques to ride around this. Keeping the throttle open a bit and modulate mid corner speed with the rear brake works sometime. Also the clutch needs to be covered at all times. On bumpy roads I hardly dare to scratch my nose.
I am sure the bike would run slightly better with a different airbox and a PCV with wideband O2 sensors etc.. I already tried to run the bike with a PCIII but in my opinion it isn't a good choice to disable the closed loop O2 feedback.
Anyway
Last night I dropped by my dealer here in Tokyo. I have been reading about how KTM now has fixed the fueling on the RC8R from 2011 with the twinspark engine. I felt that I have heard this story every year from KTM so I wanted to feel for myself if they actually improved this or not.
Dealer didn't have a demo bike for me to try but after a few phone calls to the KTM HQ the arranged for me to try one out later in the evening.
Only the white/orange version is imported to Japan and I must say it looks stunning. I never bought a bike based on how it looks but I would still enjoy having something this pretty.
I jumped on the bike and when for a ride. Since I was mostly interested in how the bike felt regarding throttle response and general comfort it didn't matter that I was cruising around in central Tokyo.
All I can say is that they finally solved the throttle issue. No issues at all to cruise around in 1st and 2nd gear. I tried to provoke it my opening and closing the throttle quickly but it still behaved flawless. Taking off from the lights reminded me of my CB1300, smooth torque that was very easy to modulate.
The bike also felt very fast with some incredible punch in the low to midrange revs. This is how the RC8 engine should have been from start. The SDR would be a completely different bike with this kind of throttle response.
For being a sportbike it also felt very comfortable. I am 191cm's tall and 100kg + but I think I could do some long days in the saddle without issues on this machine.
The only thing I am worried about is if I can adapt to the different riding position. I started my riding days as a 5year old on dirtbikes and I have always had issues with adapting the sportier bikes. I have owned a CBR1000RR, CBR600RR and an Aprilia RSV Factory but never really managed to feel connected to those bikes like I feel when riding the Duke or my 1200GS.
Maybe the roomier ergos on the RC8 will make a difference?
I will think about this for a couple of days before I make my decision. Would appreciate some input to the problems I have had adapting to the sportbike riding position...Maybe someone here feels the same? Maybe I can never get used to it and need to keep riding naked bikes?
I think the perfect bike would be an RC8R converted to naked without changing anything else but the handlebar and fairing (Like the RSV to Tuono conversion)
Sorry for the long rambling.....it just feels like a big decision
I bought my SDR new 2009. It now has around 16500km's on the clock. Have used it for touring, twisties and quite a bit on the track. I would describe it as a kind of love/hate relationship between me and the Duke. When everything clicks it is the best bike in the world.
I ride the bike with round Acras, side panels off the airbox and the KTM Acra map with O2 sensors still in place (and yes, my conclusion is that they are still active with the Acra map).
Some days on some roads or tracks the bike has felt ok, other days not good at all. The throttle response is better than stock but still worse than anything else I have ridden. It works well on smooth open roads or on the track where it is ok to trail brake into the corners. On slower bumpier twisties it is horrible to ride. The stiff front end together with the touchy throttle simple doesn't inspire confidence. I can live with the jerkyness when I open the throttle. The "Hockey stick in the rear wheel" feeling when you go from small throttle openings to closed is more dangerous and difficult to handle for me.
I have developed techniques to ride around this. Keeping the throttle open a bit and modulate mid corner speed with the rear brake works sometime. Also the clutch needs to be covered at all times. On bumpy roads I hardly dare to scratch my nose.
I am sure the bike would run slightly better with a different airbox and a PCV with wideband O2 sensors etc.. I already tried to run the bike with a PCIII but in my opinion it isn't a good choice to disable the closed loop O2 feedback.
Anyway
Last night I dropped by my dealer here in Tokyo. I have been reading about how KTM now has fixed the fueling on the RC8R from 2011 with the twinspark engine. I felt that I have heard this story every year from KTM so I wanted to feel for myself if they actually improved this or not.
Dealer didn't have a demo bike for me to try but after a few phone calls to the KTM HQ the arranged for me to try one out later in the evening.
Only the white/orange version is imported to Japan and I must say it looks stunning. I never bought a bike based on how it looks but I would still enjoy having something this pretty.
I jumped on the bike and when for a ride. Since I was mostly interested in how the bike felt regarding throttle response and general comfort it didn't matter that I was cruising around in central Tokyo.
All I can say is that they finally solved the throttle issue. No issues at all to cruise around in 1st and 2nd gear. I tried to provoke it my opening and closing the throttle quickly but it still behaved flawless. Taking off from the lights reminded me of my CB1300, smooth torque that was very easy to modulate.
The bike also felt very fast with some incredible punch in the low to midrange revs. This is how the RC8 engine should have been from start. The SDR would be a completely different bike with this kind of throttle response.
For being a sportbike it also felt very comfortable. I am 191cm's tall and 100kg + but I think I could do some long days in the saddle without issues on this machine.
The only thing I am worried about is if I can adapt to the different riding position. I started my riding days as a 5year old on dirtbikes and I have always had issues with adapting the sportier bikes. I have owned a CBR1000RR, CBR600RR and an Aprilia RSV Factory but never really managed to feel connected to those bikes like I feel when riding the Duke or my 1200GS.
Maybe the roomier ergos on the RC8 will make a difference?
I will think about this for a couple of days before I make my decision. Would appreciate some input to the problems I have had adapting to the sportbike riding position...Maybe someone here feels the same? Maybe I can never get used to it and need to keep riding naked bikes?
I think the perfect bike would be an RC8R converted to naked without changing anything else but the handlebar and fairing (Like the RSV to Tuono conversion)
Sorry for the long rambling.....it just feels like a big decision
