Lost the love..... and its back!!

Rode my SDR on track for the first time since March on Monday and probably on my fav SDR track Cadwell Park. I've been riding/racing the Blade this year, other than a race at Snetterton in March because the Blade's slipper clutch destroyed itself. I used to love riding the SD/R on track, was so much fun. However "love" is the last word I'd use to describe the experience on Monday. I just couldn't get to grips with it at all. It felt like i was always just about to crash when i tried to push on. Maybe I was applying too much force to the bars having got used to the inputs required to make the Blade change direction with clip-ons. Maybe i've got to used to a bike that feels like it corners on rails where the SDR felt flighty, vague and unsettled. I was proper gutted when I came in from my 3rd session on it, felt like the end of a long love affair, end of an era I was going to spend more time on it in the open pit lane day on Tuesday but I'd left the ignition on with kill switch in off and the battery wouldn't turn the engine over so she went back in the van. I love the bike (and it's too valuable financially) to risk throwing it down the track so unless something amazing happens at Crashfest, if I take it out, I think the SDR and taking it on track days are over for me. I can see the Splitter gifs/vids to follow but when chasing laptimes or just trying to really push on the SDR just isn't the bike for me anymore. Not saying I'm going to sell it, although I might. I've just been seduced by the darkside of sports bikes on track and can't see a way back.

Ah, I was waiting for this inevitable time! It's not really surprising. I loved my original iMac but if I started it up now I'd be frustrated with it's limitations. Ones expectations can only really progress forwards.

Yeah that's pretty much it Bic. I managed to do a 1.39 on my first time there on the Blade and know I can shave more time off that with practice. I just can't imagine getting even close to that on the SDR without pushing it to the point where a crash is inevitable. Maybe when I get bored (or have a big off) with racing and trying to push myself on track the SDR will make sense again for just going out and riding at a reasonable pace. I'm not for a second saying it's shit because it's a great tool for what it is. I just don't have the skills to make it do what I want to do on track now without crashing and I really don't like crashing. The lack of grunt down the straights is also frustrating now after experiencing what an IL4 can deliver. Horses for courses I guess, sports bikes are designed to go like fook around a racetrack and the SDR just wasn't.

male out ……. female in….. nuff said

Havent got mine for a spin over a month now, should take a try and may be join your conversation about life
Truth however is always subjective

It's not really suprising.

The blade betters the SD in every area apart from speed of turn, and there is always a trade in for that.

What do sportsbikes and tampons have in common?







Every cu*t has one


Mandlebars for the win

I don't blame you. I've never seen the SD as a serious track weapon, sure it's fun as hell to ride but I'd never expect to put any serious lap times down with it.

Supersports are designed with one thing in mind where as the SD is more of just an overall fun bike that you can fook around on.

Main reason I want to get an RC8 instead of the SD: track/high speed performance even though the SD is the king on the street, loads of noise and aggressive riding but most of all, gotta love pulling a high wheelie

Thing is.

Owning a bike, and riding it the way you want to ride, is fundamental to bike preference. To support Klinky in his confession I would like to say that, in my experience, he has been one of the most ardent supporters of the SD bike and KTM brand for as long as I have known him.

Over the years he's evolved from an enthusiast to a serious fast road rider to a track day addict to a racer and finally an instructor with No Limits, (the loonies of the rack day events IMO).

So if you evaluate a typical SD against the modern track tools it falls well short of the modern competition and how could anyone really judge it favourably against track data comparisons

So all I am saying is don't hang Craig up for stating the obvious and let him post his opinion without giving him stick.

Shdowman.

I bought another bike to experience something other than lap times and performance. My money went on nostalgia, smell, vibration, chrome, shit 70's electrics, skinny tyres, wobbly speedo needles, petrol taps, spokes, no brakes.

I'm in heaven man.

Each to his own!

I expect a ribbing Bic. Wouldn't be SD.net if I didn't get a bit of piss taking

Well then. Of all the bikes to turn you to the dark side.......

A fooking Honda?!!!!!

Really. I mean..... I thought you were at one time into Kawasaki 1000s. Or even a big IL4 Suzuki. But a Honda????

What were you thinking? Shame on you.

Let me paraphrase your original post for you: "I have a vagina."

You're welcome.

that's more like it!









...you bunch of cnuts!

The majority of us have done the plastic rocket fase and had a bloody nutty time doing it,we've come out the other side and gone the super moto route then realised we needed more power and better tank range and have settled on the SD/R and then bought an Enduro bike too. You've missed the sports bike fase so it's understandable that you've fallen in love with the raw power and handling of em,you're about 30yrs behind us all in that respect. So go fill ya boots with racing and lap time's,but be carefull your no spring chicken you'll come back this way eventually im sure

Gay love song just seems appropriate.

I don't fracking believe it I sell you a minter, you disrespect it, now you say you don't love it any more. CNUT

ungrateful child

I have occasionally missed the cock rockets I've owned. I am not a track addict (yet) however. Rode a buddy's new Triumph 675R recently and it felt like the most technically superior motorcycle I've ever been on. It was way too easy to go way too fast right off the bat. Still, there is something about the Super Duke that is perfect at what it does.

I have fallen in lust with mine all over again, after not riding it for almost a year, and constantly trying to come up with excuses to go out for a quick blast around town, or head out of town. The wheelies, the feeling of finally getting the suspension set up correctly, the fact that it is never boring to look at. It's one of a kind. The wife wants to hate it but I can tell she is strangely attracted to it at the same time...

Maybe you just need a bit of time off!

i had a 08 blade however it was after i wrecked
my husky supermotard
the accident left me with two plates n 11
screws holding my left knee together.
as a result i can no longer tuck in as i
did on my rc51.
i went back to naked bikes first another
husky supermotard then a ducati hypermotard
and all i can say is my sd 1290r is the
most fun you can have on a motorcycle
it was well worth the wait
and i ride every chance i get
having this machine makes me lose the
urge for a sport bike
its the ultimate streetfighter ever made !!!!

Clinkenmiester;
You posted up way back when that you hardly ride on the street much anymore and that you are pressed to enjoy a street ride out.
This has happened to many a motorcyclist when the track bug bites so hard that no one in their right mind would get the same adrenaline rush from a street ride.
It is more that you lost the love of street riding and less that the KTM has anything to do with the equation. For those who occasion a track and live on the streets the KTM fits well.
I think it is great that you evolved toward the track and with that a need for track orientated mechanicals, Not so much a love loss as a new love.
Good luck with the umbrella girls.

If that is Motoronin's old bike I know a guy on PB forum desperately seeking an 08 SDR.

I actually had a solar power salesman come to our place today as we are thinking of getting more pannels. So I open the garage door so he can check the inverter and he is strait onto looking at the Super Duke.
He said he just loves Super Dukes he didn't even look at the Aprilia.