THE DUKE

Nov 21, 2008
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After owning four high performance beamers last year K1200R,2 GT`s and a nice GS i bought a D tracker and a ER6 in january took the tracker for a 5000 km spin in isaan and laos,traded it in for a ER6 and drove a good 4000 km on it during feb and mars the ER6 got me thinking.
i liked the concept of the bike i got home an started to serch for someting fun to drive during summer,i missed the K1200R,awsome handeling but heavy and VERY SAFE.0-100 in 2,7 sec fastest naked bike in 2007.
realy liked it but wanted something else,looked at z1000 and fz yamaha even the new cb100r but to comon and lack caracter and there one day a was sarching the internet i saw it It was like a dream come thru it was like no other bike,
the problem was it was in a store 500 km from my home,i called the dealer made a deal on the bike got a free helmet and took the bus to the tow,checked in to a hotel and waited like a teenager on the first date,i was on the doorstep 10 when the store opened and there it was,screaming DO NOT MESS WITH ME I WILL KICK YOUR ASS.
I have newer driven this bike before so i was very eager to drive,it was like first time i had sex started off it was a good 500 k home i was laughing like a 14 y old girl the bike was like nothing i EVER driven bfore handels like a dream,185 kg with liquids lighter by 15 kg of the ER6 engine has about 120 hp on the rear tyre it curves like no other bike,allmost impossible to keep the front tyre on the road,brakes are awsome.
The bike is totaly unforgiving,you fuck up you bleed,this is not a bike for beginners.
the 500km home felt more like 50 km and when i came home i took it for an extra few around in the city.
anyway i got home safe but i feel like i have been in a motocyckle accident i am beaten up hurt evrywhere my ass sholders legs left hand fingers its all a mess it i am raped by the Duke and i love :oops: it ,but there is only one thing i can think about and that is geting out and DRIVE,
The ER6 is like a rubber cow on morphin compare to this bike i stil got the kawa safely parked in bkk and i will keep it its a nice bike.
The KTM 990 SUPERDUKE is the most fun ive had in years maybe ever
Dear fellow riders do yourself a favour and try this macine before you die
 
Oct 17, 2006
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I agrree KTM 990 superduke is awesome and only has 1 fault in my opinion the seat is too high..That why I have the Ducati Monsters instead.The KTM is probably the better bike though even though i have 3 Ducatis I would like a KTM if I could fit one.
 

Rhodie

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Mar 5, 2006
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Nuwatmat

was this you....
:lol:

Totally understand your love of KTM...
RobKTM.jpg

RobertH was riding around SEA on his massive 950ADV
until it found a home in Vientiane.

But tell us a little more... and as David says with pix.
A few of us went down to Penang last year to look at the 690s.
Especially the Enduro.
But getting them in to Thailand with a plate was proving more trouble than it was worth.

How did you manage it and what sort of plate do you have?
Considering the BiB's recent crackdown on dodgy plated bikes. :shock:

Please share your info, so others can have a slice of orange.... :D
 

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Oct 12, 2005
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The post describing your first day with the bike is marvelous. Very few things in life can have life's clock rewind to adolescence so quickly as a proper sorted bike that scorches the senses. No matter the torture the bike puts you through you gladly pay the penance to take another bite of what it serves you. Glad you found your nirvana with the pumpkin.

Rhodie - I reckon the gent is in his own country with his new steed, though I'd love to hear otherwise. As someone that was married to a Japanese gal for over a decade I really appreciated the scene in the video clip where the Japanese gentleman sacrilegiously disfigures the Bonsai tree with an errant snip caused by evocative Austrian influence. Priceless.
 
Nov 21, 2008
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Fellow riders

i am not familiar with posting pictures here,i realy want to post some from the 3 month trip in north east thailand and laos, i have a massive amount of pictures took highway 23 in laos it was amazing.
will be on the road again in november with the ER6.
About the DUKE,this is my summerbike in norway,i would personaly not consider owning one in muang thai that counts for the strange italian brand as wel + bmw, maybe the boxer from bmw,KTM bikes has service sceduals a litle more freequent than other bikes and you can not skip them,you will get away with 7500 km service as it is mainly oil and fluids.
as for the 15000 you can not cheat, i dont know where in thailand you can have that done.
If you live in bkk maybe but remember these are very high performance engines and very sophisticated enginered so adjusting valves are not for avrage somchai.
The price of the european bikes in thailand is about the same as in my country the DUKE was new and was close to one mill bth.
The price of any jap bike in thailand is about half if what it is here.
The only european brands i would consider in los is triumph and bmw as they seem to have an established dealership,however i would not own any of them in mukdahan or any other remote city.
owning a eorpean brand in los must be like owning a ferrari in old east germany.
The roads in thailand are not suitable for high speed even the little kawa ER6 is a bit over the top even it does not invite for speeding i would realy hate to blow a tyre in a village or have any macanical brake down.
It is ok if you live in ch mai,bkk,phuket or pattaye even khorat,but if you do a lot of driving eventualy you will be stucked.
I had a brake down on the K1200R last year it just would not start EWS problem,YES it sounds funny EWS `(engine wont start) in german it is erwegfahrsperr or imobiliser in english.
Turned out to be the ringantenna it is the antenna surounding the key it comunicates with the key it was nothing i could do repair shop used one day to fix it under warranty.
This is allso a common problem on the GS.
Maybe in the future it will be possible to have a high performance european bike in thailand but fo now il stick to the jap brands preferably kawasaki as some of them are made in thailand the parts are dirt cheap and more availible each month,
i did over 8000 km on the road in january and feb this year on two kawasaki bikes and had no problems with them this was my first japaneese bikes and the smallest bikes i ever had,they both were impressing.
The strange thing was on this trip i met only maybe 8-10 other big bikes,met two english gentlemen in Nan one guy in a nice triumph an another one on a not so nice phantom.
I saw one guy on a GS in laos and i met a very nice french guy in savannakhet on a africa twin he allso spoke exelent english,not bad for a frenchman.
another guy i met was allso french i think,that was in nong khai he drove an old 1100 gs compleetly without papers and with fake plates,i wonder what he was thinking about,he bragged about beeing stopped by the police and the police wanted to buy the bike,he did not realise that they could have just confiscated the bike if they wanted it hard enough.
Allso met a nice biker in ch mai doing comercial offroad trips he was allso french.
I was stopped by the police 8 times, papers and lisence,one time the light was red,the conversation was like this in thai,police blow whistle,i stopped,
police,the light was red .me-yes,police,you shouldn`t have drived,me-no.
police -now its green,me-yes,police-now you can drive.
All the times i was stopped it was all politness never asked for bribes and very helpfull when i asked for directions.
i was stopped in Laos doing 100 in a 30 limit zone,the guy just wanted to chat a litle and look at the papers for the bike.no fines .
This was my first rely long trip (over 1500 km) trip in thailand and a realy liked it a lot even it was getting real hot in march it was not realy a problem,but for now the season is starting here and i hope for a plesant warm summer i will drive the DUKE all summer and return to los in octber.
A i said earlier i would like to post some pictures but it seems uploading here is not the easyest thing to do.

be safe
 
Nov 21, 2008
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fellow riders

I just started a blog it is far from complete but its a start,more pictures will follow
it is possible to register as follower.
take a look at the giant windscreen on the DUKE,there will be other pictures and text when i got some more time,right now the boat season is up here so i have to get the it ready for action that should be done this weekend.

http://motorbikeasia.blogspot.com/

be safe
 
Nov 2, 2008
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Have to add how pictures don't do your Duke justice, seeing one in person is an experience in itself.

Great post btw.