KTM 990 SMR

I'm starting a very short series of 3 posts showing photos of bikes that were at the shops last week. It happened that there were 3 special bikes from the "motorcycle-I-wouldn't-mind-swinging-a-leg-over" list that day, hence the photos. The first one is the KTM 990 SMR.

KTM 690 by Ruleshaker

Yet another KTM ? Tell me you don't want to try one of these ultra light bikes on a sunny afternoon on your favorite twisty road ... This one's been built by French dealer Ruleshaker.

KTM RC4

What you see is not an officially released bike by Austrian manufacturer KTM. It's a kit bike designed and produced by German company Mototech, which means you can't really buy the bike as it is shown above, but instead would buy a kit made to transform your Duke to this supermono.

It's really an interesting concept as even though the bike's not as powerful as a 600 supersport - developping the 64 to 68 bhp the Duke and Duke R are announced at - its strong ability on track is all down to its weight (or lack of weight to be more precise).

The kit is available on Mototech's online shop for around 5000€ and there's even a street-legal version. Be aware though that the tank capacity is reduced to 12 liters after the conversion.

Halloween project

It's a couple of months old now, but what better time than Halloween to undertake that bloody cool project. Miss Hyde is in fact hiding a KTM 950SM under its (still orange) tank (courtesy of El Solitario MC for these nice photos).

KTM 690 SMC

Tried one last Friday. Just wanted to know what it's like to ride a lightweight thumper. Guess what ? I had loads of fun. This thing power wheelies in first and second gear like the front-end's so light, but still breaks hard with its single brake disc pinched by a radial caliper. It wants to be ridden hard and surprisingly accepts high revs (7000 rpm is a lots for a single cylinder engine). It's easy to just jump over a roundabout like it never existed as you won't need to touch the brakes when you cross one.

This KTM is a real toy and definitely proves you don't need 160hp to have fun on a motorcycle. But god my butt was really aching after our 50 kilometers trip together. The saddle is so narrow and hard, it's been aching since the very first kilometers. That must something you get used to with a bit more time behind the bars, but if you don't the Duke has a wider and softer saddle and I've been told it will be soon available as a demo bike at the local KTM shop.

KTM SMT

It's been weeks since I had decided I would try a KTM one day. Whether it would be a 690cm3 single or a 990cm3 twin was still to determine, but I was eager to try one of these bikes. With the Duke 3 showing a bit more often now as a second hand choice, I really wanted to know how it feels on the road. What better thing to do then than to pay a visit to the local KTM dealer ? And that's exactly what I did on Saturday, enjoying the one and only day of decent weather of the whole week-end (a 3 days week-end around here).

When I arrived in front of the shop, I immediately noticed that there was only one KTM bike outside and my guess was that it was the demo bike. Visiting the shop was pretty quick, as it's a really small one and it's only filled with KTM's complete motocross range and hardly a road bike (a rebuilt 690 SMC). A quick chat with the dealer later, it seems that KTM is not stocking its production, which means when it's all sold and the season's nearly over, there's no way you can't get one to try it out.

Anyway, there's still that one waiting outside and I had made the road through there, so ...I asked for its keys  and went on for a ride. So here I am riding a 990 SMT for a 35 minutes trip to my parent's house (where I had to pick up some parts) and back. During the first part of the trip, I wasn't at ease ... at all. I could not find a position on the bike, I felt like the wide bars would hit my belly any time soon and I had to lift my foot at every down shifting. Add to this that the the riding position is completely upright and the bars are pretty high making the front feeling rather vague compared to the bike I had just jumped from, and you will understand why I wasn't that happy to throw my leg over the bike again when leaving from my parent's house.

But the second part of the trip was far better, like I kind of knew what to expect from this bike. And guess what ? I really enjoyed the trip back. Now I had a rather good feeling with the front (which for me is a requirement) and could at last fully enjoy the strong engine and the "made for tall guys" ergonomics of the SMT. The KTM feels light and flickable in roundabouts. Exiting one on full throttle is made possible because it just makes you fell it can do it.

The time to give the keys back has come too soon. I really wanted to keep on feeling the front wheel getting higher and higher under the acceleration and with the only help of a small bump on the road. Sweet ! Can I ask for some more ?