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spiderwheels · Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2019 7:08 pm Post subject: I have bought one

After all, that's what a 28 month interest free balance transfer card is for, correct?

It's a 2012 non-r. I would have liked a 2016 R but the nearest one is 3 hours away and many £££ more expensive.

Funny thing is, I went into the shop to take a Thruxton R for a test ride.

I hope the Duke is as fun as it sounds

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fatboy · Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2019 7:28 pm Post subject:

More details please !
Glad you are pleased with the new toy, there are a good number of 'Dukes' out there so what have you spanked the card on ?
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spiderwheels · Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2019 7:43 pm Post subject:

fatboy · Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2019 7:37 pm Post subject:

I will drink to that one my man !
Cool ride and I'm sure you will love it, KTM have got the frame /fork geometry spot on

What inspired me to buy the RC8 was watching a rider on one, one hand on the bars, flicking it around with the effortless ease of a Moto GP rider on the slow down lap after winning a podium slot.....
Enjoy

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spiderwheels · Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2019 8:07 pm Post subject:

Hoping it will improve my cornering and inspire a bit of hooliganism.

I nearly went for an rc8 last year but it had dubious provenance and tbh I'd never use the power. How are you liking it?
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mangocrazy · Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2019 10:41 pm Post subject:

Well done that man! This forum is definitely starting to turn a bit orange round the edges... Before you get started you will need to make a couple of specific KTM mods - two holes drilled in your crash helmet either side of the temple and up a bit. It's for when the horns sprout...

They really are just so much fun, and you will love the way it handles and how it encourages all sorts of hooliganism. I don't know how they do it - it's just in their DNA... It's also stupidly light, so it's not intimidating in any way.

The only thing I found was that I had to recalibrate the way I put it into corners. It turns so fast that it's easy to find yourself turning in too soon and having to correct. I normally have to modify any bike I buy to speed up the steering, but not this one!

Enjoy!

spiderwheels · Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2019 11:33 am Post subject:

It might be the fact that I live on the building site that is around the A14 but everywhere I go the local roads are just getting worse. The Falco is intimidating as it feels skittish - it needs to see a suspension specialist once I've finished part-swapping but it will probably never have the gay abandon that I've read about the Duke.

Shame about the rocker arm issue on these earlier bikes... doesn't look too onerous to sort out if caught early.

I'm also a bit miffed that Rockingham circuit shut down. The mickey-mouse infield would have been so much fun on the KTM. Now the closest track is Snetterton - it would be like waiting for a bus on that back straight..
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fatboy · Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2019 7:30 pm Post subject:

To be fair there is a generation gap between our Italian rides and the Prussian ones so they come with technology advances in handling ect.
Both are an absolute hoot to ride,
The Falco delivers a stunning amount of torque,so does the RC8, still not sure which is the fastest from the off, RC8 has the edge on the top end and handling, it ihas a greater engine capacity than the Falc but it is a bit smaller and lighter .
Both have hooligan in their DNA

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mangocrazy · Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2019 10:46 pm Post subject:

With the Duke it's really important to regularly check oil levels - in fact after every ride. For a start some engines tend to use oil at a rate that won't be familiar to Falco owners, plus they only have a tiny oil capacity - 1.7 litres, I believe. So if the oil level drops by any noticeable amount then Bad Things Happen. The other thing is to change the oil before the manufacturer's stated intervals, the Dukes seeem to chew oil up very quickly and it loses viscosity. I'm planning on changing mine at half the recommended intervals.

And use top quality 10w60 (or even 15w60) fully synthetic oil. I'll probably pamper mine with Motul 300V...

fatboy · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 7:21 pm Post subject:

One of the visiting lorry drivers at work was looking at the RC8, he owns a super Moto model, reckons it uses oil at a similar rate to a 2 stroke,RC8 uses none..
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spiderwheels · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 8:59 pm Post subject:

Oil seems a hot topic on 690 forums.. more than anywhere else!

I'll probably leave whatever the dealer put in it for a couple of hundred miles and then drop it out and go for the motul 300 (or silk pro 4 or other ester synthetic)

FB - they seem to use oil up to about 2000 miles and then stop. I assume this is around the time one of the pins drops out of the rocker arm roller bearing and lodges into wherever the oil was leaking out from before

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mangocrazy · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 9:29 pm Post subject:

I think a lot of it is down to how the engine in question was run in. Treat them gently and running-in won't be anywhere near complete before the first service, at which time super protective fully synth is put in, which effectively stops (or heavily slows down) the running in process. The rings have to bed in to the cylinder wall, otherwise oil blows by leading to heavy oil consumption.

I changed the oil & filters after about 250 miles and put Morris's running in oil in, then changed again (oil only) at 500 miles.I also made sure it was revved freely up to the recommended rev limit and certainly didn't 'baby' it. Time will tell whether my approach was correct or not...

spiderwheels · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 9:47 pm Post subject:

I think you have the right idea there MC

As mine already has 10K on it I'll be taking the previous owner lottery. Better give it a good ragging while it's still in warranty!

Sunday is still a long way off..
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Greg · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 10:06 pm Post subject:

There's a school of thought that running in can be done on a dyno - or just ragging the tits off it. The guys that dyno'd my trackbike would run-in a factory fresh motor with three or four full power dyno runs - with cooling cycles - on mineral oil before filling with the super slippy synth. Reportedly good results!
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spiderwheels · Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2019 8:13 pm Post subject:

I guess you have to do that on a race bike. Can't exactly waz it up the local bypass.
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