9 minute read
Suzuki GSX-S1000 Termer
JOHNNY
TIME ON TEST: 10 WEEKS
KTM SUPER DUKE 1290 GT
0 0 9 6 8
ODOMETER MILES BHP: 175 GAIN: 0 NEXT AIM: SET UP RIDING POSITION
Well, the mission last time I wrote about the GT was to just get it run in so I could leave it with KTM while I went to the TT with the SuperDuke Evo for the Rutter feature in last month’s edition of the magazine. I’m happy to say I hit my first self-imposed deadline and dropped the GT off with just under 800 miles on the clock after taking it to the Northwest 200 race in Northern Ireland and back. Actually, I only took it back due to a particularly complicated set of circumstances that occurred, resulting in me taking the GT over there in a van, along with a few dozen boxes of Michael Rutter’s new book that had been delayed at the printers.
Racing done, and no longer on the clock for Bathams Racing, I filled the GT up at a petrol station in Coleraine for an eye-watering £32 – and this was at £1.65/litre, which now seems like a bargain – on a cold, grey and wet Sunday morning, and headed for the ferry to Liverpool. A few hours and several violently expensive cups of tea later, I’m rolling off the ferry onto the Liverpool docks and heading for home 150 miles away. Cruise control engaged at a modest yet productive cruising speed, and just a little over a couple of
Johnny can lean on the KTM for a good time. Price from new: £17,949
Insurance group: 17 Modifications:
RUNNING TOTAL
£0
£0
hours later I’m home, still using the same tank of fuel I left Portstewart with earlier that day.
The GT was run in and ready for a few weeks in the KTM UK workshop while I turned around and went to the TT. This is the GT’s main party trick – covering long distances quickly and without any fuss – and it is simply stunning at it.
Back home after the TT and I’m reunited with the GT, soon having to take it to FB towers in deepest Lincolnshire, which, now that running it in is done and dusted, gives me a chance to ride it in a much more spirited manner. Straight away, I have an issue with the suspension and don’t like the way it wallows under load and takes too long for my liking to settle after taking a bump or compression. At a set of lights, I set the ‘Load’ to ‘Rider+Luggage’ in the suspension menu, which takes about five seconds to do without even needing to switch the engine off. My logic was that if I were to set the bike manually to carry luggage or a pillion, I would add some preload to stop the bike feeling like it
All aboard!
was too soft and wallowy. So, in the search for some more preload, I change the setting and take off down the next set of bends on what feels like a completely different motorbike. To say the new setting transformed the bike would be a massive understatement. It now has much more support over bumps and compressions, and especially when loaded up with cornering forces. The result is that it feels much sharper and much more precise.
I’m less happy about the gear shift position, though. Now that I’m using more/all of the revs and riding it more playfully as opposed to just peeling miles off on it, it doesn’t take long for the big toe on my left foot to start hurting, like, really hurting. The position of the gear lever means the angle that my toe is pulling at it is at odds with the angle the lever actually moves at, so I’m pulling against it all the time, which, as well as being painful after a while, is also messy and causing the odd missed gear. It’s no big deal because it’s an easy fix with a 10mm spanner, of course, but it does highlight how it’s worth taking the time to get the small details right and how something so simple like the gear lever position being wrong can dramatically affect the quality of the ride.
The other observation that becomes immediately apparent is that while the GT does have a very, very potent engine and will do very naughty things in the first three gears with the anti-wheelie switched off, there is something missing from the Super Duke R Evo it’s based on. There’s just something that hasn’t made the transition across to the GT that makes it feel less naughty than the Super Duke R, and which makes KTM’s use of the word ‘beast’ feel a little bit of a stretch to me. To be precise, they call it the ‘long distance beast’, which, to be fair, is a fair description of the GT. As mentioned earlier, I have no problem declaring it a beast at covering long distances; it’s unnatural just how it does it. However, there is no avoiding the laws of physics or the published spec sheets. The Super Duke R weighs 180kg dry (I need to refer to the dry weight as both bikes have differentsized fuel tanks, so wet weight wouldn’t be a like-for-like comparison) and the GT cashes in at 216kg, a massive 36kg heavier, which with the best will in the world will take the edge off the Super Duke R’s naughty side. It’s not a surprise really, because the GT has got a fair amount of bodywork bolted to it that the Super Duke R doesn’t. Furthermore, the rear subframe is beefed up on the assumption that it will potentially have to support a passenger and luggage as well as a rider at some point in its life, just like it says in the suspension menu.
The upshot is that while referring to the GT as a Super Duke R with a fairing is technically correct, the extra weight it carries does change the dynamic of the GT, but not necessarily in a bad way.
Big tanks are brilliant, until the time comes to fill them.
It knows how to hustle...
He’ll cash in when he weighs that lot in...
Tim Tim NeaveNeave
It only took him an hour to get in it.
Isaid in my last column that I was hoping to be writing about a successful race week again soon, but that’s going to have to wait until next month now, I’m afraid. I fully understood the complexity of my pelvis injury at the time of my accident, but as every other racer out there will tell you, we always think we’ll be back sooner than the doctor says. In fact, I still am hoping to be back up and running a week or two ahead, but being ready to race at Brands Hatch was always going to be a little too ambitious... I had a go at thinking I’d be ready anyway. Oh well, that boat has sailed, and as gutting as it will be to see my competitors pull another big points haul over me, the most important thing is to make my comeback when I’m 100% fit and healthy and then really take it to them at Thruxton. That’s the plan, anyway. I must have had at least 20 hyperbaric sessions since I got home, but it’s a job to know how much that has improved the healing process. It’s the unknown, and everyone is asking if I’ve felt any difference from doing it. The honest answer is probably not, but my doctor was impressed with my progress at my last check-up, so who knows.
At the end of the day, if somebody says it works then of course we’re going to give it a go, but there’s no better healer than time.
I finally have the date for the removal of my pelvic fixation bar, and the doctor wants to keep the woodscrews in for the foreseeable as they shouldn’t cause any bother… I’m just hoping I don’t stumble across a big magnet anytime soon.
And finally, I had my catheter removed yesterday, which was an experience to say the least. Imagine having your old boy turned inside out... I don’t think that description is too far off. Anyway, I’m pleased that is over with, and it’s another big box ticked in terms of getting back to normal. I went to see my physio, Doug, at Altius Healthcare, yesterday, so now the real work starts. I’ve had a good spell of rest but it’s time to push on for the next step in the healing process. It’s all good having the metalwork removed in a few weeks’ time, but if there’s no strength there and I’ve been completely relying on that metal bar to hold me together, then I’ll be like mush when it comes out, so I want to try and get ahead so I’m not in a mess after that op.
I’m not one to sit on my backside all day, and although rest has been a big part of the last six weeks there were two jobs I just couldn’t ignore.
The village hedges were looking a right mess when I got out of hospital and after a few weeks I just couldn’t resist, plus Tom isn’t trusted with the hedger, so I managed to get myself up the tractor steps and into the cab. They’re looking much better now, but I’d best not do too much tractoring as harvest has just started on the farm. If I’m not careful, my old man will have me back on the job. Secondly, my grass. I wasn’t quite back on my feet, so trying to push the mower while trying to control the mobility scooter took a bit of doing but we finally got there. Other than that, it’s been fairly quiet so I’m looking forward to some bike action again this weekend at Donington Park. Taz Mac is finally making his World Superbike debut with the McAMS Yamaha crew, so I’m heading there to support the team and hopefully catch up with a few members of my crew. Then it’s onto Brands Hatch the following weekend for round five of the BSB championship. Like I say, I won’t be riding, but it’ll be nice to be back in the paddock again and try and enjoy it from a different perspective. I really am hopeful that next time I’ll have a successful race weekend to blab about.
Left: The lawn’s not going to cut itself! Right: Rehab is in full swing.
