2019 KTM 1290 Super Duke R
Mental yet mannered, fast but friendly – and in your garage for £89 a month
IT LOOKS ANGRY and has a specification promising a constant assault on your senses. Yet dawdling through my sleepy village at stupid o’clock on a weekday morning, KTM’S muscle-bound supernaked is surprisingly subtle. Fuelling is silky and predictable in Street mode, and the exhaust has a soft burble. Past the green and the 1301cc smoothly whirrs with the politeness of something cuddly and A2-legal, rather than a headcase with pistons the size of buckets and ridiculous 13.6:1 compression. The Super Duke R’s riding position lets me shuffle upright, with relaxed limbs thanks to the close ’bar and the space between the 835mm seat (feels higher) and footpegs. Sharp white headlights are excellent, indicators turn themselves off, and though sportily firm the WP suspension refuses to clatter over Leicestershire County Council’s more embarrassing road repairs. Thread onto a major road and civility continues, the KTM emitting no more than a mumble while spinning at 4000rpm/75mph. Then I turn onto B-roads, and it all goes crackers. A fistful of gas, tacho in the top half of its streak across the colour dash, and the V-twin is explosive. It’s so free-revving, fierce and fast. The chassis darts and skips to a nudge on the wide handlebar, ricocheting between hedgerows in a frenzy of lean angle and busy traction control. Sport mode brings even sharper throttle action and more willingness for the front to hover under acceleration (in the first three gears) or flick upwards off a crest. Arriving at the Bike nerve centre the big twin slips back into its calmer persona. Sliding discreetly into the car park, this 174bhp animal doesn’t cause any of the office types who share our building to even glance up from their phones. I can’t help but feel smug knowing my day has started by experiencing the exceptional; that I’ve sampled something special. Except experiencing this £14,799 bonkers medley of performance and manners is something most of us can afford. In fact, the social-media zombies could get this life-affirming wonder for about the same price as the all-singing contract on the iphone24 stuck to their palm. Part-ex your old bike to cover the £3803 deposit and they’ll knock £1290 off the price of your Super Duke R – meaning it’s a ridiculously cheap £89 a month on PCP. Or, put another way, about the same as a Yamaha MT-07 with its 100bhp deficit. (Prefer HP? Find a bit more for the deposit and the 1290 is £169 a month, then no final payment and it’s all yours.) ‘I’m surprised how similar it feels to my older Super Duke,’ says my mate and long-time Bike subscriber, Dominic Mattock. He’s about to submit to the PCP temptation of the Fireblade SP and is also the owner of a ten-year-old KTM 990, so is the perfect bloke to pester regarding the 1290. ‘The model’s character has carried through and that’s a really good thing. The riding position is very similar and it responds to steering input the same way. Like my 990, your first input through the ’bars makes you worry it’s going to be really twitchy, but you soon get used to it and realise it’s not unstable, just really responsive. Brakes have such bite and power, and are far better than on my 990, and the forks and shock are obviously more up-to-date – you notice it with how the bike settles down into a corner.’ There are other advances, not least the bristling electronics. As well as the Street and Sport modes there’s Rain, which caps power at 130bhp, and all three are tied-in to lean-sensitive traction control and ABS. Those auto-cancel winkers sit alongside cruise, tyre monitoring and keyless ignition, and for a few quid the dealer can activate Track mode, which features launch control and allows the anti-wheelie to be turned off. And makes the speedo turn from blue to red. This particular bike is also smothered in accessories – or Power Parts in KTM speak – which includes a two-way quickshifter. ‘As with the handling there’s a familiar feel to how the engine ladles-on power, especially with plenty of right-hand, though obviously it’s way more long-legged,’ reckons Dom. ‘There’s so much power that you only need to short-shift in the midrange, and the quickshifter feels really nice firing through the gears. If I’d stolen an hour from the family, I reckon the Super Duke would supply most fun and give the quickest thrill of the bikes here.’ We’re both taken with the KTM. The ethos of the original bike is still intact, yet it’s evolved for the better into something way faster, smoother, more stable and usable, with the peace of mind of modern electronics. Eighty-nine quid a month is staggering.
‘A fistful of gas and the V-twin is explosive’