‘It had a lust for life’
The KTM provided exciting times but niggles took their toll
It’s obviously best to evaluate a bike when you’re actually riding it, actually squirting chain lube onto it and actually spending your Sunday mornings cleaning it. But it’s often once a bike has gone that you work out what and how much it truly meant to you. Is your heart aching or are you simply glad of the extra space in the garage?
And here’s the thing about the 790 Duke I had on long-term test for 4000 miles and which has now gone back to KTM: I don’t really know how much I miss it.
It finished the year with a small but annoying oil leak from the cylinder head cover seal, and at least one of the front discs was warped as the front brake lever pulsed disconcertingly under heavy braking and grabbed scruffily in traffic and town. Meanwhile, the way the 790 could increasingly lose its composure on a brisk and bumpy B-road was also beginning to grate, particularly because with no damping adjusters on the WP suspension there was little I could do except grin and bear the sometimes jarring ride.
So we were heading towards some sort of mini-crisis, the 790 Duke and me. Engine, brakes and suspension all needed attention after barely six months of riding. But, and here’s why I’m somewhat conflicted, those six months had been so fresh and invigorating, the 790 also went some way to redefining for me what a good time on a motorcycle feels like. That’s why I miss its lightness and nonchalant low speed balance. I miss the way it wiggles through gaps, gruffly nails the traffic lights GP, leans, flows and generally owns the road while giving me 60mpg minimum. I miss its ridiculous, irreverent approach to trackdays, where it refuses to show respect to anything, no matter how powerful or expensive. And above all I miss its love for life; the way it treats every ride as the most exciting thing that ever happened.
I have run three KTMs in recent years: a 990 Super Duke, a 1260 Super Duke R and the 790 Duke. All three were everything promised and more but only one, the 990, was as reliable as you’d expect a Honda or Kawasaki to be. And that’s why on balance, while I do miss the 790, it’s also why I’m grateful for the extra garage space.