KTM 950 Supermotard

[Dazza]

Big ups to Bruce @ AMPS for lending me the 950 (Akropovic's fitted for your listening pleasure) for a few hours whilst my Super Duke was in for it's 15000km service (the big one).Being a country boy and not enjoying Aucklands fine traffic I head out the North Western Motorway & head out to the Old North Rd (?) to Helensville. Very usable on the motorway ticking along @ the speed limit,seat not too narrow & a very comfortable riding position with really good visablity. Seemed like it took forever to find the open road, unpoliced (?) stretch of road but there she was,with some nice sweepers with posted 45/55/35km/hr corners,all I can say is whooho, a little apprehensive @ first (not my bike & those tyres don't look that roady) but it certainly was confidence inspiring. Not far out of Helensville it started to rain, bugger it always rains when I'm test riding something up here, so decide to turn back towards the city through those lovely sweepers through the pine forest and a motorcycle is coming towards me and think bugger it, if he's going that way I see if he's a local and knows the road (maybe not,they were wet though). Make it into Helensville after doing that loverly stretch of road again with varying road surfaces and conditions from damp to feckin windy along the ridges and must say the Supermotard handled all this in it's stride, alot more stable than anticipated and those bloody tyres stick like shit to a blanket.
Long story short, if I had shit loads of money & had to live in Auckland and didn't mind dodging dodgy buggers in cars (that's another story on the way back to NP in rush hour traffic nearly getting cleaned out by a car load of PI's,thanks Mr Plod for sorting them out),you'd be hard pressed to go pass this beasty, maybe the 950 SuperEnduro R ?. A very capable motorcyle

[clint640]

So how's it compare with the Superduke? Power/handling/comfort etc?

Cheers
Clint

[Dazza]

So how's it compare with the Superduke? Power/handling/comfort etc?

Well Clint where do I start,Power-very usable, fuelling excellent from go to whoa, not as nasty as the fuel injection on the SD, you have to be quite deliberate with the throttle when riding it hard whereas the SM would be more forgiving I feel, the SD just gives a more oumph feeling (Dynoed @ 110RWHP) and the over run on the SD (have fitted Akropovic's to the SD when I bought her new,ouch) is heaps better with her dumping the fuel and popping and banging,can't do that on the carbed one.
Handling-excellent, very stable, arse-end felt good but front end could do with afew tweeks,don't think she'd feel as planted as the SD though. Was most impressed with her stability going through a series of switch backs with a damp road surface & abit windy. Had her cranked right over coming out of a couple of corners seeing if I could get the back end to move but wouldn't budge.
Comfort- not too bad, as I said,seat a little narrower than the SD which isn't the most comfrotable seat for long stints anyway, made the mistake of buying and fitting the gel seat,have gone back to the original,back to the SM,would like to compare with an hr of being in the saddle,suspect arse would be sorer on the SM.The riding postion is very similar, there is no-way you could use the whole front of the seat on the SM, not for extended periods though.
The extra few litres in the SM tank would be a bonus over the SD.I nearly bought the SM over the SD, except there where no SM here when I felt I needed the change, but am glad I went with the SD as I do like playing with faired bikes on the more open roads where I feel the SM would be left behind, but hey "any wanker can go fast in a straight line" we know it's about the corners anyway !
If you need any further info please don't hesitate to contact me.
Darren

[FlangMasterJ]

I rode one of the first 2 in the country. Great bike all round.

[Big Dave]

What a blast huh.
My Quick Spin bit is on that bike in this months Kiwi Rider.
I really liked it too.
FWIW I like my Buell slightly more because of it's abilty to serve as a touring bike as well while being almost as 'potent' as the KTM.
'potent' isn't the right word - The KTM is faster - I mean in the context of 'as much fun'.
But I'd love one in my Jay Leno garage too.

[Dazza]

What a blast huh.
My Quick Spin bit is on that bike in this months Kiwi Rider.
I really liked it too.
FWIW I like my Buell slightly more because of it's abilty to serve as a touring bike as well while being almost as 'potent' as the KTM.
'potent' isn't the right word - The KTM is faster - I mean in the context of 'as much fun'.
But I'd love one in my Jay Leno garage too.

"Jay Leno Garage" I'm going to use that term Dave, be interesting to read your write up. Touring ability is probably what I like about the Super Duke (mawhawhaw) comapered to the SM,well put, I see why you write for magazines