Hi all and especially Mr Poucher!! It was your full reply that helped make my mind up to go for a KTM and especially the SMT.
Right, well this is my comparison to the Multistrada 1200, I arrived with the Multi, did paperwork then got on the KTM straight away, no test ride! It has done 3k, year old and looks like new.
Right, I got on, felt good riding position, manouvred out the car park, clutch lovely and light, very easy to move around.
Left the car park, joined the road and pulled off up to 50, first thing I notice different is the way you seem to sit on the bike and not in it, everything is so light though, gearbox is fantastic, clicks in ultra smooth up and down. Joining the dual carriageway give me a chance to accelerate and have a play. It is quick enough, but the Multi is quicker, by far, it would be worrying if it wasn't as it does have 36 brake more. Yes the KTM has a lot off go, but the duc has lots more, it would just growl and in the top half of the rev the difference is profound. But, and it's a big but, the extra growl is very rarely used in real time riding. It's a bit like the difference between a 600/1000. One is very quick and involving, the other one is mega quick and whilst involving you don't quite get the same involvement.
I feel I have to say that I have had R1s, Mille Rs, k5 fixer thou( best bike ever) and now run an ex race r6 on track. So I think I can comment on how it goes. So that's in a straight line anyway, but, get to bout 80, slight shimmy at the bars, and a sense of a weave starting, I am surprised, this would start at about 125 for the duc, I keep it going, gets bit worse, then I lift off both hands to see what it does, it remains so its not me holding the bars wrong. Get toward home and start hitting the twisties. It feels good, has plenty go, sounds nice between corners, go through them smooth as yer not arriving as quick as before. Suspension feels tight, yet absorbent of the bumpy country roads. Still something not right though, back end is bit wallowy, front is okay. The brakes are awesome, far far better than the duc, both radial brembo but KTM far more stopping power, lovely hiss as you scrub speed off. It's now bout 40 mins on the bike, I get a feeling I haven't had for two years, yep, numb arse. The seat is quite hard, but the worst thing, same as most bikes, is its so narrow, the duc had a wide seat that yer arse cheeks are on, KTM yer arse bones are on so it's a lot less comfy.
It's also near impossible to keep it running at 40mph, it's either on or off the throttle. Same at 30, snick up a gear, better but it's still there.
Wind blast is on chest, but in a nice way, the duc was horrible, it was a piercing blast and yer head was all over the place as standard. But I am now getting hit by flies on my visor, that never happened on the duc. Could go months without cleaning yer visor!
I get home and have a think.
It's not as quick, it's not so comfy, it handles bit strange, but it goes well, you can use all it's power and she can pick her skirt up and go when asked. Am I happy, yes, it feels ver very well built.
I bounce the bike and the back end is soft, front stiff as a stiff thing. I think it's set up wrong, I haven't yet had a play but I think the settings are well out. I will set it up to factory and I hope that will get rid of the weave and also the slight wallow in corners.
Is it better than the duc? No, they are different bikes but I loved the duc. Why sell it, because of the extensive returns to the dealer to have warranty work done, because that peeps hate high mileage on a duc, because I had only 3 months left on the warranty, and I had worries that things would go pear shaped after the warranty expired.
So I think a suspension set up, a seat set up, slightly higher screen or an airflow thingy, a pc3/4 to sort the fueling and then I will be delighted.
I am happy, it's different to the duc,it's a lot more flickable, better gearbox, no missed gears.
I look forward to gettin some more miles on it!!!