With some enthusiasm as to having my first run on the new 1190 KTM I was briefed on the modes/settings and let loose.
Well just like DavyF the firstt thing you notice about this bad boy is the engine - it it truly awesome
If I had been blindfolded and asked what I was riding my old S1000RR with straight bars wouldnt have been too far from the sensations I was experiencing
It just keeps accelerating and immediately i eased into hooligan mode. Incidentally I kept in Sport mode most of the time as the other modes seemed way too dull
I had about a 100mile ride on various types of roads.
Heres a quick summary;
+Engine - totally brilliant
+brakes - super powerful and superbike esque in power and feel
+ instrumentation - clear and detailed but still easy too navigate around
+ Handling - light and flickable
+ quality switchgear
- Suspension - felt it was a bit under damped and didnt absorb bumps as well as i expected
- Fork dive - majorly pissed me off as probably owing to strong brakes the forks seemed to disappear at the meerest handful which was quite disconserting
- riding position - bars seemed quite narrow and I was more crouched forward than I expected to be.
- pegs seemed quite narrow too. This coupled with a sit on top as opposed to sit in feeling left me feeling pretty exposed to the elements bizarrely and that combined with a screen which left me exposed to the wind blast from mid chest upwards (we're not all short arses like DavyF) made me think that if i was buying this bike i'd be changing the screen immediately.
As I recently demo'd an LC I have a fair idea of which appeals to various parts of my character. The LC still retains that feeling of touring two up capabilities and that combined with paralever/telelever make for a more pronounced feeling of wanting to tour the world. The KTM appealed to my hooligan nature and especially would make me want to have it for a Sun afternoon hoon bike. Its no coincidence that I ended up ciruclating the Ulster Grand Prix course for multiple laps after abanbandoning my back lane pootle.
There you go - KTM for manic hooligan stuff.
LC for longer distance and two up with a bit of hooning thrown in for good measure. LC would get my vote as its less of a one trick pony but in an ideal world I would have both as I like the funky KTM accessory catalogue
Both great bikes in their own righ of course but versatility always scores higher in my book
Trev
Well just like DavyF the firstt thing you notice about this bad boy is the engine - it it truly awesome
If I had been blindfolded and asked what I was riding my old S1000RR with straight bars wouldnt have been too far from the sensations I was experiencing It just keeps accelerating and immediately i eased into hooligan mode. Incidentally I kept in Sport mode most of the time as the other modes seemed way too dull
I had about a 100mile ride on various types of roads.
Heres a quick summary;
+Engine - totally brilliant
+brakes - super powerful and superbike esque in power and feel
+ instrumentation - clear and detailed but still easy too navigate around
+ Handling - light and flickable
+ quality switchgear
- Suspension - felt it was a bit under damped and didnt absorb bumps as well as i expected
- Fork dive - majorly pissed me off as probably owing to strong brakes the forks seemed to disappear at the meerest handful which was quite disconserting
- riding position - bars seemed quite narrow and I was more crouched forward than I expected to be.
- pegs seemed quite narrow too. This coupled with a sit on top as opposed to sit in feeling left me feeling pretty exposed to the elements bizarrely and that combined with a screen which left me exposed to the wind blast from mid chest upwards (we're not all short arses like DavyF
) made me think that if i was buying this bike i'd be changing the screen immediately. As I recently demo'd an LC I have a fair idea of which appeals to various parts of my character. The LC still retains that feeling of touring two up capabilities and that combined with paralever/telelever make for a more pronounced feeling of wanting to tour the world. The KTM appealed to my hooligan nature and especially would make me want to have it for a Sun afternoon hoon bike. Its no coincidence that I ended up ciruclating the Ulster Grand Prix course for multiple laps after abanbandoning my back lane pootle.
There you go - KTM for manic hooligan stuff.
LC for longer distance and two up with a bit of hooning thrown in for good measure. LC would get my vote as its less of a one trick pony but in an ideal world I would have both as I like the funky KTM accessory catalogue
Both great bikes in their own righ of course but versatility always scores higher in my book
Trev
Have to say, the riding position suited me perfectly with much less wind blast/turbulence than the slightly water cooled ditch pump and the slightly lent forward stance also kept the back pain that sets in on me after a while away. But sure, we're all different and that's what makes trying out all this stuff great. 
