KTM 690 Duke

MP1300GT. You omitted point 11. Needs a rear tyre every 1000 miles if you use it for fun

Great bike that is overlooked because it has one cylinder. I will not test ride it otherwise I will be smitten. I will live in lust.

If it produces 67 bhp at the crank, then I think adding another 13 bhp would be a large ask. I was talking 75 hp at the rear wheel, so if it currently makes 60 hp, it'd still probably need more than a quality full exhaust system, air filter, fuel management controller and some decent dyno time to achieve that. But the exhaust alone might make up half of the 9 kilo or so; to achieve a 75 RWHP / 150 KG WET machine. And having visited Manhattan (Upstate and Hampton's too; love NY!) I have to say it would be a lot of fun. Can't see you needing anywhere near 120 mph top-speed between the yellow taxi cab's though! Wonder if you can get a Russell Day-Long saddle for it? ;-D

I will let you know next time I'm in NYC, but it probably won't be this coming year unfortunately.

I suspect every magazine is quoting 70 'PS'; which is about 68 'HP'.

I agree, perfect second bike for anyone with warm blood running through their veins!

Very few magazines seem to understand or even realise there's a difference, then they get into problems when they talk about new models having 3bhp or whatever more than last year, but their own figures don't correlate.

KTM quotes 51.5kW, which is almost exactly 70PS and 69bhp. And that's amazing for a 690cc single! The manufacturer quoted figures are always crankshaft ones by the way, although there are different methods of measuring them so direct comparisons aren't always especially valid.

I'll be getting in early March for a UK road test so I'll get the economy and range figures as well as everything else.

"Very few magazines seem to understand or even realise there's a difference"
.. you know, it's funny, but when I ask my fellow American's 'how big is the engine in your car?', nine times out of ten, they will reply with the engine configuration instead! I'm surprised, sometimes, that just like a fisherman, they don't simply extend their arms and say 'oh, about that much' :-D

I applaud any manufacturer that only states metric measurements and provides metric graphs. Let the rest of the world (me included) catch up - it's what my conversions app on my iPad is for!

Kevin, lately there seems to have been an unprecedented trend by nearly all manufacturers to come clean and state road-ready wet weights of their bikes including either 90% or 100% full fuel tanks. Gasp, shock, amazement! No doubt due to their researchers listening to me whine online about the ridiculous nature of claimed dry weights for these last fifteen years, ha!

Anyway, I was just wondering, whether, in your personal opinion, the online 'get real' campaign (which I've just thunk up!) might gather sufficient traction that manufacturers will begin to 'dare' to state claimed 'RW 'power figures on their spec sheets, in the future?

It would certainly help in terms of working out an actual PTW figure, for those interested (read: Jag/Pittsy ;-D), irrelevant of the actual figures that manufacturers will still continue to 'claim' - GS lighter than a Tenere, my derriere! :-D

Yep, it takes 70 German horses to do the work of 68 British pit ponies.

I bet the German horses will only work a 35 hour week and complain like mad that 5 of those hours have to go to supporting Greece.

I saw the KTM Duke in the press fitted with race fairings etc to make it into a pretty awesome looking track bike. I have added one to my virtual garage. Can barely close the door now, might have to get on right move and look for a new virtual house with more space.

Patrick, not sure that the KTM will do better than the F800S at all, fuel economy wise. But I'm pretty sure it would be a lot more exciting to ride! The F800S is very competent, but I would not call it exciting.

Well, that's pretty good if they have improved the fuel economy that much that they actually win fuel economy contests!
I don't know the Duke, but I know that the SMT is not frugal with gas (or oil, or tires for that matter). I have the full Akrapovic system and matching engine mapping though, along with a bigger rear sprocket. So that does not help fuel economy.
The thing is though, that those bikes egg you on to ride like a maniac! I think that's the reason their real world fuel economy is often much worse than what it could be! :-)

I'm tempted by this new Duke...