Same, still love my 848.... even at 130bhp feels quicker off the mark than a blade (even if not) and short shifts like stink out of bends....
Col, few of our pals have rc8's - yeah they look awesome, but the blade out 'punches' them out of corners then leaves them for dust... The blade is far superior. If you want a big twin, I'd say go sp for sexyness and nostalgia, or duke for proper twin factor. Ps - out of five dudes with ktms four have gone wrong...
What went wrong with them Jimbo? That was going to be 1 of my other questions, wiether they were reliable.
Also seen the new 1199 tricolore if that's how it's spelt anyway. Really nice bike but by jeez it is absolutely tiny. Why don't they make bikes for normal sized people. Even at 5'10" I was towering over the thing.
I did bike 33 in the 2009 BSB KTM Supercup so I know a little about them, nothing wrong with the bike in general and The only problems they have is people use poor qual oil, they don't suffer any more problems than any other bike IMO pit it like this better than a Ducati in all ways!. Oh and we came 4th
I love the SP1/2 and around a month ago fancied a change. Went to look at this bike, disapointed or what. Expected it to be mint, far from it. I also like the RC8's, think their one of the best looking bikes out there. Three of my mates had them, two have changed before owning them for a year. All three have had issue after issue, water leaks, oil leaks, two stopped completly when I've been out with them and had to be recovered. The freind that still has his reckonsthe hassles worth it. None were the RC8r, but the blade absolutly leaves them for dust.
Dealers needed to step up with the problems on early RC8s, I fell out with KTM over small problems, shame is the bike is good! And yes few twins will keep up with a blade not even the 1199 IMO. Saying that my twin seems ok but then my DRZ was faster than my mates blades......lol
To be fair Art the dealers my pals dealt with were ok, just the grief of it all. Altrhough one went in and out for an oil leak that couldn't be found and then it just stopped on it's own.
Gutted mate, shame I think as the bikes good to ride as far as twins go I wanted to hate it at first but over the year got to love it, the. they lent me an R for two weeks as thanks and again I love it so much I did not want to give it back! I did ask KTM did they go out to draw up such a good bike or did it just happen? They did not like the question....lol. I'm still not a fan of KTM in general I think there dirt bikes are way way off the mark!
im 5' 11" and I never found the dukes small, if anything I get more back and wrist ache from the blade.
Dangerous bloody things v twins. Cos they fire every 5 th lampost ya think ya doing about 60, when in fact ya doing 90 and it all ends in a field. via a high kerb,hedge and a dry stone wall.
Ive been playing out on my hubby`s big v-twin today and Ive got to say i love it.Blaggers you are right about the speed, i thought i was only doing 60 or 70ish because i was looking at the wrong set of clocks,when other half caught me up he said " what fcking speed were you doing yer mad women"Oooops.
they never sound like they are going fast, I have footage of mine on a track hitting the red line in top gear and it still doesnt sound like its going hard.
It's not so much the 1198, I think it's size is fine but the new 1199 really is tiny. I'd say even smaller than the RSV4. I was stood next to it and honestly could have sworn it was the same size as a RS250.
Surprising, and they say the camera never lies. In reality it can hide a multitude of sins but that one did look very nice from the photos.
