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New (old) Duke in town

11K views 44 replies 10 participants last post by  Tomkrn 
#1 ·
Finally decided more fun had to be had and sold my trusty old 1991 Yamaha 850 TDM which I have had for 15 years.

First having almost decided to go for a Yamaha MT-07 my attention was caught by an ad for a 2014 Duke 690 with 2500km on the odo, seller was local.

After a short test trip the mind was made up and keys in my hand.

The bike looks like it just got out of the dealer's and only have a couple of mods.

Existing mods at purchase:
Ixil slipon
Orange Crash bars
Crash spools front and rear.

Planned mods:
PP Ergo seat (to be installed and tested today)
O2 mod from kevxtx (to be installed and tested today)
Givi wind screen (to be installed and tested today)
PP luggage rack with Shad SH 37 top box (to be installed and tested today)
15/42 sprockets (in the mail)
Hand guards (to be ordered soon)

Original grip handles are a bit too thin for me, but I have not found any grips that fit on the throttle as OEM with bigger width yet. Any suggestions?

So far I am loving the bike and the way it feels in corners and twisties, enjoying riding again :)
 

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#28 ·
#6 ·
So...

Finally got some of my mods installed, have to up my post count so I can show you guys ;)


Getting very happy with this bike now, if it were not for the 3 degrees Celsius and drizzle outside I would be out enjoying it more...
 
#8 ·
That Givi wind screen came on last night, went off today.

Ruined the bike totally...

Excessive turbulence causing wind noise, engine sound echo ruining that sweet single cylinder tapping. All the wind coming to my neck area and so on.

I think the better option is just to put on an extra vest inside for keeping the chest area temperature when driving in low temps, my Shoei GT-Air is quiet without any wind screen on the Duke.
 
#10 ·
The Givi is a little more homely than the Puig which I have. It also dumped air at the helmet making a ton of wind noise. I cut mine down 3.5", now it hits my chest, perfect.
Yeah, that Puig looks quite good now, I donnot think cutting the Givi will give the desired result though. At least I did not need to cut or drill to fit it :wink2:
 
#11 ·
And some pictures of what I have done so far :)

New Hand Guards and Givi:


One more from the front:


View from driver`s position:


The luggage rack with Shad SH37 box:


From the rear with rack and the beautiful PP Ergo seat:


That Ergo seat is so much better than the stock seat!
 
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#12 ·
Mounted a 15t sprocket today on the front, the 42 in the back I decided to wait with as I wanted to feel the difference on the bike.

Not disappointed as acceleration is increased and the bike feels better to work with at normal Norwegian road limits.

Think I will try this for a few days before I put the 42 on to really feel the difference.

There was no rubber damper on the 15 I bought online even if it was a KTM part and bought from KTM dealer, the sprocket had the mounting holes for it but no rubber. A bit disappointed with the dealer but in any case did not experience increased noise or jittering from drive line.
 
#14 ·
15/42 is wonderful and does help keep the bike at reasonable street speeds....but it also makes it that much more fun to wind it up and pull hard :grin2:

The 15T front, from KTM, doesn't have a rubber damper anywhere I've found it for sale. Disappointing indeed but I don't think it affects operation. The KLR is the same way. Stock/OEM front sprocket at stock size has the rubber but other OEM sprockets at different sizes do not. Again, no change in operation or reliability due to the lack of the rubber.
 
#16 ·
What map do you have selected on the underseat switch? I'm on standard and it only comes up half a meter in 1st and none in 2nd :(
 
#17 ·
I like throttle map 2 best, 1 and 3 feels too soft when driving a bit aggressively.

A small jerk on the handle bar helps in 2nd and 3rd to get the wheel up, I don't like lifting the front wheel in 1st as the range feels to short to be in control. :grin2:
 
#18 ·
The range is short indeed in first which is probably why I only get it up so little. I'm sure if it was less abrupt I'd feel more confident in cracking it wide open.

I'm tempted to try the performance map but I expect it to be very jerky. Ah what the hell I'll give it a go today :)
 
#20 ·
I've read in a review of the 2013 Duke 690 that the soft map (#1) retards ignition by 1 degree while the performance map (#2) advances it by 1 degree. It doesn't affect fueling but it apparently changes timing and, of course, throttle mapping.

I've also heard conflicting reports about what the Evo/Akra/R map does. Some say it modifies timing while others say it doesn't. I think it is supposed to change fueling too, right? I don't know anymore. But for us that's not relevant anyway (for now).

Info on what the map selector switch actually does is surprisingly difficult to come by.
 
#21 ·
Yeah, that is what I have read about the map selector also.

The Evo map supposedly richens the air/fuel ratio, timing I do not know but likely it does as it requires the racing cam to be of use..
 
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#24 ·
I had the dealer remap mine after installing a full Arrow system. Even with that, mine ran lean until I added the DNA2 air filter/air box side cover. Adding kev's fuel mod fixed that.
 
#23 ·
I see you traded the Duke for it's big brother, for me that might just be too much. Even the Duke can get me in serious trouble with the law here, the SD would probably land me in jail in 3 seconds 0:)
 
#25 ·
Finally got my advanced MC lift rigged and got to the rear sprocket:


42t sprocket mounted and loctited down, only had some 577 lying around, hope I can break those bolts lose again later :|


Wonder why KTM has handicapped this bike with the all too long gearing for standard?

Now it feels so right and the power is there :laugh2:

All washed and clean after a test ride and todays modding:


 
#31 ·
Something did not feel all right with the look today so I broke out the heat gun and ripped off some decals, now feels so much better :grin2:
What didn't feel right is that ugly catalytic converter! Can't believe you've done all this to the bike, including sweet slip-on, and left that ugly 15 lb brick on the bottom.
 
#34 ·
Yup. You've got it figured out.

My decat + slip on without silencer is essentially straight through as well, and it is LOUD, but not quite Remus status. Whatever you end up doing I highly recommend riding with ear plugs. I've found that it makes the ride more pleasant.

It also pops on deceleration every time. No question the bike is running quite lean.

My options are as you've said: Akra map + airbox + cam, or PCV + autotune and get the exhaust header drilled and welded.

Either option will be at least $500. I don't think PCV without autotune is worth it simply because a single dyno run costs as much as the autotune.

Yes I also worry about needlessly fiddling with the map if I get a PCV. That's the reason I don't like fuel modding non-carbed bikes. At least with a carb it's quite a pain to change needles and float settings, so I tend to set it and leave it alone once it's good enough.

PS. sorry about your wallet, let us know how the PCV works out
 
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#35 ·
My decat snowballed – in this order - until it finally ran right:

• Acra slip-on. The stock silencer without cat was really gross sounding.
• DNA Stage 1 and 2 air filters. A little better here, but still missing the stock power.
• Evo map. Getting there, but wouldn't idle. No surprise since the map is designed for the cam, but thought I'd try.
• Evo Cam. Perfect. Really, really nice.

And I still have Kev's O2 rig installed. It maybe isn't needed with the Cam and map but haven't tried running without. She purrs along at 3k at the moment, removing Kev's gadget may change that.
 
#38 ·
Just adjusted the preload on my rear shock to maximum, bike feels much better in graded corners when I push hard.

This bike really deserves better shocks...

Maybe I now start to regret a bit that I did not fork out a little extra for the R- version :frown2:
 
#39 ·
Don't feel bad, the beauty of this bike (and most bikes) is that your non-R can become an R as your time/interest/budget allows :)

In the US we don't have an R version available but lots of people here are running an R in non-R clothing (stock decals).

I'm slowly becoming one of those people. I am happy I bought the non-R because every upgrade I make means a lot more and I feel like I'm getting a better and better bike each time >:)
 
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