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My '16 690 Duke Race Bike

94K views 194 replies 27 participants last post by  locutus 
#1 · (Edited)
There are enough people asking me questions about racing this bike, so I'll post up everything I learn about racing the 690 here.

To start: I bought the bike in Aug '16 and raced the last 2 rounds of the season. The bike was immediately fast in stock form, but I still need to drop ~1 second to steal the lap records out here in Colorado. It's good enough to win anyway.

It's race-able completely stock, but you really need rearsets if you don't want to grind your feet off. I added motohooligan straight pegs and Duke R rearsets but still managed to grind pegs a little bit with stock suspension. Race brake pads will also help a ton, the stock ones are crap.

Installed Parts:
KTM Powerparts tuning kit (Akrapovic, airbox, sas delete)
EBC GPFA brake pads
Duke R rearsets
HF Carbon bellypan
KTM bellypan brackets
Motohooligan non-folding pegs
Driven SX Handlebar
Driven Brake Lever Guard
Driven SBK Grips
Andreani Cartridges from Boulder Motor Sports
Custom brake lines and abs delete from Boulder Motor Sports
Powerparts number plate
Evotech RC390 toe guard
Shorai Battery
Nitron R2 Shock
Pirelli SBK slicks
Motorex fluids
KTM Powerparts engine covers Clutch and ignition
Low temp thermo switch
KTM Akra fuel map
KTM Crash bars
Powerparts racing shift lever (GP Shift)
Custom Ohlins Steering Damper from Boulder Motor Sports
R&G Akrapovic exhaust guard
KTM Powerparts track pack
KTM Powerparts abs dongle



For fun, here's my buddy and me racing our 690s (camera is on my bike). There's a lot to learn if u look close.

 
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#132 ·
We got the damper mount finished. Obviously you need to remove that plastic piece that covers around the key, I'm sure you could dremel out a couple slots if you really want it on there.

It raised the handlebars 8mm, so we'll see how that does. We had to replace the two bolts that hold the handlebar mounts to the triple. We realized that my steering stop snapped off in my crash last fall, so I'll need to have some tabs welded back on. If you have steering stops, the damper will not make contact with the key or the tank. I may try to find an ignition delete switch.

Cost: you need to buy the damper itself, the ohlins mount (more expensive than the damn damper), the custom machined mount (~$50), and two replacement bolts for mounting the clamps to the triple.

I'm glad I have something dependable on there, because I get a lot of headshake at full pace. It could save my *** one day.



 
#134 ·
I believe the L Shaped piece that comes out from underneath the handlerbar mount was the ~$55 piece which was custom machined. The clamp that is directly on the damper is the expensive ohlins bracket.

You can give Boulder Motor Sports a call and ask if they have any of those parts that they used to mount a damper to Joey's 690.

I believe "A" is the custom machined piece, "B" is definitely an Ohlins part, and I think "C" is also ohlins but it's hard to tell.



 
#135 ·
I took my new 17 690 duke out to Cycle Jam at Road Atlanta for its first race weekend. I did decent with a 2nd and a 3rd. I believe I would have won both races had they not been shortened to 4 laps due to an unfortunate event causing some major delays earlier in the day. The only couple issues I had was the hard braking areas on the stock front suspension(it is much worse on other bikes however such as the stock 390 suspension) and the bike seemed down on power, which was mostly from the tune I was using.


I got it on the Dyno today and was definitely correct about the power. 50 horsepower with the way it was currently. After the tune we ended up at about 61.5 HP and around 44 torque. Being this is a 2017 model with a modded airbox and a full exhaust along with a power commander 5, this seems awfully low. Gonna start going through things to try to figure out if I am losing power somewhere. The bike is very new and has only been on the track one weekend now after a short breakin on the street.

The only other changes I have done to the engine is removing all the crap for the epa emmision requirements. The carbon canister was removed, the side air inlet blocked off, the top hose was not blocked but left open with a filter, and the solenoid and tube structure that is inside of the center frame was removed. I used an attachment to trick the bike into believing the solenoid is still there to prevent engine codes

The bike has the track pack as well.

I am considering putting it on a different dyno because I know they can all give different numbers. The 61.5 result is SAE

Aynone else have any dyno results?
 
#136 ·
I'm guessing you weren't on a dynojet dyno. Take a look here: http://www.factorypro.com/dyno/true1.html. Basically, dynojet dynos will give a number 1.15-1.22 times higher than "true hp". At least, according to factory pro, who I hold in high regard.

As a comparison - my bike gave 68 RWHP at Factory Pro's dyno, with a 75hp dynojet number.

What I'm running is:
- '17 Duke
- Full Arrow System
- DNA S1 & S2
- PCV w/ custom tune from Factory Pro

As has been covered a million times here, 15/42 gearing really does make the bike feel more powerful. While after the custom tune + exhaust/air mods made the fueling better/smoother, the gearing change made the bike feel more powerful. Which, of course, makes no sense.
 
#140 ·
I'm using the powerparts rearsets. I had straight pegs on there, but I've switch back to the stock folding pegs inside the powerparts rearsets. I've touched my right straight peg a few times, but this also occurs at the same time as when my exhaust touches the ground. I've tried to avoid leaning that far by using my body to help out. I touched the exhaust a few times this past weekend but didn't touch the stock pegs.
 
#148 ·
Hey Joe - did you have any problems installing the original footrests on the racing rearsets? There is a small ridged shoulder at the top of the bolt that holds the peg in place, and that shoulder won't fit in the rearset. I'm wondering if I should just grind it down with a dremmel?
 
#154 · (Edited)
Thanks guys. It was pretty crazy. I ended up 2 seconds off the record, then 2 middleweight guys behind me both broke the record. I did a 10:48, ended up 3rd middleweight, 9th overall. I got to see fillmore break the record on his superduke, did some riding with Carlin Dunne, met a lot of badass racers. It was a great time, and by far the most challenging race I've ever done. The bike was great and honestly a fantastic choice for that race. I put up some public videos on my facebook, the craziest is the qualifying video where I had maybe 20ft of visibility from the fog. You can see those here: https://www.facebook.com/public/tecknojoe

photo: Carlin and Me via DucatiUsa
 
#155 ·
Great riding with the stock bike in the initial video. I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking the suspension is wallowy. For me, the main issue is the shock rebound, which causes the bike to wallow all throughout the corner. The front wallows a little too, but not nearly as bad. I'm wondering the '12-15 and '16+ regular Duke 690's have the same suspension
 
#159 ·
Part Number for GP Shifter

Hi,

I'm following this thread - I have a 2017 KTM Duke R I've been using for teaching and considering racing. I can't find anywhere online or in the PowerParts catalogs, the part number for the GP Shift conversion aka racing shifter. I already have the "R" model rearset setup from PowerParts.

Does anyone have a note of it?

Thanks, Rab
 
#161 ·
Hi,

I'm following this thread - I have a 2017 KTM Duke R I've been using for teaching and considering racing. I can't find anywhere online or in the PowerParts catalogs, the part number for the GP Shift conversion aka racing shifter. I already have the "R" model rearset setup from PowerParts.

Does anyone have a note of it?

Thanks, Rab
I believe it's part number: 76034931044
 
#162 ·
That was it. Thanks very much. Just ordered this from KTM.

By the way, since you are the guy who built the bike in the thread...is the Andreani cartridges and R model front suspension all that is available for these bikes? I haven't used Andreani before and have heard mixed reports about them. I learned recently that Penske make a shock for the bike, so was looking at one of those for the rear.

Thanks, Rab
 
#164 ·
Hi Tecknojoe,

I'm surprised you didn't go for the KTM Race Triple Clamp with less offset. I was looking at that, but honestly, I'm not finding the bike difficult to turn and it steers really well. Had you heard any feedback about these clamps?

I decided on my bike just to get the front suspension resprung/valved with KTM stuff and live without adjustability. I've heard mixed reports about Andreani. Have ordered a Penske Double clicker for the rear which is the real weakness with the bike.

Rab
 
#165 ·
If I wanted to spend more money, a quickshifter and triple clamps would have been next. Some times I did struggle to get enough heat into the front tire. I rode the best I could, but it wasn't ideal. It still turned in very quickly, so it wasn't a handling issue, just a concern with running lower than normal pressures to compensate for lack of heat.

Joe
 
#166 ·
Fully agree with Joe re front pressures, I have the standards forks with no adjustability and weigh 105kg and run between 28/ 30 PSI on the front depending on track temp but still find them quite compliant. I just installed a healtech quickshifter and love it. I'm making adjustments to get more lean angle as the reverse shift pattern brings the shift lever low enough to scrape..not good mid corner. The pic shows the front after last weekends race meeting at Broadford 28' C air temp with 30 PSI ran perfectly
 

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#167 ·
Are you running SC's on the rear? I've been so far, bike in stock for been using Metzeler K1 Supermoto tires which are takeoffs from my supermoto bike. I've been thinking about switching to SC 160 on the rear because DOTs are required in some classes.

I was planning on using a Power Commander, because my dyno guy knows how to tune them. I've found downloadable maps to be mostly useless and always lack a few hp over a proper dyno tune.

Does your Healtech quickshifter interfere with a power commander or is it a separate in line system (ie wires in to the coil and doesn't touch the ECU).

Thanks, Rab
 
#172 ·
Our series require treaded street tyres although loosely adhered to as the supercorsas we use are the race compounds sc1, sc2 which are the same as world supersport compounds and are incredibly sticky. As for the power commander, Joe may be better at this one. To my knowledge which is limited in this field, the power is not really increased but smoothed out through the rev range with a PCV. When racing the range is minimised considerably so to me it was one less thing to possibly go wrong. As I said my thought only......The reason why I went with the Healtech QS was that it went to the coils and didn't need to piggy back another ecu and for about $340 US I think it is a bargain and works a treat. I have had to deal with other engineering issues to get the reverse shift happening correctly but nothing too extreme. My plate was from a dirt bike and cost $20 US. See random attached trophy shot.....
 

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#173 ·
Yes Joe what are you racing next year
 
#174 ·
The healtech is adjustable with its settings with an app on your phone or tablet. Cutoff durations are adjustable throughout the rev range. HM and Annitori QS are active from idle and sometimes can cause stalling at low revs, the Healtech unit is adjustable and mine is set to become active at 3000rpm and cuts off at 10500rpm
 

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#176 ·
Thats the great thing about these forums, being able to share ideas and experiences with our toys
 
#181 ·
A Power Commander will give you marginal HP gains and will fix the bad torque curve from the factory, which is made worse if you swap exhausts. However, everyone I know (myself included) got the PCV and a tune in order to smooth out the bike, not to get more power out of it. If I wanted crazy power numbers, I wouldn't have gotten a Duke to begin with :) That said, the PCV with a tune will indeed provide more HP and torque. Does that matter on the street? I don't think so. On the track you might care about it, though.
 
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