the queen is dead... long live the Duke....

[weeksy]

I don't believe you....

Honestly... apart from i guess 2 things, there was nothing redeeming about it.

1. It was orange
2. It was stable.

That's about it... It vibrated more than the 690... yes really. It grunted well enough, but it was so slow and sluggish to turn that you couldn't do anything with it to get it out of corners etc. The throttle response was lazy and detached, it was smooth enough delivery, but it wasn't instant etc.

Seat wasn't particularly comfortable either....

Shit may be a harsh term.... but i'm struggling to think of a bike i've test ridden and liked less.

Have you ordered one yet?

100% not.

[KungFooBob]

You should get over the whole KTM thing and buy a nice Honda.

[G.P]

were the tyres flat?

At least you got it out of your system

[Scud]

I’ve been out a couple of times with a bunch of lads and one has a new 1290, it certainly pedals along, but is full of problems. It’s been back to the dealer for 6 different problems in the first 1500 miles.
I’ve not ridden it, he has offered but I was worried I’d like it and have to change my 990.

[Skub]

You should get over the whole KTM thing and buy a nice Honda.

An orange one maybe?

[Supermofo]

I’ve been out a couple of times with a bunch of lads and one has a new 1290, it certainly pedals along, but is full of problems. It’s been back to the dealer for 6 different problems in the first 1500 miles.
I’ve not ridden it, he has offered but I was worried I’d like it and have to change my 990.

MCN have had 2 1290s both with a bunch of problems.

[weeksy]

were the tyres flat?

At least you got it out of your system

Didn't seem to be. It seemed, well ok. That's the best I can come up with. Maybe it's weight, riding position, I dunno. I just got off it very underwhelmed

[Scud]

were the tyres flat?

At least you got it out of your system

Didn't seem to be. It seemed, well ok. That's the best I can come up with. Maybe it's weight, riding position, I dunno. I just got off it very underwhelmed

I don’t know about the 1290, but my 990 seems to be very sensitive to tyre pressures and can seem hard to turn if the pressures are a bit low.

[weeksy]

were the tyres flat?

At least you got it out of your system

Didn't seem to be. It seemed, well ok. That's the best I can come up with. Maybe it's weight, riding position, I dunno. I just got off it very underwhelmed

I don’t know about the 1290, but my 990 seems to be very sensitive to tyre pressures and can seem hard to turn if the pressures are a bit low.

I think the hard to turn is simply more the weight and the way the SMC-R sits and goes, it's almost bicycle like in it's ability to flick, move and change direction... OF course that brings a certain lack of stability too at times, particularly at 80+ if you get a road-ripple just wrong it gets a bit Woah and Whehay but overall it mostly stays somewhat stable

[Slenver]

The throttle response was lazy and detached, it was smooth enough delivery, but it wasn't instant etc.

Was in street mode...

Sounds like there was more to it that you didn't like, but was it really in street mode and not sport or track mode? That does knock the throttle response back for smoother town riding.

[Slenver]

I don’t know about the 1290, but my 990 seems to be very sensitive to tyre pressures and can seem hard to turn if the pressures are a bit low.

I have a 1290 GT and it's the same. Always seems to leak a bit too, so it often seems to be showing around 34/40 rather than 36/42. Really slows the steering noticeably.

[weeksy]

I don't understand your question. The dash displayed 'street' so i'm going with it being in street mode.

Maybe it was the setup of the throttle, maybe it was the rpm and where it makes power higher up in the range, but it just felt like there was a pause/delay from when you open it to when it kicks in. Overall though i think it's the weight/size which is more the factor on it. Or alternatively the lack of weight/size of the 690smc-r that benefits it

[Slenver]

I don't understand your question. The dash displayed 'street' so i'm going with it being in street mode.

Yeah, I'm just saying that Street is the throttle mapping with full power but with the smoothest/slowest action, designed for towns etc. The 'standard' setting is Sport. There's also an optional 'Track' above that which is customisable I think.

The maps are generally not particularly aggressive - I've never seen any reason to use anything other than Sport – Street makes it noticeably less responsive.