Anyone else out there decide to upgrade from your VTR? Then realize it's a real good bike!? I bought a 2008 KTM sdr,It rips,handles and stays with the best of them,But what a bitch to service and even worse is the little issues they getting known for!Thank god I kept old faithful !Our VTR's are'nt the best at any thing except long term smile factors!Think twice before you sell it.

 

How does your VTR do at higher altitudes if you're going through the mountains? The KTM Superduke, being fuel injected must be better sorted for that.

I've had a bunch of bikes, (still have 4, lol), but the Superhawk has the best bang for the buck... they may be cheap, but they do everything well, but don't really excel at any one thing.

Couple simple upgrades and the VTR makes a great streetbike.

 

I know most people don't want to "buy it", but if you really want to make the whole altitude issue a lot easier to live with, consider putting a set of Dial-A-Jet fuel adders. Read about them at Thunder Products, they have a bunch of testimonials and articles from magazines including Motorcyclist, Dirt Bike!, and Motocross action among all the ATV and snowmobile magazines. Seems the ATV and snowmobile groups, being younger, are more accepting of new technology than motorcyclists. Seems motorcyclists are addicted to brass. I understand fluid dynamics and the DAJ makes absolute sense, it works off of the vacuum caused when the intake is drawing lean. No vacuum no fuel added, so it doesn't go over-rich like jetting can. That's what allows it to compensate for altitude.

I've been running one of the Dial-A-Jets in my KLX650. The KLX is very lean to start so simply installing the DAJ for removing the air box snorkle picked up performance. But from there, without even changing the dial setting, the DAJ has compensated for my adding a Vulcan piston big bore and a full reverse cone megaphone exhaust on the bike. It has covered the bike in 5000 feet altitude changes and 90 degree temperature changes - all without any adjustment.

With the Superhawk having only two carbs it wouldn't be that expensive to do. Plus you can call them if you have questions before or after purchase. They're a pretty good company.

 

Now you're learning some of what I realized over the years. There are bikes that fill the bill for me in looks and how they work. I own the two I really like and want. No desire for others (other than my SR500 street/tracker finally being finished and maybe a two stroke street/tracker too) in spite of my newest one being 17 years old and the other at 22. They are just what I want. If the funds were unlimited I'd probably have a Superhawk before I had a Ducati or other. I just know it could do all I want on the street and I'll not be racing anytime soon. Although an RC51 would be cool, but I know it's not as good a street bike as the Superhawk... but I'd want Firestorm stickers just to be different here in the U.S.

 

Just owning a VTR makes you different (heck, around here, anything non-Harley is different.....)

 

Well i still have the VTR, but i have reverse result. I went with a carb'ed 06 KTM 950 SM and a KTM Duke II 620cc carb'ed replacement. Well not replacements yet, lets say augmentations to the pool.

Both KTM's stock suspension is superior to the modified VTR suspension. Same goes for brakes, Brembo setup on both bikes with radial setup from factory are top notch. Both out handle and corner the VTR. Now neither have the top speed of the VTR and both the KTM's are taller than the VTR in the seat, but in the twisties i ride there is no real need for anything as fast as the VTR's top speed.

Don't get me wrong, still have a soft spot for the old girl and still get her out for a ride here and then, but she is rarely my first choice these days.

I will agree they are more difficult to work on. With one oil filter and two oil screens they are for sure oil filter conscious.

 

I didn't set out to by a replacement, just an augment. I traded my VTX for a Buell 1125R and the only downside to the Buell will be some of the service work. Most of the manual starts with the phrase "rotate the engine forward" meaning loosen all but one motor mount bolt and tilt the thing almost out of the frame... BUT, the power, suspension, brakes, and handling are all better than my modified VTR, unfortunately. I still love the VTR, but soon it will be going...

 

Every past bike has special meaning. All the bikes i had, i would like to had them back no matter if the are better than the current, i like them all.
I have been through
Honda NSR125
Suzuki Katana 750
KTM 620(current)
Firestorm(current)
+ my brothers Suzuki GS1100ET

I miss the NSR 2-stocke sudden power, it was a real fun. So light bike, 0 to 60 was so exciting.
The Kat - well i have been though so many things with it and i miss it so much. She didn`t had the power of the VTR, non the handling, but it was just different. Strong low and middle rmp, and a bang at 9000rpm.
Put an enduro handlebars and that bike was drifting every time i want it, in the way i want it.....man i miss that.
Than the KTM turned to Sumo bike. In the begining it was a little strange, no like an road bike i had tried. No need for smooth throttle control - just throttle wide open and gange the gears. Real fun the turns, real fun fo wheelies and you can go through almost anything - sand, mud, dirt, jumps, stairs

But the KTM was a pain in the A##(literaly) when it come to no so twisty roads and anything above 120km/h. Yes it coud do may be 160, but i is not made to ride with that speed continiously.

So the VTR came - so fast, so stable, so much torque.

All bike are differnt but they are all fun!
I just wait for the spring to see which one(KTM or VTR) is fater on the track.

 

The VTR is very typical of Mr Honda..Good, solid and lots of bang for the buck. My other bikes are V4 Honda stuff. I really enjoy the VTR for Mountain riding and the occassional track day.

 

My Fire Blade does'nt miss abeat at altittude,stock jetting,k&n filter and hindle high mounts.Done many blasts over The Salmo-Creston skyway(highest highway in Canada ,5823 ft) and it has'nt let me down!The Super Duke is a fuel injected beast ,that rides better than it looks!I've found lots of little gremlins along the way that can suck the fun factor,while the Fire Blade is rock solid!The Duke is for sale,full AKROPOVIC exhaust and map,carbon fiber everything,new dunlops,r&g fender eliminator,rizoma mirrors ktm tank bag,touring screen and fresh service of all fluids as I type this.7500 kms $12000.00 cdn. OBO

 

I know what you mean.
I hang mostly with rockers ( hard rockers, metalheads and such), and in those areas if ride a bike it "has" to be a Harley. Otherwise your not "cool" enough. But they will get outrun in seconds so... HAIL TO THE VTR!!!!!!

 

I ride anything I can get my hands on, Harleys included. Rode my friends Harley Fat Bob... pulled out to pass a car and expected it to take off. Apparently it has the biggest engine harley uses... I was disappointed.

To each their own I guess, lol. At least it looked nice???

 

I have had no desire to replace mine so I have had no disappointments at all.......

 

I've worked hard on my bike but the most important part of working hard was choosing people/technicians/parts for the game.

 

I know guys that say "I'm just going to buy a new bike and finance it. Its only a couple hundred a month" lol... yeah, couple hundred for like 5 years...

All my bikes are bought and paid for. I can't see those guys having more fun on their brand new zx,gsxr,cbr, duc, ape, - whatever it is than I have on my 10+ year old bikes.

Heres the thing, I have more fun riding something I don't have to worry about. I can drop the VTR, or my 929 and although I'll be pissed off about it, I'd be WAY more mad dropping a $15,000 new bike.

Cheap bikes kick ***!

 

It's really about finally getting what you really want. Some people want the latest and greatest, others focus on some certain style or model. Clearly the overkill of having the latest and greatest is showing now... In England there is a new magazine I think I may subscribe to - Practical Sportbike Magazine. Focusing apparently on the various generations of sportbikes rather than the most recent models. I hope they do some tear down type maintenance articles along with some real hop ups rather than the Motorcyclist/Cycle World "we had so and so bolt on the exhaust and ignition bypass, that shop reworked the forks with some springs and oil, and that shop sold us a shock." crap.

I remember the likes of Gordon Jennings, Joe Minton, and the idiots at Dirt Bike! when it was new in the mid 70s along with Popular Cycling. These guys atually took stuff apart and showed you how it could be modified. Forward mounted shocks on the old Elsinores/TMs and even frame mod forward mounts on Maicos and laydowns on others. Putting in the Trick-It fork valves, rebuilding Betor shocks, all that stuff. Gordon Jennings had the two part SR500 hop up telling about the issues along with what worked and what didn't. Shoot, he even stuck a megaphone they found at the shop on the end of the straight pipe to see what it did to the dyno readings. Minton did a less comprehensive easy "garage bolt on" article on the SR as well and even did an article on spray can paint jobs, how to do it right to look good. Heck, I'm not sure the U.S. magazines even advocate picking up a can of chain lube and spraying it yourself!

Pre-liability for hinting at mods era I guess. When people took responsibiity for their own stupidity rather than blame someone else. Sorry about the rant - I just hope Practical Sportbike is as good as the potential it has.

Back to the topic at hand:

I happen to like the vintage (U.S.) Superbike look of 78-82, so the Zephyr was perfect. I also liked the motocross look on a dual sport, plus the reliability of the Japanese product AND a manufacturer sold at the shop where I hung out and worked pat time (besides the DRz wasn't out yet), so the KLX was perfect.

They still are perfect, so I have little desire to move on, except that my knees are telling me I don't work with the Zephyr pegs anymore. So I'm going to sell it, make a second set of 17" wheels for the KLX, finish the street/tracker SR500, and consider doing up either a Bultaco Sherpa S or a Sherpa S chassis with some other two stroke single as a street/tracker to get those two stroke jollies again. The flat track and MX type seating works great on the knees.

 

I did almost cream my jeans this weekend when I went over to pick up a set of Valve covers for my little Chevy. This guy had a 1200rs ? Bmw and it was perfect. Ooh! was all I could do. He wants $5k. 0-60 2.8, stupid 0-100-0. He says he's tired of being run over and paid a felony level fine for using speed as an evasive action instead of trying or hearing the case in front of a judge. I think the ticket he paid was 110 in a 55. He's like done - I'm done.

That is the epitaph of the sport. The courts, insurance companies, judges and jurrors will tell you - if you ride - you're expected to die. And by riding you accept those terms.

 

Pretty easy to be cool if you have the money to blow huh........all you got to do is get rid of that shallow, characterless vtr....and pay twice as much for half as much(unless your buying for weight that is), and you'll be an instant hero with this group. In the meantime, you're at least half cool in that you got the twin part right. Well, maybe not half cool......... unless you chop and chrome and flat black your "jap crap".

 

I have an itch for a new bike, but nothing is what im looking for.. The Super Hawk is 90% perfect for me, I ride street. A little aggressive when out on my own, sometimes, but speed thrills are cheap these days..as I no longer need to go fast on the street to have fun. My racing days are long past (well, maybe vintage stuff just for fun)
So V twin, Fi preferred, adjustable on the fly selectable ECU, VFR bars on a SH front end bar height, great brakes, better suspension.

I can do all that but the fi part with a SH.

The fact that the SH is cheap to buy, build and keep had a lot to do with it.. as my limited funds have to support 7 bikes, a Mustang, two trucks and a ToyHauler, in Moto Family part of living.

I can afford the 1098, but what then...outfit it with CF? Paint it? wash and polish it?

 

I loved my superhawk. It really is a good bike but the best aspect is definitely the motor. It has so much torque and pulls so clean from as low as 2k rpm. I could lug that motor if I wanted. It still pulled hard enough up top to be fun. Most newer v-twin sportbikes, even with FI, have stumbling issues under 3000-3500 rpm which can be really annoying coming from the hawk. I believe the suspension is the real weak point. It worked well for me 75% of the time but is nothing compared to what comes on bikes now. I even modified the forks and shock and while it was better it is still nothing compared to my superduke. Ease of maintenance and Honda reliability are out of this world on the hawk. It is the best all around bike I have owned yet by just a slim margin over my superduke.

I had a 03' RC51 with all the goodies (ohlins, marchesini's, airbox/snorkel.....) and the best thing about that bike was the suspension. The ohlins is definitely worth the money. It was plush on the street and stuck like glue at the track. The motor was awesome past 5k rpm as it pulled damn near as hard as some of the mid 2000's inline 4's with the mods I had. Coming from the hawk anything under 5k just plain sucked. It was not buttery smooth like the hawk and it really took me some time to adjust my riding style to ride it smoothly. Plus the more extreme riding triangle was hell for anything but the track or pushing hard. I liked my RC a lot but never loved it like the hawk.

Since the RC was uncomfortable and not so smooth under 5k I started to look for naked bikes with some handlebars. Almost got a superduke r but didn't want the super stiff suspension. Found a perfect example of a regular superduke with full ti akrapovic exhaust, motohooligan open airbox, ktm akra tune, and a few other goodies. This bike is a very nice blend of the RC and the hawk. It has a great torquey motor that pulls clean down low, not as smooth as hawk but worlds better than the RC and pulls hard up top. I'd say it slots perfectly in the middle of the hawk and RC motors. WP suspension surprised me a lot. It is so close to being as good as the ohlins. The only thing that holds it back is I can't quite dial in the plushness I had with the ohlins. The brembo brakes freaking rock, way more feel than the RC brakes. Best of all this bike has all day riding comfort. For those to say it is harder to work on I disagree. I think this is the easiest of all my bikes to work on. There really is nothing to take off and if you have a service manual everything is very simple. KTM also takes good care of their customers.....not so much the dealers at times but the company is great.

These are my views and while I was somewhat disappointed overall with the RC after coming from the hawk I am more than happy now with my KTM.

 

You nailed the the description or comparison of the bikes.Have you done a complete oil change?,there is nothing easy about that,especially with the akro header!Don't get me wrong the SDR is a dream to ride,did 850 km one day easy!(not as easy on the VTR).I do like my duke ,but I live in Butt #*@$ no where and had a few problems with the SDR when I took it to the closest dealer;He'd never seen or touched one,let alone able to service it !It was pittiful ,parts took forever and service was the *****!!!!!!!I think it might be easier if I lived near a larger center.I found a guy In Washington state that has been dealing with KTM for 20 some years,so fingers crossed,they can renew my faith in the Austrian Beast!I will keep my FireStorm,it costs me nothing to run and with the mods I've done ,Thanks to this forum is a pleasurable machine.Dave

 

Thanks, I'm glad you agree.

Yes I agree the oil change involves a few more steps than usual since it is a dry sump system and has a screen that is to be cleaned at the same time. The first oil change it takes some extra time to complete but once you have the method it is easy. I didn't experience any problems with the akra header being in the way.

I worked for a KTM dealer for 2 years and as long as the part is in stock with KTM it is automatically 2 day aired standard. At least that is how it worked at our dealership. Now some of the more rare parts can go on backorder and that can take a few weeks but that is to be expected from a smaller manufacturer. They are super easy to deal with on warranty issues as long as the problem is valid. I've seen them goodwill parts for bikes that were well out of warranty. Stand up company.

Big issue is finding a good KTM dealer that has a tech that actually knows the bike and its differences from the Jap bikes.

The hawk is hands down easier to do an oil change on since it is your typical oil in case and cartridge filter set up. Probably takes more time to remove the little chin fairing!

 

You're the second person whom has told me KTM does this(goodwill),but I've also been told KTM Canada is a real pain in the ***!I ,m speaking of my local dealer when I say" shitty service"I've been to two different shops for the same problem,(dirty fuel filter)local guys couldn't figure it out and the place five hours from here,finally got it when a RC8 came in doing the same thing!This bike is a modern day machine and in a area with old school technicians that work on every make of brush cutter to z1000,I'm finding my first taste of KTM to be bitter!I really hope the new Dude Ive found will be my savior.When the KTM is running right,maaaaaaaaan it is one heck of a machine!

 

+1 klx678
I'm glad someone else remembers Gordon Jennings, Joe Minton and SR500 Yamahas. Gordon Jennings was an inspiration and Joe Minton knew how to improve a motorcycle. I really liked my SR500E until I crashed and bent it after being passed by a silly bugger on shitty old Velocette.

+1 E. Marquez
I've got the VTR set up the way I want. It's a commuter, a track bike and a touring bike. It's a far better motorcycle than I am a rider. I've come to realize that I won't be doing Ruben Xaus feet-up powerslides anytime soon.
The VTR has been fun in the big mountains of Colorado, the little mountains of West Virginia, the almost mountains of Pennsylvania and on the premature ejaculation-like disappointments (a phenomenon I have read about rather than experienced) of the sad things we're reduced to calling sporting roads in Ontario. It would be very nice if Honda would come out with a new street V-twin that had all the virtues of the VTR but weighed less and had better brakes and suspension and range but I don't see that happening anytime soon. I'll keep the VTR. The next additions could be a trials bike or a Ural sidecar outfit rather than a street bike but there are a few things I have to do around the house (and, probably, get a vasectomy) before I'm in a strong enough position to negotiate with she on whom all my happiness depends.