Pics: AS Design
Apologies for the lack of content recently. You should, by now, have realised we?ve been submersed in trackday organisation, our exclusive Summer Holiday festival at Parcmotor where we entertained 40 lucky bastards in glorious Spanish sunshine. More on the event itself another time?
Baron was hell-bent on spanking his R1M at Parcmotor, which meant only one bike to blag from the press hordes. With Superleggeras, RGV500s and a raft of other exotica being ridden, it needed to be fresh ? something new for 2017 and something we?ve yet to test ? and above all else, it needed to damn right ballistic: a steed befitting for hosting such an event. So when KTM offered us a 2017 Super Duke R with the entire Power Parts catalogue thrown at it, we duly obliged. It looks utterly badass. Stripping much of the road attire lends the Beast 2.0 even more of a beastly presence ? and sheds 10kg in this particular guise. Look past the smorgasbord of anodised orange and cosmetic goodies, and you?ll find genuine go-faster goodies that are designed to bust the stopwatch. Much of the attention was drawn to the Akrapovi? titanium system, resplendent in its expended blue state and sexy, intricate welds – no wonder mechaphilia is so prevalent these days. And this was before we?d even started it.
 

 
Ah, yes. Starting it. Keyless ignition is, fundamentally, a grand idea 99% of the time. Not particularly bright at trackdays, especially if sharing a bike or instructing ...