Looking for a motorcycles can be extremely overwhelming because there are so many to choose from. First you should consider the purpose of the motorcycle for you. Is it for commuting, learning, touring, track-days, racing or just for weekend fun? Depends on your needs, there are often many options to choose from. Street motorcycles with engines up to 400cc are extremely popular in Asia, because they are affordable and easy to ride. But the 125cc-s are really popular as beginners bikes in Europe. This does not mean that they lack fun factor and true drive-ability, but If you are like me and purchase one for not learning to ride for first time - this is something that you have to keep in mind. This is what influences the whole design of KTM Duke 125 and it's R&D by KTM. But just because the 125cc street motorcycle has smaller engine, it does not mean that you can’t have fun riding it.
Personally, the 125 for me was all I need. I wanted a bike that I can drive to work daily or cruise to sunset, and I really started to love the 125-s, especially the Duke. It's one agile real size motorcycle with efficient 125cc engine. Obviously it's not marketed as an aggressive track bike - as it's not. But in my head, the 125 also would be awesome motorcycle to have fun on smaller tracks, like kart-tracks etc. So I decided to modify my Duke to be as Track-day bike, daily commuter or even small touring bike. This means that all the upgrades I make, they have to be legal as it will be used on public roads. And this is where the idea came from to name it as Duke 125 R, just like Duke 890 R is more aggressive version of 790.
The project 11 is my journey of building the 125 Duke R, but I hope it's also motivating any of you to realize your dreams and start your own project. As the power is limited by the law, there is not much to gain on Duke 125 engine, so I will leave it as it is as long as it will be in street use. Maybe one day it will be track bike only and we can make a different bad boy (RR?) of it - who knows. So the things I change or modify are all for better riding experience to suit my personal riding style and some items just change the overall design. Simple.
I think the biggest part is to make it feel as my own. So I want to make it as personal I need for myself. The ergonomics, suspension and handling are my top priority. This all comes with finding the best setup for myself and that's why I constantly research and learn for different things that all affect the ride itself. This of-course means a lot of riding and testing involved, but right now I have had no real riding with this thing and the engine needs first break in. So the project will be constant learning curve and analyse of what works and what's not. Also as it needs a lot of money and time, this project can't be finished in weeks. So the purpose is not just to buy all the fancy things and live with it.
Comentarios