EATMYKTM.
Race Dog
As I always suspected, you can't truly find the limit of a bike until you cross it, so in the interests of educating the 'dogs, that's exactly what I did on the Dealer launch last Friday.
To spare you the nasty aftermath and tears that will surely roll from seeing this magnificent beast on its side and missing a couple pieces of plastic, Franziska stopped shooting right after she captured this pretty cool shot.
As you can see I had all the correct kit on that is required when testing a brand new 150hp monster on a slick clay surface, boots, helmet and gloves. No Jacket required, ‘cos you don’t fall when you are riding slowly around a closed circuit. HAHAHAHA, I fell properly sore but by the grace of God, I was spared any broken bones or major injuries. I wish I had put a jacket and neck brace on as I did suffer a proper dose of whiplash that made me very duurmekaar for 2 days afterwards. ATGATT Guy’s.
“Ok, so what actually happened?”
Being the willing test pilot that I am, I was asked to go out first in the group and try her out, all the while disabling more and more of the numerous traction and braking aides. When I got to the end of the circuit, Hoofseun told me to take her back to the beginning and park her up for the next pilot.
I wound the throttle on gently around the first of the 2 corners and the 1190 barely slid at all. Must try a little harder next corner as everyone is watching and it’s the last corner!!!
Weight the outside peg, whip the throttle open and before I could say “I’m a chop” the bike was in the position you see in the photo…not good. Most would say it looks quite stylish and proficient but those of you who know better will look at that and know that I was not going to save that one.
The rear shock had already been compressed and was on its way up again, just before launching me up and over the near side of the bike and onto my back. A proper highside I’ll say so myself. Even though I didn’t hit my head, I rang my bell properly due to the whiplash and lay there for a couple of seconds before standing up to be greeted by Shaun the medic and Hofseun.
They helped me lift the slightly scratched up bike and I did the walk of shame back to the assembled group of fork tongued Dealers. My personal favourite was Ron Bailey who quipped “Hey Andy, for a big bike, you really chuck that thing around!”
I’m really impressed with the big KTM as the damage was minimal. One broken protective cover (the silver one) one scraped up tank shroud and a slightly tweaked handlebar. Nothing else. This new KTM is still as strong as the 990…Hooray.
To spare you the nasty aftermath and tears that will surely roll from seeing this magnificent beast on its side and missing a couple pieces of plastic, Franziska stopped shooting right after she captured this pretty cool shot.
As you can see I had all the correct kit on that is required when testing a brand new 150hp monster on a slick clay surface, boots, helmet and gloves. No Jacket required, ‘cos you don’t fall when you are riding slowly around a closed circuit. HAHAHAHA, I fell properly sore but by the grace of God, I was spared any broken bones or major injuries. I wish I had put a jacket and neck brace on as I did suffer a proper dose of whiplash that made me very duurmekaar for 2 days afterwards. ATGATT Guy’s.
“Ok, so what actually happened?”
Being the willing test pilot that I am, I was asked to go out first in the group and try her out, all the while disabling more and more of the numerous traction and braking aides. When I got to the end of the circuit, Hoofseun told me to take her back to the beginning and park her up for the next pilot.
I wound the throttle on gently around the first of the 2 corners and the 1190 barely slid at all. Must try a little harder next corner as everyone is watching and it’s the last corner!!!
Weight the outside peg, whip the throttle open and before I could say “I’m a chop” the bike was in the position you see in the photo…not good. Most would say it looks quite stylish and proficient but those of you who know better will look at that and know that I was not going to save that one.
The rear shock had already been compressed and was on its way up again, just before launching me up and over the near side of the bike and onto my back. A proper highside I’ll say so myself. Even though I didn’t hit my head, I rang my bell properly due to the whiplash and lay there for a couple of seconds before standing up to be greeted by Shaun the medic and Hofseun.
They helped me lift the slightly scratched up bike and I did the walk of shame back to the assembled group of fork tongued Dealers. My personal favourite was Ron Bailey who quipped “Hey Andy, for a big bike, you really chuck that thing around!”
I’m really impressed with the big KTM as the damage was minimal. One broken protective cover (the silver one) one scraped up tank shroud and a slightly tweaked handlebar. Nothing else. This new KTM is still as strong as the 990…Hooray.
