The customer who owns this KTM Superduke rode it all the way down from Scotland, complaining of all the usual running problems – snatchy throttle, etc. Now this particular variant of KTM’s LC8 engine is in a much higher state of tune, and it’s trickier to dial out the snatchiness and get spot-on because of the sheer nature of a ‘cammier’ motor. This one we rode before the remap and it was awful.
We went through everything via the ECU; lambda sensor, secondary butterfly valves, ignition and fuelling maps, then test-rode the bike. Out on the road it was very obvious that the throttle bodies were out of synch, and one cylinder was coming in before the other, resulting in a small surge. The remap had helped with the snatchy power delivery, but really the throttle body synch needed doing (but it’s best done on a cold engine that’s been left overnight) and the customer needed to go, so that was that. He test rode it, came back and agreed it was better, but wasn’t the night to day transformation he was expecting.
Fair enough – this is an engine in a pretty wild state of tune. We’d calmed it down, a bit, but it is what it is, with a cam and flywheel set-up that we couldn’t get round.
We calmed this Superduke R down, but there's no doubt its engine set-up and state of tune make it a bit of a beast...
