This KTM SMT 990 is motorcycle journalist Rupert Paul’s longterm testbike; he’d heard all the horror stories, rode the bike and swiftly bought in in for an ECU remap. It’s a completely standard bike and he was complaining about it holding back, a stuttery power delivery and its inability to maintain a constant throttle. He’d also had it on a trackday, and found that he’d roll the throttle off, go to roll it on (critically, mid-corner) and it’d snatch.
We set about it in the usual way, first, dealing with the lambda sensors and all the emission controls. The secondary butterfly valves were next, re-setting when they opened, and then the MAP (Manifold Air Pressure) map, followed by a lot of ignition changes then fuelling.
We rode it after, and were pleased. We got a phone from Rupe about 2 hours later and he said, simply; “I got to the end of the road and I knew it was right..”
Nuff said!
Rupe's snatchy KTM SMT, sorted with an ECU remap...
