Dam, and there was me thinking I lived in a sweet spot to ride. The grass is always greener.

My buddy at work Maxime finally got his old SV650 running so we went for a cruise at lunch up and down Rossfeld.

It rained last night so most corners were pretty wet. This was one of the dry ones.

Rossfeld is up at 1600m or so and the power felt way down on my bike at the top. Had to clutch it like crazy to get the front wheel up.

Maxime was loving his first ride of the year.

Cruised over to Berchtesgaden yesterday again for lunch.

Pretty much the only thing I don’t like about this bike are those mirrors which move all the time and feel kind of cheap. No aftermarket mirrors in KTM powerparts either which seems silly as I guess the superduke could also benefit from some better aluminium mirrors. Trying to find some Rizoma ones to fit. Actually I would rather take them off altogether as I never move over without turning around anyway but I am not sure that’s legal.

It’s been out for years this Duke but every time I stop people just crowd around it and want to know everything about it, horsepower, top speed, weight, price, who makes it (the Duke comes with no KTM logo’s), how does it handle etc etc. Not so easy with my dodgy German and the strong accents around here.

For lunch today i drove 10 mins up above work to this toll road. 3 euro 50 and nobody on it. Absolute bargain as the road is epic.

The 35mmprime lens on the 550D is excellent but I think I need a wider lens for the panorama’s around here.

Stopped by 2rad-hauthaler.at to buy some chain lube and got chatting to them about some bikes.
Love this 350sx-f supermoto they put together. They told me they can also put together road legal EXC versions too. Would be even better than the duke around these mountain roads perhaps.

Mike Brown

Kurt Caselli

Rad poster from Sideburn..

Illustration by 99seconds.

KTM hero and MX1 World Champion Tony Cairoli went into the final round of the Italian MX championship in Gazzane on Sunday with a good chance to take the overall prize but his luck ran out in the second moto and he finished overall third, even though with equal points with second placed David Philippaerts.
Tony rode a thrilling first moto, slipping past Steven Frossard in the final lap to take line honors but some trouble with front wheel spokes in the second race slowed him down and he managed to finish in 10th place. That gave him third overall for round four and third overall in the championship.

Photos by Taglioni

JDR/J-Star/KTM rider PJ Larsen earned his career best finish with a 4th overall in the lites class.

We went up to Flachau Winkl for an afternoons slushy riding. It’s always pretty fun riding in spring snow and the kickers are still nicely shaped but the snow is getting kind of bare about half way down. Time to dust off my meta 6 soon me thinks : )

Another dope build from Roland Sands.

A lot of attention to detail has been put into this bike and overall it looks like it would be wicked fun to ride with great brakes, a nice stance and snappy power. I have to say after riding my Duke for a few weeks and coming from an MX background that handling is and always was by far the most important factor for me (I am really pleased I didn’t get a classic bike in the end as it would be kind of sketchy on the mountain roads around here), but of course when you stop riding it, to see something look as good as this is definitely an added benefit. Some info on the bike:

Happiness comes in many forms and today it comes in the color of a beautiful ripe California grown tangerine. What started out as a rough build has been molded into something much more finished featuring 525cc’s of growling KTM fury. This is our next evolution of the Café Moto concept, an ever evolving project that shifts and changes with every bike we do. And yes, we made a real gas tank for this one. All the body work is hand-made aluminum, fabricated here at the RSD compound. FMF did a trick titanium exhaust for us and Chris Wood at Airtrix delivered the Candy Orange Flake paint on the tail, tank and headlight mount. This one is street legal, ultra-light and has just enough horsepower to get you in trouble. Forks and shock have been lowered considerably. We debated back and forth on the front fender then decided to keep it moto with chopped down fork guards. Sub frame has been heavily modified to accept the battery and electronics. She is only missing her license plate which should be on it’s way from the DMV. In the meanwhile we will try our hardest not to get arrested riding it.

Hat tip to Marcus for the heads up on the bike.