1996 KTM Duke II 2 620 LC4 Supermoto -1,576 original miles- Motard sm drz wr

Description

Rare bike. possibly the lowest mileage Duke 620 in the US. 1. 76 original miles. 1996 KTM Duke II.  500 produced. frame stamped #225. Excellent original condition. New battery. New tires.  ProTaper handlebars. BIG GUN aftermarket exhaust (also includes original exhaust)The ONLY known problem is the tachometer is not working. Seller will help with shipping logistics.

 

Make Model

 KTM 620 Duke

Year

1995

Engine

Liquid Cooled. four stroke. single Cylinder. SOHC. 4 Valve per cylinder. /p>

Capacity

609Bore x Stroke101 x 76 mmCompression Ratio10. 4:1

Induction

Dell'Orto PHM 40 SD

Ignition  /  Starting

KDC-CDI  /  kick

Max Power

55 hp 40. 1 kW @ 7000 rpm

Max Torque

60 Nm @ 5500 rpm

Transmission  /  Drive

5 Speed  /  chain

Front Suspension

White Power 4054 RO/Top Adjuster  142mm wheel travel

Rear Suspension

White Power monoshock 4681 BAVP Single Adjuster 170 mm wheel travel

Front Brakes

Single 320mm disc 4 piston caliper

Rear Brakes

Single 220mm disc 1 piston caliper

Front Tyre

120/70-17

Rear Tyre

160/60-17Seat Height35. 2 in

Dry-Weight

145 kg

Fuel Capacity (res)

10. 3 Litres   (1. 8L)

Consumption  average

37 mp/g

Braking 60 - 0 / 100 - 0

- / 118 ft

Standing ? Mile  

13. 1 sec / 97 mp/h

Top Speed

105 mp/h

KTM's Duke. the first pure streetbike the tiny Austrian firm has sold in the U. S. . is a diabolic device that will land you in hot water quicker than Senator Bob PackWood at a panty raid. This bike is 609cc worth of stonkin' Single that lives for three things and three things only: 1) wheelies. 2) stoppies and 3) rorty romps through the gearbox. The meek may inherit the Earth. but they won't be riding around on KTM Dukes.

You can thank ABC Sports for the Duke. It's a direct descendent of the hybrid racebikes used in the early-'80s made-for-TV "Superbikers" shows. Run on a half-dirt. half-asphalt course. these were mainly big-bore two-stroke motocrossers with shortened suspensions. roadracing front brakes and tlat-track tires. Several years after the show went off the air. Superbikers racing was rediscovered by the Europeans-in particular the French. apparently unsatiated by old Jerry Lewis movies and "Baywatch" renins. and casting about for another American art form to adopt. "Supermotard" was born. soon to grow into a series with a season-ending finale that now attracts big-name racers from all over the world

All of this did not go unnoticed by KTM back home in Mattighofen at the foot of the Bavarian Alps. When the European show circuit rolled around in 1993. there on the KTM Sportmotorcycle AG stand. among the MXers and the enduros. was a curious-looking concept bike with supermotard styling. Reaction from the press and public was so strong that KTM put the bike on the books for 1994; now a limited number of Dukes have been brought to the U. S.

Not much has changed from that 1993 concept bike. The Duke's chassis is based heavily on the company's off-road frame. gussied up with a polished aluminum swingarm. The fuel tank is the same 3-gal-lon vessel used on the dirtbikes. molded in black plastic this time. Sheathing the sides of the tank and sweeping forward around the twin radiators are plastic shrouds finished in a very tasty gray-on-black checkerboard pattern meant to resemble carbon-fiber. Sidepanels and rear lender were also pulled from the dirtbike molds. set off by dark metallic-gray paint and more faux-fiber. A graceful pair of passenger grabrails bolts to the rear fender. and a nicely done subfender/chain-guard mates to the swingarm.

Leading this assemblage down the road is the Duke's most radical derivation from its dirtbike roots. The Dutch-made 40mm WP Roma fork is roadrace-quality stuff. mated to a similarly serious Brembo four-piston caliper. The latter. plumbed with a plastic-wrapped steel line. is capable of brutally severe stoppage-witness coverboy D. Canet standing the Duke on its nose like a trained circus seal.

Topping the whole affair is an organically styled fairing that incorporates twin headlights. tachometer. speedometer. ignition switch/fork lock and a small cluster of warning lights. The speedo and tach faces are particularly touchy-feely. with numbers done in a lilting. script type-style. Also. the tach doesn't read in anything as clinical as rpm; it records "beats per minute. " Disregard the bold "620cc" emblazoned on the fairing's sides. by the way. truth-in-labeling being a somewhat loose concept in Austria-the Duke's 101 x 76mm bore and stroke works out to an actual 609cc.

Akront supplies the Duke's jaunty wire-spoked rims. 17-inchers. wide enough-at 3. 5 inches front. 4. 5 rear-to qualify for sportbike duty. Spooned onto these are limited-production Pirelli MT60 radials that. true to the supermotard theme. resemble dirt-track tires. These proved surprisingly grippy. the downside being accelerated wear. especially at the rear. and the fact that the MTs will most likely need to be special-ordered come replacement time.

The end result of all this cross-bred styling is a motorcycle with an undeniable flair-part dirt-slinger. part roadster. with a touch of Bat-bike thrown in for good measure. all put together with a level of fit-and-finish that rivals anything being built today.

That degree of refinement does not. however. extend to the Duke's engine. It was built for enduro and motocross competition. so it's fairly uncivilized for a street motor. which gives the bike a certain hooligan charm. but doesn't make it very suitable for around-town plonking or steady-state highway cruising. The Duke is happiest when it's pulling hard through its slick-shifting five-speed gearbox. revs zinging between 5000 and 8000 rpm (redline is 8500). cutting loose with the splendid sound that only a lightly muffled. high-. revving Single can generate-think of a BSA Gold Star on crystal-meth.

Fair enough; KTM makes no pretense that the Duke is anything other than "an unashamed street fighter. not for sissies. designed for the experienced enthusiast. built with true connoisseurs in mind. to quote the company literature.

In KTM's view. electric start has no place on such a he-man's machine. so the Duke has to be kicked to life. The good news is that the LC4 motor is one of the easiest-starting big-bore Singles ever. Retract the sidestand. making sure the double-spring-loaded apparatus-mandated by some well-meaning Euro-crat. no doubt-doesn't thwack you in the shin and draw blood. Swing the left-side kick lever out. Then. standing off to the side of the bike. kick with your right boot. Aided by an automatic compression release. the engine will almost always light off on the first or second kick-unless. of course. friends and family have gathered 'round to admire your vaunted kick-starting prowess. in which case all hope is lost.

CW s test Duke. the first California-spec model. had its 49-state Dell'Orto carb yanked in favor of a cleaner-running 38mm Edelbrock Qwik Silver II mixer. A derivative of the old Lectron carb. this uses a flat slide and a single needle-no jets. Officials of both companies admit that the Qwik Silver underwent-let's be kind here-an accelerated development program for use on the KTM. As such. the Duke's carburetion was less than ideal. with a hiccup or two in the powerband and the occasional dreaded flame-out at stoplights. Apparently. the hot tip is to fit a 40mm Qwik Silver. but don't let the California Air Resources Board know where ya heard that.

Other than the carb niggles. the Duke worked as anticipated. sling-shotting around corners and annihilating apexes the way any all-up fully gassed 340-pound street-tracker with near-limitless ground clearance should. If the KTM pays any penalties for its dirtbike upbringing. it's in a relatively high center of gravity; two byproducts of this being a seat height of 35 inches and a slight reluctance to be slammed hard-left. hard-right (or vice versa) during on-the-limit cornering.

KTM will import 80 Duke 620s this year. priced at a super-stiff $7900. It's a motorcycle for people who understand the allure of a performance Single. who like to be different. who want a bike with balls. And if you hurry. there might just be a few left that are unspoken for.

But. remember. we warned you.

Source Cycle World 1995

What The Heck IS a Duke?

I guess you have to start with what a Duke is NOT. It's not a dirt bike. The Duke has wide 17 inch rims front and rear. setup for sport radial tires. The Duke is painted. not just molded plastic. It has street instruments. It has a helmet lock. I guess if you had to compare it to anything that already existed I would have to say that it's a flat track / TT bike built for the street. In the past few years. the European phenomenon of Supermotard or Super Moto has started to catch on here in the United States. Supermotard was born out of a nearly forgotten ABC series done in the late 70s called SuperBikers where motocross bikes were fitted with dirt track tires and wheels and raced on a combination of pavement and dirt. The series was kind of a flop here but the Europeans took to it where it has been growing ever since. The Duke isn't exactly that kind of bike but it's pretty close--in street trim.

They were produced in limited numbers and each was serialized on the top of the triple clamp. These are the world-wide production numbers I've seen listed elsewhere on the Internet:

1993 1001994 5001995 5001996 5001997 5001998 400Total: 2500 Dukes worldwide 

Some think the cluster goes too far for the bike's mission: a small speedo and a few idiot lights is all it should need. I disagree. It's complete without being overkill. It's got a resettable odometer and a tachometer that appropriately is graduated in "beats per minute". The tach needle bounces frenetically. adding to the bike's hyperactive feel. The biggest annoyance is the oil pressure idiot light. It's calibrated a wee-bit too high. It falsely reports a "low oil pressure" condition under 2000 RPM. I've since found out that this was a common and known problem. The solution? Replace the switch. I guess KTM quietly replaced the switches in the pipeline and the new ones are calibrated to a lower pressure. Frosty chose to ignore it. I've done the same to this point. though currently. a replacement is in the mail.

The LC4 Gets its Button PushedPowering the Duke is KTM's LC4 engine (Liquid Cooled. 4 valve) in 609cc trim. No. you didn't read that wrong. While the bike is a "620". the engine displaces 609cc. Confusingly. the later "640" KTM engines. displace an actual 625cc. Don't worry about why except that KTM wanted to differentiate them from one another. This is basically the evolution of the engine KTM introduced in the late 1980s when they began building their own 4 stroke (as opposed to the Rotax powered KTM thumpers built in the early 80s). Originally a less than reliable engine and not the easiest starter. KTM continued to refine it over the years. As of 2004. this engine is still in production. The First and Second Edition Dukes lacked electric starting. Not a problem for young guys with long inseams and good knees. Having a number of old injuries and a 31 inch inseam means I'm not going to have a lot of success kickstarting a big thumper with a left side lever. The good news is that beginning with the 1996 model. the street-bound LC4 models got electric starting. Sadly. the battery looks like a bit of an afterthought on this model. It was less-than-seamlessly integrated as evidenced by the huge bump under the right side plastic sidecover. Yup. they bolted a big battery tray to the outside of the frame and buried it under that lump on the cover. The good news is that it matches the weight and bump created on the other side by the muffler. You'll also notice the black "Electric Starter" decal on the same sidecover. proudly proclaiming that this is a thumper that even us tired. old guys can own.  

Braking is by Brembo. White Power suspension keeps those huge tires in contact with the road. Yeah. I almost forgot. it's "WP" suspension here in America. Unfortunately "white power" means something entirely different here than in Europe. In the United States it's WP Suspension (now owned by KTM). In Europe it's a company started by a guy named White. Eccentric chain adjusters with dished-out cams. replace the normal slotted adjusters. The travel is shorter than on the off road bikes: 5. 5 inches up front and 6. 7 Rear. It's enough to soak up terrain you're likely to find in the street without so much that the bike pogo's or pitches going into corners. Based on the specs. you might expect the bike to be skittish or jumpy. Quite the contrary. The bike simply becomes an extension of you. The road feels 150% wider and mid-corner line adjustments aren't just possible but downright routine. Riding on mountainous roads. you never know what you'll find around the next corner. Avoiding a mid-corner rock or pine-cone is no sweat on the Duke. While the Duke performs very well at lower altitudes. climbing big grades above 6000 feet. the big single starts starving for oxygen. At that altitude she only pulls up to about 80 MPH. After that. acceleration. umm. gets sluggish. The good part is that most of my local roads are ridden at much lower speeds (read: much tighter). In that environment the Duke takes over. Nothing like chasing a guy on a big liter-bike into a section of road and chomping on his heels for ten miles.  

Is there a Downside?The biggest downfall of this bike (in my opinion) is the fuel capacity. While 3 gallons might be adequate for motocross or short distance off road use. it's simply not enough for road use. While the bike can manage 50 MPG. mid 40s is more realistic when being ridden hard. Leaving yourself 0. 5 gallon for reserve. that's only 110-120 miles before needing gas. That's a lunch ride for me and I'd rather not have to stop for one gallon of gas in the middle of it.

From the factory. the US Spec KTMs in the mid to late 90s came with Edelbrock QuickSilver carburetors. I guess they were chosen for their performance at wide open throttle and their ability to be tuned to meed US emission requirements. The rest of the planet got the normal Dellorto 40mm that came on all of the off road KTM's here in the US. The Quicksilver seems to really have poor low end fuel control (based on what I've read and heard from others). They don't seem to start well. hot or cold and also surge at light throttle settings. Ironically. the off-road. quad people seem to love them. On Ebay. you can find them listed under KTM with no bids but under TRX 400. they'll be bid into the hundreds of dollars! My 1997 KTM Adventure 620 also had a Quicksilver that the previous owner unceremoniously pitched in favor of the Dellorto. For those interested in doing this swap. you have to look no further than the KTM Duke parts manual. It seems that the listed throttle and choke cables are for the Dellorto and the carb itself is available as an assembly (on the carburetor page). Ironically. the Quicksilver is 'the exception' and is listed on a 'US Parts Only' page in the back. Despite arguments to the contrary on the Yahoo KTM discussion group. I feel the Dellorto is the easiest solution to the carburetion problem on this bike. Other solutions will run into problems with proper cables and getting air boot plumbing to fit. You might squeeze an extra few peak horsepower out of a flat-slide Mikuni or Keihin but I doubt it is worth all the trouble. I rarely ride my bike at peak RPM with a wide open throttle and I have few complaints about the 40mm Dellorto. now on three of my motorcycles.

Also published at eBay.com