Living with the RC8R

[mattinri]

I'm looking at an 11 KTM RC8R and was wondering if anyone has any ownership experience with this bike? Any maintenance issues? Driveability and suspension, etc? Fell free to pm.

Matt

[slammp]

Just buy it. Those bikes are so hot!! The R color scheme has always been a favorite of mine. They are so uncommon. If you are serious about the research google rc8 forums and see what a group of owners has to say.

[Paul_E_D]

I've done a track session on one. Very smooth power delivery and good handling. Unique seating layout. Somewhere between a motard and a superbike. Pretty comfy for me, but I'm 5'7". I love the looks.

Don't know about reliability, but I haven't heard anything bad. I know Jerry at Valley Motorsports in northampton, MA is offering some discounts on RC8s right now...

[pasta-rocket]

Bike is great, i am looking for one as well.

[Paul_E_D]

Call Valley, Tell em I sent you!

[markbvt]

Since the engine is based on the LC8, I imagine it has the same maintenance issues. Check some of the forums like ADVrider.com (Orange Crush section) to see the sort of problems 950/990 Adventure owners have had with their bikes. For example, the LC8 engine is well known for chewing through water pumps, so you have to proactively replace them every 15k miles.

--mark

[Ken C]

I also rode teh RC8 for a couple of sessions on track. The abrupt throttle delivery of the base RC8 was awful. The RC8R was much better.
Tell Jerry at Valley that Paul AND Ken sent you.

[SVRACER01]

Wirelessly posted (HTC EVO "DROID" : Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2; en-us; Sprint APA9292KT Build/FRF91) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

I've read about the abrupt throttle. Most mags wrote it off to an overly light throttle spring

[mattinri]

Thanks. I'm 6'1 & don't fit well on most sportbikes, so I like the adjustable ergo's of the RC8. Supposedly the throttle of the R is better. I'm primarily sport touring with emphasis on sport (i.e., a tank & tail bag & I'm good to go). I'm stepping off an RC-51 primarily because of the snatchy throttle & to a lesser extent the ergos. Mark, I'll check the maintenance issues - thanks for the heads-up, but a pump every 15K is OK with me. I'll make sure there aren't any other issues lurking.

[jwm2k3]

Tank and tail bag?? Get a VFR1200

[bfriend]

Thanks. I'm 6'1 & don't fit well on most sportbikes, so I like the adjustable ergo's of the RC8. Supposedly the throttle of the R is better. I'm primarily sport touring with emphasis on sport (i.e., a tank & tail bag & I'm good to go). I'm stepping off an RC-51 primarily because of the snatchy throttle & to a lesser extent the ergos. Mark, I'll check the maintenance issues - thanks for the heads-up, but a pump every 15K is OK with me. I'll make sure there aren't any other issues lurking.

Coming up on 13K miles on my Super Duke, which also has an LC8, without a single mechanical issue. I was warned to look out for a water pump failure as the miles start adding up. As you mentioned, the RC8R's throttle is supposedly improved but I'd see if you can get a test drive. The Super Duke and first gen RC8 are so snatchy that they can be dangerous on bumpy, low speed turns. You may find that, say a 20% improvement for the RCR, may not be good enough.

Swapping the factory pipes for a set of Akras with the KTM Akra map pretty much cleared that up though...

[mattinri]

VFR1200? Too fat. Honda went the wrong way with the VFR, but then again everyone else did the same with their sport tourers. Bob, are you saying you installed the pipes & mapping on the Superduke & it made a signoificant difference in the snatchiness? I'm trying to avoid loud pipes. Did it increasse the volume significantly? I wonder if a PC# & dyno & stock pipes would work?

[bfriend]

Yes. It helped a significant amount. I have have what they call the round "race" cans. They're pretty loud without the included baffles in but only marginally louder than stock with the baffles in. The next step is to go with a PC3 and custom map which is supposed to clear it up completely. Others have also had luck with a slower throttle cam. Not riding with your elbows locked helps as well

Obviously this may be a different story with the RC8R. There are a bunch of RC8 owners over at superduke.net and they're all really helpful. I'd take a pass by there and check with them.

[bfriend]

Also, the Akra map richens the fuel mixture a bit. My gas mileage went down afterwards.

[jwm2k3]

You wanna do sport touring with bags and shit but not on a sport tourer...Using an RC8R for sport tourning just seems a lil wrong to me....thats why I mentioned VFR1200. If you want an RC8R, get one.

[mattinri]

Thanks again all. & the VFR1200 would normally be a good suggestion, but I've always been a little wrong :-) I've had the ST1100 & it was a great bike when I was doing big mileage. Now unfortunately with a wife that doesn't ride my time on the bike is the evening or morning escape with the occasional weekend, so I'll only be wrong some of the time :-)

[oVTo]

Thanks. I'm 6'1 & don't fit well on most sportbikes, so I like the adjustable ergo's of the RC8. Supposedly the throttle of the R is better. I'm primarily sport touring with emphasis on sport (i.e., a tank & tail bag & I'm good to go). I'm stepping off an RC-51 primarily because of the snatchy throttle & to a lesser extent the ergos. Mark, I'll check the maintenance issues - thanks for the heads-up, but a pump every 15K is OK with me. I'll make sure there aren't any other issues lurking.

Just wondering - do/did you have a PC3 on the RC51? That makes a huge improvement in throttle response, especially the off-idle response. I'm 6' and agree about the ergos. It's definitely not a sport-touring bike.

[burnham]

bump. I'm thinking of an RC8r, so if anyone else has ridden one I wanna know what's up.

[jwm2k3]

Saw a sweet orange one at Motorcycle Night in Lowell this week. Slick...

[sandman]

Coming up on 13K miles on my Super Duke, which also has an LC8, without a single mechanical issue. I was warned to look out for a water pump failure as the miles start adding up. As you mentioned, the RC8R's throttle is supposedly improved but I'd see if you can get a test drive. The Super Duke and first gen RC8 are so snatchy that they can be dangerous on bumpy, low speed turns. You may find that, say a 20% improvement for the RCR, may not be good enough.

Swapping the factory pipes for a set of Akras with the KTM Akra map pretty much cleared that up though...

imho: the super duke is not snatchy, the bars are too low.
i wanted to ride the bike like a super moto, but it's more like a sport bike.

as first i didn't like the bike bike, especially when going over bumps mid turn i was moving the throttle around when i didn't want it moving giving the bike a snatchy feel.

one set of bar risers later and it was a whole new bike that i love.


anyone what a really clean 07? i have too many bikes and not enough time to ride them

[slammp]

anyone what a really clean 07? i have too many bikes and not enough time to ride them

PM njsrikar he was just talking about getting a naked on another thread and specifically mentioned these and the Speed Triple.

[mikendzel]

Bob, the owner of B&E Motorsports, races an RC8R. He is a KTM street line dealer, and knows this bike inside and out. If you have any questions about the RC8R, he is the guy to talk to on the East Coast. In fact, several people from MA have come down to buy RC8's from him, and then return for their service work. NOBODY east of the Mississippi knows more about this bike!

410-822-6855 Tell him Endzel sent you, and he'll likely tell you a story how some dipshit move I've managed to do in the last few years when racing!

[NeverlosT]

#1. Totally agree, they made the VFR into an abomination, used to be a cool bike
#2. Totally agree, the RC8R is a rad looking bike, dunno about a tourer, but would be sick to rip on.
#3. I have a tuono and that throttle is also snatchy as hell at low speeds or in low speed corners, going to get some pipes and new map to try and fix it.

Basically, I can only have one bike, so I went from having a street bike I liked, and a track bike that I whooped, to having to pick one machine, for me it was a Tuono, if it is an RC8 for you, the get after it!

[dankatz]

I test rode an adventure 30th anniversary edition, an smt, and the rc8 (not R) at americade. Long test ride. The only one whose throttle was snatchy was the smt. The rc8 was great - maybe the fixed the stock one this year? The ergonomics were comfortable enough for a supersport fir me at 5'8".

[DuncanMoto]

... anyone what a really clean 07? i have too many bikes and not enough time to ride them.

Price?