Project Corner: Kramer 1290 R

We take a look at Peter Seal’s awesome Kramer 1290 R that started life as a KTM 1290 Super Duke R…

Via the miracle of the internet, specifically the PB-Evo motorcycle forum, we came across Peter Seal, who is the only person we know to have put his order in for one of the recently announced Kramer kits which convert a KTM 1290 Super Duke R into a full-blown track bike with sports bike credentials.

It’s of particular interest to us for a number of reasons, not least in light of KTM’s most recent new bike, the RC990, which puts them firmly back on the sports bike map, and maybe, just maybe, this is a vision of what might be heading our way in the not too distant future – plus we also love a good project.

What’s also interesting about this one, is Peter’s journey from sports bike nut, to discovering the simpler, less intense joy of a supernaked bike, and now seemingly going full circle back to a sports bike platform… but with a twist. As is now the norm for us with the Project Corner section, we sat down for a natter with him and got his take on the bike’s build and the reason behind it.

I always had sports bikes, even scoffed at nakeds, but who knew comfort would be a bonus? In road riding terms, I’d had a Ducati 1198SP and a gen 3 BMW S1000RR as my last two bikes. I loved the 1198 for its ability to be epic at 7/10ths, with wheelies over every crest and instant shove at the touch of the throttle. Then I went on track and the bike was not my friend, unless a very specific set of circumstances set it up, such as Schwantz curve at Donington Park in 4th gear, where it would be stable as anything and take bike lengths out of 4-cylinder machines when it was wound on.

Sadly, on track I had to concede that there wasn’t enough talent in the rider to find similar benefits virtually anywhere else on the 1198, so I eventually tapped out of it and bought the BMW. I was amazed at how quickly the straights disappeared, things felt easier and track PB’s were broken. Then my circumstances changed, and I ended up with a back issue which laid me up for seven months and needed a good 4 or 5 hours of surgery to Dremel straight. Recovery wasn’t helped by the whole Covid thing, and just like that, I’d become an old bloke, shy of re-injuring, getting more and more unfit to the point that riding the BMW was physically beyond me after just 3 laps. 

I needed something different, so I watched the 1290 Super Duke launch stuff on YouTube and thought it was something along the lines of the 1198 with wide bars and more modern rider aids… which sounded like a good recipe. I booked a test ride and had an absolute blast with near constant laugh out loud moments throughout. The KTM had the best road bike engine ever, plus a big comfy riding position, and was big enough that it didn’t look like I was a gorilla on a pitbike.

I chopped the BMW in against this 2022 new bike, and all was good for about two months until I got wiped out by a very OAP. The insurance took three years to sort, so I did the obvious thing and started to convert it for track. It was a revelation; I was always first out of pitlane and stayed out for full sessions, which meant the extra seat time gave me a chance to learn to ride a bit better on track.

I went to Portimao on the KTM and was matching my BMW lap times, but with 20mph less top speed down the straights, with the brakes in supermoto mode being especially brilliant. My love for riding was back… and then some.

Then I thought let’s race it in the NGRRC Sound of Thunder, and at Donington Park, my first flying lap at the test was two seconds under my PB, and my second flying lap ended with a broken wrist, broken bike and enough gravel from the Old Hairpin at Donny to build a shed base… and here we are. 

I started the rebuild, it needed a tank, bars, dash and the usual consumables. I took the opportunity to convert it to take clip on handlebars because the original bars gave uncontrollable wheelies. For someone who isn’t good at wheelies, the lower bars made wheelies much more controllable, so clip-ons would be even better.

Then pretty much as I affixed the last bit of vinyl to the bike, Kramer teased a Super Duke track conversion kit and I was instantly sold. I put a deposit down straight away and began to prepare the bike for its new role in life; a much better version of my old 1198 track weapon. It would also be a great race bike, but the ACU have scuppered that for this year. I’ll need a new project for that issue.

The Kramer kit is a full fairing, fuel tank, seat height adjustment, clip-ons, rearsets, air intake, front subframe, CNC machined triple clamp, and a much more race/track specific rear suspension linkage.

The first post Donington crash modification was Maxton GP30 cartridges for the forks and a GP10 shock in the rear. It had also got a different linkage for more ride height, but I’ve replaced that with the Kramer linkage.

All the switchgear departed during the off, so Jet Prime’s PlayStation-style button switchgears and a quick action throttle are doing the job now. I also fitted some Bonamici rearsets, but again Kramer have designed some for the faired bike, which match the clip-ons, so they went on. I also fitted a second-hand dash, seat and subframe, both of which have since come off as the Kramer fuel tank comes with a different seat unit.

The brakes are brilliant, but as the master cylinder was very second hand after the crash, a brake set up from a friend’s Panigale V4R project is now in place, which is a Brembo MotoGP master cylinder and GP4 MS calipers. It should definitely stop even better now. I’m thinking of getting a Brembo set up for the clutch just for OCD purposes.

In its initial state, after first service, a Spark Ti system and high-level cans were fitted, but the system is now a single low level can in Kramer mode. Props to MSS who have been great with the occasional Friday afternoon build quality issues; it always looked good and it is currently functioning beautifully too. The ECU was flashed by MCE in Austria, which as well as delivering 173bhp on the BSD dyno, it also got rid of the standard weird engine brake idiosyncrasy that it would perform on a partial throttle. MCE also supplied shorter velocity stacks. 

Lock stops have been added to prevent the death of the “petrol tank”, which is only a cover – the Kramer fuel tank is under the seat. All the KTM fairings have obviously been removed to make way for the Kramer full fairing. They’re mint and available for swaps for a Bridgestone slick or three!

The gearing is way shorter (-1/+4). First gear is now superfluous, 6th is just about usable. Probably, the hardest thing about fitting the kit was re-routing much of the loom at the front of the bike in the absence of the fuel tank, and getting the fuel pump to seal in the new tank and location took many attempts. Now that it’s all together, it’s gone to BSD again to get mapped for the different exhaust.