Hi, this is a bit of a long one and i’ll summarise it here first: Got a 125 Duke, done 7500 Miles in 16 months, bike will do 65-70, I normally ride it at about 5mph less than it will do when on roads capable of it, dual carriageways etc. Dropped a valve and wrecked the engine. New engine, should it be able to cope with my riding (steady 60mph) or should I get a bigger one (390) to stop me thrashing it so much? The long version: Bought a 2018 KTM Duke 125 in Jan last year. Mainly to allow me to ride something while I got my A licence and to act as a £2k deposit on something larger in Jan 2021. I’ve had some minor issues with moisture in the screen, on screen 4 now, all under warranty, then at around 7200 miles after a day in the rain, it developed a wobbly idle on my way home, it got me home, but wouldn’t hold the idle the next day and had an engine light on. Garage recommended I get it towed in under KTM’s breakdown service, which I did. The garage took it in and amongst other things charged me for a valve clearance to stop the idle issue. Then, the bike began starting up on its own when battery was on, so they changed the starter switchgear, starter motor and rerouted some wiring and fixed that but it took a couple of weeks. (They scratched the bike while doing all this and fixed it for me which was fair enough.) So, I got the bike back the week before the North West 200 over here in Ireland, did a couple of ice-cream runs, no issues, then I rode to the NW200, which should’ve been a run of ~130 miles. Fast forward to mile 80 ish, doing 60 in 6th after around 40 miles of 60mph riding on motorways and A roads. The bike just kinda cuts out, I got some help from other bikers and they try to jump it, no joy, then battery dies and it gets towed again (thanks KTM Assist). So got the bike to the garage and they said after looking at it that it had dropped a valve. So as I understand a bit broke off the valve end and dropped down through the engine and trashed it. They asked KTM for help and as KTM were aware of the issue with the electrics and starter they said they would send a new engine out complete with a 2 year warranty on it. So I have a few choices now: I can take the 125 back and ride it easier, but to be honest, I got the Duke because it was fast enough to not be in the way of other cars etc and I thought it could cope with a steady 60 for long periods. But I don’t want to take it back if it isn’t capable of steady 60. Or I can negotiate a deal on the 390 for the trouble I have had and keep it until June 2022 for a good deposit on a new bike. I’ll not have the same pressure to keep it slow and it’s the same bike, which I love. Or I can walk away after it is repaired by the garage buying me out of the finance or me just settling it with the finance company. Then I start from scratch and buy another bike like a Yamaha MT07 or something. Cheers in advance for the assistance, money is tight enough to not be able to make a mistake by doing the wrong thing here, so I really would appreciate some advice from more experienced riders with this.
