Ducati Monster 696 Vs Ktm 690 Duke
Ducati Monster 696 VS KTM 690 Duke
One-two punch
DON CANET
WHEN A MOTORCYCLE IS LABELED "ENTRY-level," the natural reaction of most people is to think of it as a beginner's bike. But while both of the middleweight four-strokes seen here would provide an ideal mount for a sport-minded greenhorn, these two wear the entry-level badge in a much broader sense of the term.
As the successor to KTM’s renowned 625cc Duke, the all-new 690 Duke has a big cylinder to fill. It does so with 29cc to spare, upping displacement not to 690 (inexplicably, KTM’s model designations sometimes differ from their actual displacement) but instead to 654cc. The original Duke, introduced in 1995, almost singlehandedly established supermoto as a legit street segment.
CW COMPARISON
This was back when X-Games was in its infancy and the general public still believed extreme riding only took place on urethane wheels. That first Duke also marked KTM’s re-entry into the road-bike market. It was the first pure pavement-pounder to come out of the Austrian dirtbike factory in several decades, offering an early glimpse of the company’s diversified future growth. This new Duke makes use of KTM’s latest-generation LC4 engine that employs modern four-stroke technologies, including electronic fuel-injection.
For Ducati, its Monster 696 (which actually displaces
696cc) ushers in the beginning of a new era, applying some well-thought-out refinements and fresh styling licks to the successful “less is more” Monster philosophy. The first Monster, the M900, was introduced the same year as the original Duke and helped strip away motorcycling’s somewhat conservative mentality by reminding us that naked can be beautiful.
This newest miniMonster, at $8775, is the least-expensive model in Ducati’s current lineup and a bonafide Bolognese bargain. This fact, more than any other, demonstrates that this machine is much more than a beginner bike, offering seasoned riders an affordable first step into Ducati ownership. Commercially, the Monster 696 is as important to Ducati as its superbike models, since it replaces the aging Monster 695, which has been the company’s bestseller that accounted for nearly 25 percent of all sales. At first glance, what we have here may appear to be a mismatch: Typically, performance parity between a Single
and Twin of near-equal displacement isn’t in the cards. But once the bikes were weighed on CWs scale and strapped to our dyno, we began to suspect otherwise. At 391 pounds drained of fuel, the Due is fairly light for a Twin, yet gives the one-lung Katoom a sizable 57-pound weight advantage. Dyno results provided further support as the higher-revving, air-cooled, 90-degree V-Twin produced 65 peak horsepower, 4 more than the liquid-cooled Single, but came in 4 footpounds under the Duke’s impressive 48 ft.-lb. torque peak. More telling was a 10 ft.-lb. advantage the KTM held over the Ducati at 5500 rpm.
KTM 690 DUKE
$9498
Next came dragstrip testing where a scant .02-second is all that separated the two through the quarter-mile, even though they’re quite different in the way they negotiate their runs.
The Monster requires a lot of revs to get off the line without bogging down in its midrange, a condition not helped by a difficult-to-modulate clutch that engages at the very end of its travel. Once on the boil, time lost to the Duke from 0-60 mph is reclaimed on top as evidenced by the Ducati’s notably higher terminal speed. But the Duke, with much less mass to get moving, lunges out of the hole with enough wheelie-inducing midrange torque to demand the rider’s single-minded attention! Yet it comes as no surprise that the Monster handily wins the top-speed battle, as it can rev 1000 rpm higher than the KTM before bumping its 9500-rpm rev limiter. Fortunately, neither bike displayed any scary stability issues at full gallop.
Once the CW staff saw these performance numbers, lining up a riding partner for some backroad bike-swapping didn’t require an all-points bulletin to be issued around the office. Executive Editor Mark Hoyer promptly put a hand in the air but developed a nasty eye infection the day before our scheduled ride. Associate Editor Blake Conner then stepped up, though I couldn’t rule out the rumor that he had spiked Hoyer’s eye drops to secure the assignment. The point is, these two bikes provoke far greater emotion than your typical beginner machines!
Moments before we left on our ride, Conner theorized that customers would view the Duke not as an entry-level bike, but rather as an enthusiast’s toy. A prophetic statement, because while we were gassing up the bikes just five minutes later, a guy on a Gixxer 600 came screeching up to the pump and hit us with a sortie of questions regarding the Duke. On another occasion, a Yamaha YZF rider tracked me down at a traffic signal to express that there was absolutely nothing he did not like about the Duke’s styling.
Although the sleek-looking Monster didn’t elicit the same level of attention while in our tenure, a Ducati North America representative said that the company feels the new Monster holds great potential for attracting brandnew riders looking to buy into the cool factor and trendy image of Ducati ownership. Mr. Editor Edwards astutely suggested that the bike could become for Ducati what the Sportster has been for Harley-Davidson.
DUCATI MONSTER 696
$8775
Like the venerable Sporty, the Monster has a comparatively low, 30.6-inch-high saddle and a narrow waistline that can bolster the confidence of shorter riders. The Duke, meanwhile, sits a full 4 inches farther from the ground, providing an off-road-inspired perch that delivers a commanding view over the tops of cars while in traffic. This, along with the Duke’s combination of nimble handling and gritty torque, make it a perfect inner-city assault vehicle.
We were equally impressed with the Duke’s uncharacteristic smoothness for a single-cylinder machine. Droning contently at 5000 rpm in sixth gear is good for 75 mph on the digital speedometer with only a modest amount of vibration seeping through the grips, while none is felt through its rubbertopped footrests. Wow, a Single that doesn’t tingle. Whoda thunk it? You can
even see clear images in its solidly mounted mirrors.
But where butts are concerned, ours grew weary on the KTM’s firm, narrow saddle. “After 20 minutes on the Duke, all is fine,” said Conner. “After 45,1 was wiggling around to keep my ass from going numb, and after an hour.. .well, fortunately, Canet and I swapped bikes frequently enough that I didn’t have to find out.”
How do the Monster’s creature comforts compare? “The Ducati has very good wind protection via the teeny bikini fairing,” was Blake’s take regarding the Twin. “It also cushioned my tush far better than the KTM’s moto-style seat.” Add to this an engine that remains silky smooth to redline, and the Duc is a clear favorite when the road is long and straight.
I was aboard the Duke when we reached the base of the mountains north of Los Angeles, where we stopped for a brief break at the gates of the supermoto promised land: a 20-mile stretch of tight and twisty tarmac. BC had the audacity to suggest we trade bikes there. Like hell! I’d just endured the entire 50-mile freeway transit. With Duke indents molded into my butt cheeks, I figured I’d earned a just reward.
While the Ducati may be a cute, fuzzy Monster, the Duke has a bit of Jekyll and Hyde lurking within. I hate to admit it, but 10 miles into the twisties, I pretty much had my fill of the Duke as I discovered that its impressively smooth engine morphs into a hardcore quaker when this Single gets its groove on beyond 6000 rpm. It wasn’t until a later stint aboard the Duke on another stretch of heavenly non-highway that I experienced a revelation and regained the faith. Riding
the LC4’s mountain of midrange torque by short-shifting out of every corner produced strong drives, but without the frantic feel.
While fully capable of strafing apexes, the Monster has softer suspension that requires smooth rider inputs to keep the more sportfocused Duke in sight. You can’t get away with huckin’ it into bends as you can with the Duke without grounding hard parts or unsettling the chassis. “On twisty roads, the 696 is a far more capable machine than I imagined it would be,” claimed Conner. “Despite its budget suspension, it sucks up bumps efficiently until pushed very hard. It handles extremely well, carving with ease and giving good feedback. Sure, the suspension is soft, but if you ride the bike with a little finesse, it can be hustled pretty quickly.”
As much as Conner enjoyed riding the 696, there was one negative incident that continues to haunt him: getting dusted-up by a Volvo sedan on a long uphill stretch of copfree highway. “Even with two downshifts, the little Monster couldn’t hang with the Swedish Turbo.” So goes his recount of the nightmare. “How freakin’ embarrassing, and from such a sporty-looking bike! If I owned the bike, I would never in a million years admit it happened, but since I don’t, it’s out in the open for all the world to know about.”
Well, Ducati does offer bigger Monsters with sharper teeth, but for the time being, none are quite as cutting-edge as the 696. Its good looks alone are certain to sell plenty of these mini-Monsters, and once word gets out regarding how well-
rounded a bike it is, the sales curve should spike upward from there.
With these two fun machines, KTM and Ducati have delivered a one-two punch at entry-level price points within their respective catalogs. They provide a wide range of riders a means to experience the enthusiast side of motorcycling. But at the end of the day, from a seasoned sport-enthusiast point of view, we found that the 690 Duke delivers more cc of adrenaline-charged fun than the splendid 696 Monster. □
