KTM 200 Duke & Husqvarna 450 SMR to Pai

[KTMphil]

Bloody hot, so had to keep moving.

R 107 north out of Chiang Mai, then slip onto the beautiful R 3009 which runs north parallel to R 107 and intersects R 1095 / Mae Hong Son Loop road.

Lots of rider's aren't aware of the beautiful R 3009 to get on R 1095/ Mae Hong Son Loop road which gets you out of the nasty traffic on R 107. You can get on R 3009 off of R 107 at co-ords:

N18.93382

E98.94098

 

[KTMphil]

Chiang Mai to Pai by this route is just over 130KM one way. Keld now has about 4,000km on the KTM 200 Duke and still loves the bike. I hadn't ridden anywhere with him, so Pai seemed a perfect day run.

 

[KTMphil]

1st stop 32 Coffee Hill on R 1095 that has the 400,000 Bht coffee machine.



https://foursquare.com/v/32-coffee-hill/4de5e440d16480416492d6e8

Photo: keld

 

[KTMphil]

Then westwards to Pai, stopping for refreshments at "Cake Go O". I hadn't been there before, good call by the KTM rider.




https://foursquare.com/v/cake-go-o-pai/510276b4e4b0b1a79a09a854

Pretty impressive cake collection, could give the Charin a run for their money

Overboard with the flowers unfortunately

The cakes took your mind of the flowers

 

[KTMphil]

I had only ridden the KTM 200 Duke around the block until now, this was an opportunity to give it a real test, so we swapped bikes for a while.

Photo: Keld




The KTM 200 Duke is an incredibly comfortable bike to ride despite being very small. Ergonomics of the bike are superb as you'd expect from KTM, handling is effortless and super smooth. What was shocking after getting off the Husqvarna 450 SMR which is a snarling race bike beast was how little power there was. You have to keep the RPM's at 7,000- 10,000 RPM to have any performance, below that, you twist the throttle and nothing happens.

As a touring bike it seems a great choice. Somewhere around 40km to 1 liter of fuel, comfortable and can cruise all day, looks like a great choice.

Husqvarna 450 SMR below:

 

[Lightemup]

Yeah, after trying that Husky, it did feel a bit weak for the first couple of minutes getting back on my little Duke
Still love it though, just need better tires

 

[Captain_Slash]

Bloody hot, so had to keep moving.

R 107 north out of Chiang Mai, then slip onto the beautiful R 3009 which runs north parallel to R 107 and intersects R 1095 / Mae Hong Son Loop road.

Lots of rider's aren't aware of the beautiful R 3009 to get on R 1095/ Mae Hong Son Loop road which gets you out of the nasty traffic on R 107

Yes this is a lovely road indeed Phil

 

[The Bigfella]

Did I miss something here? Have you bought a Huskie, Phil? Nice bike, or a bit of a dog?

 

[KTMphil]

Did I miss something here? Have you bought a Huskie, Phil? Nice bike, or a bit of a dog?

It might be the most fun on-road bike Ive ever ridden, looking to race R1 Peter up Doi Suthep on his R1

 

[LivinLOS]

Then westwards to Pai, stopping for refreshments at "Cake Go O". I hadn't been there before, good call by the KTM rider.

You can see he's a man who knows his desserts.. :LOL