PHOTOS: KTM 690 Duke custom by DS Restorations

Here’s a custom bike with a difference: not your usual BMW turned into a café racer or a Harley with forks longer than a flag pole, but a complete rebuild of a 2013 KTM 690 Duke.

Darrell Schneider from DS Restorations (DSR), an award winning car builder, has done an incredible job with the Duke and turned it into a custom flat racer.

According to Schneider “the goal was to redesign the bike with a factory race bike theme without losing the distinct KTM angular, edgy style. I wanted people to see KTM (design and color) but wonder what model or class it was in.”

The finished bike features extensive body changes, a new subframe fabricated from chromoly and a custom aluminium box that houses the battery and many of the electrical components. The frame lower cradle and bars for the skidplate were also fashioned out of chromoly.

The radiator covers are made from fibreglass, with the same material also used to form the air cleaner covers and fuel cap surround. Much of the panel work is aluminium, from the fuel tank and its cover, to the side panels and fenders.

The suspension is all WP R model items, from the front forks and clamps to the rear shock. The wheels have been rid of their casting marks and smoothed out before mating up to a set of Dunlop’s ultra-sticky, road and track hypersport tyre, the Q3. Braking is dealt with a Brembo HP caliper up front and the same used on the rear mounted on a custom CNC bracket.

The bike looks amazing and adds a whole new dimension to the Duke’s looks. We certainly weren’t expecting this.