Nova Scotia’s KickMoto builds a Duke scrambler…
The KTM Duke 690 is the Austrian company’s top of the line single-cylinder supermoto, a fuel-injected 693cc thumper that makes 73 horsepower and 55 pound-feet of torque.
“Perfect for darting up mountain roads or nipping between traffic on a city commute… The Duke 690 is toy-like, like a BMX with an engine. It will turn with very little effort and will drop to toe scraping angles of lean with ease. You don’t really need to hang off or manhandle it, simply look where you want to be and you’re there.” —MCN
Enter Jeff Shaw of Canada’s KickMoto, a two-man outfit based out of Halifax, Nova Scotia, that’s turned out seven bikes since their inception in 2014.
“We stopped building bikes for clients a few years ago and began to focus on building bikes that we would want and how we would want them to look and function.”
The riding season in Nova Scotia is short but intense, with thousands of miles of great roads and trails. After riding a Husqvarna Vitpilen 401 last year, Jeff decided he needed something bigger:
“The goal for this build was to create a scrambler that was lightweight and nimble enough for the woods while still having great highway capabilities.”
He picked up a lightly used 2018 Duke 690 from a dealership last fall and got to work on what would become his winter project, transforming the space-age supermoto into a more classically styled, yet highly capable scrambler. Highlights include the custom steel subframe, lightweight Shoria battery, custom stainless header and mid pipe, 3D-printed a custom LED tail light and signal holder, custom stainless steel rear rack, custom aluminum fork guards, and their first fully custom gas tank, hand-shaped!
Now that summer is on the wane, it’s time to let go of this incredible adventure machine:
“The bike has been put through a long summer of adventures and has passed the KickMoto quality check! Now it’s ready for a new home and for us it’s time to think about the next build.”
Though Jeff doesn’t have a set price, he says the donor bike, parts, paint, and material cost roughly $12,000 CND. Below, we get the full story on the build from Jeff himself.
KTM Duke Scrambler: In the Builder’s Words
The goal for this build was to create a scrambler that was lightweight and nimble enough for the woods while still having great highway capabilities. For this the Duke 690 stuck out as a perfect donor bike. I purchased the 2018 Duke preowned from a dealership late fall of 2020 with only 1,400 kms on it.
This is the 7th build to come out of the KickMoto garage since its inception in 2014. We stopped building bikes for clients a few years ago and began to focus on building bikes that we would want and how we would want them to look and function.
The Duke process was fairly quick, being completed over about three to four months of part time labour. We started by stripping the bike down and sketching out some basic proportions and measurements to define the ergonomics and stance. The subframe was bent and completed in-house of steel tube. We think it works really well with the trellis style frame. We stripped out the battery and swapped it for a lightweight Shoria battery which is a third of the size and weight.
We moved the Akropovic exhaust up high to give it that scrambler look, but this meant creating a custom stainless mid and header pipe. We also tried to keep the exhaust length long as we removed the large cat from below the engine. This gained us several inches of clearance!
At the back of the bike, we designed and 3D-printed a custom LED tail light and signal holder that also capped off the frame tubes. Above that we designed a custom rear rack that was waterjet cut from stainless steel. The seat we made was quite thick and comfortable for long rides, we retained the keyed locking mechanism to make for easy removal and access to the battery and stock tool kit.
We also wanted to retain the airbox, knowing the bike would see some off-roading. We didn’t want to risk any chance of water or debris entering the engine. With some slight modifications to the airbox we managed to integrate it into the overall design.
Up front we designed a waterjet cut bracket that is rubber mounted to the fork triples and mounted up a Kosso Thunderbolt Headlight and some moto gadget blaze pin turn signals. We wanted to maintain all the features KTM had built into the bike so we reused and mounted the stock KTM dashboard in a clean way. Again all the parts being rubber mounted to prevent vibrations.
The big fabrication challenge for us on this one was the gas tank. We purchased an English wheel and some metal shaping hand tools to take on our first custom gas tank. We first started by sketching and shaping the tank out of foam. From there we made templates for the metal and just started hammering and rolling it into shape! We topped it off with a knurled Motone gas cap and bung for a Triumph.
We had the tank and the custom aluminum fork guards painted in a quicksand color matched to a Biltwell Gringo helmet to tie it all together. The seat was wrapped in an exterior grade suede and leather look vinyl, with some ribbing and piping to give it that vintage scrambler look.
Everything was sent out for powder coat and the wheels were wrapped in fresh Shinko 705’s.
The bike has been put through a long summer of adventures and has passed the KickMoto quality check! Now it’s ready for a new home and for us it’s time to think about the next build.
We don’t have a set price, we are open to offers. I do know that with the donor bike, parts, paint and material we are sitting at roughly $12,000.00 cnd.
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Jeff Shaw
Co-Owner, Creative Director
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Facebook @KickMoto
