How about a fresh thread for Kramers?

I will have the opportunity to ride one this year. It was already presented to me. Scares me because I'm probably going to have to buy one after that. LOL

 

Super easy to work on,load on and off a trailer,and an absolute blast to ride.

 

I have had quite a bit of time with Joe at Kramer and he is very helpful as well as seeming to have all the pieces in place with the company. For those that are interested in their bikes I don’t think you should have any problem with parts or support.
I actually have Grady’s Duke that he turned into what I refer to as “the poor mans Kramer”. Joe sold me a motor after mine ate itself and a set of Dymags for the bike that were not for their bikes but the Duke at a nice price. He was more than happy to spend time talking to me about the bike even though it isn’t one of theirs.
Mine has been a D class and clubman killer and can occasionally have something for the LWT guys if the tracks don’t have too many long straights. Done some AHRMA racing with it too and had a blast.
I love mine but would do about anything to ride a Kramer. My bike is 300 lb and feels so light. Can’t imagine what another 25 less would handle like.

 

yeah. we’re gonna need some pics

 

Just figuring out I don't have many pictures of the bike. Only thing that looks much different now is white plates.

 

Nice! This is the likely route that I'm going in my first iteration of a 690 powered racebike. Mind sharing what you've done for suspension/geometry setup?
I'll do a lot of custom fab work to "add lightness" About the only thing that could be a departure from the stock geometry is the steering head angle since I have access a scrapped frame to play with and my Tig welder is dying to be used on a project like this. Once I get the chassis where I want it, I'll likely build a complete frame.

 

Hell yeah. That’s rad. What belly pan is that?

 

Chris has my old bike. Won’t sell it back to me so I am buying a Kramer. Frankly isn’t much more expensive than what I had in the 690 Duke. Fabrication of fairing and damper mounts (848 Duc fairing and seat), subframe from mild steel Ducati bike crate by Donnie Unger. He also modified an aluminum tank to fit and I covered it with an aftermarket CBR tank cover. Cam, Ti Akropovic, rear sets, WP forks and shock are KTM PowerParts catalog items.
Oh yeah so is the belly pan. many thanks to Bob Michael at B&E Motorsports in Easton MD where I bought one of the first 2013 690 Dukes in the country and Bob installed the KTM Items which he gave me a break in as well.
Chris painted the tank orange instead of the black I had. Maybe a larger tank installed instead of the tiny aluminum tank?

 

If you are wanting to build your own frame then go for it, but the Duke frame is up to the task

When I bought the bike it had upgraded WP forks and shock that offered more adjustability. I have not changed the anything as far as geometry goes from the Duke. It also had the more aggressive cam installed but that was about it for the motor. Really the only other thing I did was delete the ABS. Didn't like it interfering on really hard braking.

The motor popped and Chad Wells at Commonwealth rebuilt it which included squishing the head for more compression. On his dyno he was able to get it 76 hp and 57 lb of torque. The problem with that was the clutch could not handle those gains with the 4 bolt pressure plate. Joe at Kramer stepped in and helped me get a slipper that has been truly remarkable. Unfortunately, the motor had a bottom end failure and the costs to build again were more than the motor Joe had that was pretty much stock. Put that one in with the other cam and been running great ever since. That motor is 74 and 54 on Chad's dyno. Knock on wood, but I think the motor issues are behind me. I am diligent about changing oil and using Motorex as Chad says it's worth it, for whatever that means.

When it's all said and done, even though I didn't build the bike, I probably could have had a Kramer by now for what I bought it for and with the motor issues but I am stubborn and didn't want to give up on the bike and glad I didn't. I've only been on track with one Kramer but that dude was on more of a Sunday ride so didn't really have a comparison, but I'm certain they would smoke me with a competent rider.

 

Thanks. It's KTM power parts belly pan. However, I haven't been able to find another as I don't think they make them anymore.

 

Hey Grady. Glad you are feeling better. Would love to see you at the track on the Kramer.

 

Thanks for the info Yokohama. The frame thing is more of a longtime desire to build my own but I'm in no rush so I can play for a while with the stock one and take my sweet time building my own.

 

Hey Chris
I emailed you some pics of the build.
Glad you are still happy with the bike. I really loved it.

 

I have a bunch more on my phone but haven't ever to try to post pics here from my phone. These two were shot before I sold it to Chris.

 

A little blurry but making "adding lightness" apparent. Sorry for the double pic. I am not a computer savvy guy.

BTW the sub frame alone added more than 20 lbs of LIGHTNESS. Stock is a boat anchor. IIRC Donnie's creation is a bout 2 lbs.

 

that thing is cool. thanks for the pics

 

Nice! That's the kind of thing I like to do.

 

I totally understand wanting to build your own frame but thinking that would reduce the choices of classes for racing with most orgs.