25,000 miles with Luke and Nick

I think the issue was the risk vs reward for KTM. They are a much smaller company then BMW and if their bikes did not make it would bring a lot of negative publicity. Of course if they did make it the positives would surely out weigh it. However a small company would be less willing to take the risk while a company like BMW could more then afford it. Just my 2 cents I still think KTMs are cool and fun bikes but for a long trip like that I would be on a BMW

You didn't miss anything. I got a little ahead of my self here. We are a little behind on our story. It's time for more updates.

Great RR... I like your way to react with problems!

I will be in Scandinavia from the end of May up to the end of June. I will also visit the NorthCape. Maybe we will see us

Luke,

I don't recall if you guys actually installed the borrowed throttle body on your bike and duplicated the error... I think you did so it is unlikely the problem is in your throttle body or sensor.

Have to concur with Gadget, consider a broken wire in the connection between the computer and the throttle position sensor OR the computer and ground. Assuming the code flashed is correct (and not result from other undefined anomalies), that would suggest the computer is getting a voltage value from the tps which is out of the expected range compared to the other data inputs (most likely a low or no value). Assuming all the other data sensors are working properly and within range, and that the computer is capable of flagging the other sensors should they fail, I would suspect a broken wire. The wire core has fatigued due to vibration but the strands are held in place (most of the time) with the more flexible plastic insulation, A momentary break sends the computer in fault mode, where it remains until reset.

In the case of your coil wires, there is no mechanical anchor of the wire harness itself onto or close to the coil electrical connection so the electrical connection serves both as an electrical and mechanical bond. Unfortunately the wiring harness between the coil connections and the last anchor point in the harness flexes and bounces causing the wire to fail, where the insulation has been removed, at the the spade connector. By tie wrapping the wiring harness to the coil or something nearby, and reducing the length of the unsupported wires leading into the coil spade connectors, your fatigue problem will go away. (Or you can reinforce the wire to spade connection with some shrink tubing to reinforce the mechanical joint if the wires aren't long enough to tie wrap elsewhere).

Back to your tps / computer intermittent connection issue. Providing you can connect a continuity tester in the line between the computer and the tps connector, you can flex and fold the wire trying to duplicate the break, which may not be easy to detect without good connectors on each end. The electrical disconnection is momentary so may not be easy to detect. Look carefully and inspect near the mechanical anchor points or along an unsupported length of harness. I don't think I would consider cutting and splicing in a new length of wire between the two connector ends unless I can verify the break as the break may very likely be at the connectors themselves (which is often where your household electrical cords break).

There may also be a break or bad connection in the computer ground which will alter the voltage reference point creating an out of bounds value in all or another sensor causing a fault, interpreted by the software as a tps anomaly. I don't know what other values are being compared to the tps data, but they are also suspect unless otherwise verified by the computer software. Loose battery ground and power supply connections to the computer may also be suspect.

Not a KTM owner, but have electronics background. Sorry if the information seems elementary but in my experience, troubleshooting often is.

Enjoying your RR, good luck.

Tony
Hartford, CT

I don't know much about the 690 (other than it is a very cool bike )... But it seems to me that Luke's bike has been highly modified (extra fuel tanks, different front end)... All this changes from OEM configuration sometimes need several tries until they are perfect.... Maybe Luke didn't have enough time to properly test the modifications before the trip? (since at the begging of the trip he was practically finishing the last touches on the bike as he rode it).

Maybe the problem with the error code is due to a shorted wire somewhere.. That might be because of an incorrect routing of the wiring due to the modified front end o extra tanks ???

Just sayin'....

There's plenty of KTMs out there doing long RTW trips... Just in 2011 on Advrider: Crashmaster, Misery Goat, Aurel (he is two-up, heavily loaded and the bike has gone over the 100.000 kms mark through Africa and South America), Chevalier Noir. I'm sure there are plenty of others who don't post here who have not had big problems. Nothing different to what other brands could have...

I think Luke has just been unlucky with this particular bike (there's always a rotten apple in the barrel)...

Ride on Luke & Nick

Thanks for many hours of entertainment. All I got to say is "ride on brothers, ride on". and <>< Njoytheride

Its an English thing. It was a burger chain back in the late 60's early 70's in the Uk. Mostly restaurant style dining.
Sa was a colony of England for many years.

Crashmaster and Misery goat are riding the LC8 KTM's - totally different engine that is much more reliable.
It's not about brand X vs brand Y as much as the category of bike. A Kawasaki KX450 has much more in common with a KTM SX450 than it does with a "fellow Kawasaki" KLR650.
Though the 690 was designed to be a lower maintenance/longer lasting bike than say the KTM EXC category its not; that's why the pro's on the 690's don't even use the fuel injection.
More importantly though Luke and Nick you guys have awesome attitudes that couldn't be seen without all the problems; don't we all have good attitudes when things are going good

Ride On Nick and Luke!!

Heres my short two cents....

KTM couldn't afford to take the risk to allow a semi pro Charley Boreman and a semi novice Ewan McGregor to be the proof that they're bikes are or are not RTW worthy. As for KTM's reliability and performance, they're finishes in the Dakar and every other rally speaks for itself. No one comes close!!!

The new adventure bikes are Techno-Mechanical beasts and everything works off the success or failure of the mechanical part in front of it. EFI is still new to our bikes and needs to be ironed out, but the benefits of being at sea level for breakfast and 14,000 feet at lunch without having to make any adjustments is pretty spectacular! Think of all the sensors and electronics working to adjust fuel ratios, and the abuse of deep river crossings and dusty, bumpy roads and "most of the time" our beasts come through without a blip. The bikes are evolving and not many of us know how to fix or trouble shoot the highly technical solutions to them......including the manufactures.

Cheers!

Board member dandini and his friend rode their 2008 ktm 690's 22,000 miles in 4 months with minimal problems. They loved the bikes and said it was the perfect choice for them. If I had had their luck I would have thought the same. I think I just got a lemon.

This is a write up on their bikes set-up.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=566295

You are right, I didn't have much time to put this bike together. I didn't even install the handguards until South Africa, and I never hooked up my led blinkers for the bike either.

But the problem I have now didn't appear until 8,000 miles into the trip. The Throttle body worked perfectly for 8,000 miles WITH all of my mods. Does this mean that I should have done an 8,000 mile test drive before this trip to make sure that I wouldn't have any problems? I don't think it does. The fuel pump broke because it was a bad pump, not from the mods. So I actually think my run and gun bike build worked out ok.

What is not working out is my luck with this throttle body right now.

Also, a rider name Aurel has a KTM and has been tooling around South America, 2 up with his wife since December with nothing more than just regular maintenance issues.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=644730&page=10


AND I'M WAITING FOR MORE PIX OF TURKEY, (especially the women)

All the connectors are looking good. We swapped out the two ECU's today from a friends 690. Still broken. Replace the entire wiring harness?

Ok, time to try to get caught up on this RR a little bit.

is what a person displays when things are not going according to plan. You two guys have it in spades!

Do it man...... I have to say the last two days have been the most unproductive yet rewarding in recent memory. Sunday I stumbled on the 3 months in Mexico thread and spent the entire day reading that RR. Yesterday, I didn't get crap done because I spent all day getting caugt up with you and Nick. Today I worked my ass off, then went out for a ride just to clear my head, and ponder the possibilities you two "youngsters" have open my eyes to. Thanks guys!

KTM's shouldn't suck....when you pay a shitload of money for a bike thats suppose to perform flawless you would expect it.

Go back and read the post about the faults both bikes had...perhaps this is more about the harsh conditions. Regardless, read the story as a tale of two guys having fun, learning about the world first hand and overcoming adversity with a smile or gritted teeth.

There are plenty of places on this site to trash talk bikes. This isn't it.

It feels so good to get on the road again. We have been hanging out in major cities waiting to continue the trip for too long. Istanbul is not too far from the Bulgarian border, and that is where we are heading. The plan is to cross the border and find a hotel in Bulgaria by the end of the day. This should be easy. Well, normaly it would, but we decided to hit the road around 3:00. I mean, we wouldn't want anything to be too easy.

Getting out of Istanbul was easy, except for one gas stop with no entry back onto the main road. Lucky for us my dad brought his garmin maps of Europe with them so it wasn't too hard to get back on the main road. The only problem was when Luke and I decided we could sneak onto a entrance ramp by doing an illegal u-turn. No - we didn't get a ticket if that is what you were thinking. We did manage to go up an exit ramp heading for the wrong way down the highway though. The best part about the whole scenario is Luke and I had our communication systems on the whole time talking it over but Ben was just following us and trusting we would make the right decision. I guess jokes on Ben; he really should of known better.

Back on the highway we started making up time for our late start. I think Ben pretty much summed up what we all felt.





Before we made it to the border we stoped at a truck stop to burn the rest of our Lirra.



The Turks are really serious about their anti-smoking campaigns. There campaign iis putting our "smoking can cause lung cancer" logo to shame.



We reached the border with about two hours of daylight to spare. This border looks a bit more serious than we have been use to the last few months. I'm not sure if the three of us can figure it out without 5 locals telling us what to do.



The first part goes pretty smooth. Ben always goes first, but since he is an EU citizen, he doesn't cause as much confusion as me or Luke. First we show our passports and they want our motorcycle paperwork. We give them our titles and they seem content. Then we go to the next station where they stamp the passports. Then we drive up to the next station where they want our bike paper work again. Now I feel like I am the McDonalds drive through, every window is a differnt person with a different job. I hope the last station gives me a double cheeseburger, fries and a coke. Anyway - the third station doesn't like our paperwork. They say we are not in the computer. After 10 minutes Luke tells them we arrived at the airport, this seems to make sense to them. They get back to work on their computers and after another 10 minutes - nothing. The girl in the booth speaks no english, but manages to tell us to go to station 94 and talk to a guy there. Ben stays put and luke and I head off to station 94. The man in booth 94 spoke english really good, which I obviously don't, otherwise I would have wrote, the man in booth 94 spoke english very well. I was due to call myself out on how bad my grammar and spelling has been. Either way he could speak english. He liked to refer to himself as a problems solver, which he was since he got done what needed to be done. I have no idea what he did, but he said we could go.



We made it out of Turkey, now hopefully Bulgaria decides to be nice to us. The process for round two was the same as round, go booth to booth giving them our passport and title. It turns out Bulgaria was really nice to us. For one they let motorcycles drive to front of the line or skip the line completely and not talk to the guy in the booth. And for two, they didn't make us have insurance, which is nice since we forgot to get the green card back in istanbul that covers all of Europe. In total there were 7 booths to go through to get through this border, and they all asked for the same two documents. I mean - I'm better at math than grammar, but that just doesn't add up.



By now it's dark and we are ready to get a hotel. 10 Kilometers into Bulgaria we find a room. For 17 Euro the three of us get a room with one bed. But the bathroom had the nicest shower I'd seen in a long time. Tomorrow we head for Romania. Well, maybe with a quick pit stop in Greece first.

That's because very few countries smoke like the Turks do.