My new KTM 990/Why I cancelled a Winter riding Mexico

San Antonio is a nice town, I would suggest a long walk with a stop at several pubs, trust me it will do you good.

Thanks for your help. I think your a grandstander, maybe not a lawyer, who is a little bitter about being called out as a troll.

I appreciate your input.

Still waiting for that link to your vast ride experience my friend still waiting. I have the time to read it as i wait four days for parts for my unreliable, new KTM

Kedgi

It literally caused me to convulse to write those words..... Glad you recognized that.

you sound like you should have bought a BMW

I like the suggestion. I am at an airport motel a long way from the riverwalk. I make a half mile trip each way to the nearest restaurant, in an industrial park behind a Target store to get my supper each night. It's getting old. I have enjoyed having something to do today.

Unaware's (sp) posts have entertained me. I travel to meet people and go nice places. I have had a rewarding career and my life is a "vacay" Posting on Orange Crush a reading the BS some spew, who have never ridden long distance and can't take a well intentioned warning without saying "it's your fault" "you're not a mechanic" "you should have brought a parts store with you" has been eye opening. What drivel. They don't want to address the inexcusable four day wait for parts i guess.

I think you're right though a walk would do me good. I can likely expect a lot of walking if I ride a KTM haha I'd like to take a cab down to thre Riverwalk but my costs are mounting thanks to my delay's caused by the inavailability of KTM parts in one of the biggest cities in Texas.

Thanks,

Kedgi

Your KTM is a machine, every machine from the space shuttle to a mouse trap has experienced a failure. To think this impossible because the machine is new is deluded at best. With a background in aviation I'd figure you would know that aircraft fresh out of maintenance are the ones which need the most scrutiny. I'm not sure why you'd need a support van to carry a sum of spare parts (consumables at that) smaller than a can of beer or a spare tube. You DO carry a spare set of tubes don't you, or did you just figure you wouldn't get flats because your tubes were new?

Hopefully your KTM will wind up with someone who appreciates it more, once they take care of these teething issues it will be a great machine for them.

I skimmed your RR but if this isn't considered a blown vacation I'd hate to be within earshot of you when you have a real problem.

I'm reluctant to admit it. But I think you're right.

This KTM990 is not the bike for anyone who actually adventure rides.

Kedgi

Never touched a KTM in my life before November. I am not a trained mechanic. I am an old retired electrical engineer, and everyone knows how terrible engineers are when they try to be technicians. I had no trouble changing the fuel filter. It's easily less than a 60 minute job. Next time, I'll do it without taking the tank off, just to confirm that I can, and just to see if I can do it on the side of the road in 30 minutes. In my opinion, it's a 10K mile service item, just like valve checks, but MUCH easier.

Oh, and just to be clear, I'd never travel far from home without a spare fuel filter set with O-rings in my luggage. It's small and weighs nothing.

Also my opinion, but if someone chooses to ride a moto, or drive a two track vehicle, into locations with little support, they not only should know how to service and repair their vehicle, they should actually do so, always.

If not, you are just rolling the dice. Sometimes you get away with it. This time you didn't. If you had changed the fuel filter at the same time that you had the tanks off for the 10K valve adjustment, it's only a $30 and 30 minute job. Why wouldn't you do so?

I suspect you'll be offended by my comments, since you have shown no interest in learning from the feedback of the rest of us that wouldn't have chosen to put ourselves into your position. Instead, you only want to complain and blame others for your situation. I'd rather control my own destiny. Best of luck regardless.

I tried to help you TWICE and you ignored me both times. My mistake in not recognizing you're a troll with an axe to grind, because you have no idea how to fix your bike for something that is probably a simple matter of you overfilling the fucking gas tanks when you fill up.

But whatever, this thread has had the positive effect of giving me and my anti-matter doppelgänger something to commiserate on, AND has me getting my helmet to take my 990 out for a spin this afternoon.

My 2 pennies:

For the amount you paid, the bike should run on shitty gas or just about anything for that matter.

You also had the bike regularly serviced (I see in your other ride reports).

I think it would be understandable to have a regularly serviced bike make it accross the USA without issues.

All this talk of carrying spares and what not, piss on it. Why buy a $160 filter kit for a bike under warranty? You know the deal - you touch the bike and KTM says "you changed the last filter, we won't warranty it now"

Also, the dealer should have these filters in stock if they are so commonly needed.

At this point, KTM Corp can basically do nothing to get you back as a customer. Are you sure you can't do a trade in at the dealer? Can they get KTM Corp to ship the bike to Canada? At that point you can trade it in.

I wish you guys would read the RR. Where did you get the idea this was a blown vacation? Where?

Did you read the RR really?

Share your extensive riding overland riding experience please. I want to learn from a master.

In stark contrast to all this BS, the guys I know who are really on the road somewhere today realize this bike has issues that prevent it from being an overland bike.

Tell me, before I go to supper all about your extensive overland experience on a KTM 990 I'll go get an Orange Crush at the store.

Thanks for your kind words

Kedgi

what would you consider "overland experience" , just to see if I qualify to enter the discussion?

I don't think his bike is under warranty. He bought it used with 30,000 kms on it. Who knows what it has been through. And all it takes is one batch of dirty fuel to clog any filter. I don't blame the bike, I blame the OP for being overly whiny. Get the parts, fix it and move on.

Way too much drama for some bad luck with a simple fix.

Don't skim my ride report, read it, it will teach you a lot.

A mousetrap is a lot more reliable than this KTM our we couldn't see the ass you just made of yourself. It would be covered in mice. You have time for potshots at a guy whose ride report you skimmed. Give me a break.

Kedgi

I think you've got all you're gonna get out of this thread Kedgi when people start to call you out. Cheers dude.

Well, when the first post he says "in October on my new KTM 990" I would figure a new bike would be under warranty? Am I reading that wrong?

I love that Mongolian ride report. It partially convinced me to buy a Tiger, despite the demonstration that the bike is dependent upon the speedo cluster being functional. Seems a bit bass-ackwards to me to put critical electronics in the speedo cluster rather than under the seat or somewhere else a little better protected.

But the Tiger did run on terrible Persian/Kazhak/Ickystan hillbilly gas for them, was resurrected twice I believe from what is near total destruction, and they had the fortitude to tough it out literally in outer Mongolia where some random dude welded their bike back together after waiting almost a month for Triumph UK to get them parts. That's tenacity and it's damned admirable.

Personally, I love my Tiger in the same way a lot of people in this subforum love their orange machines. But if it falls off a cliff (with me off it!) it is gonna be toast. All of its resale value will be gone. No reason to put thousands of dollars into OEM replacement parts, hundreds of dollars into questionable third world labor or tool purchase/rental and so on. I'd leave the bike in Mongolia and catch a bus/plane either home or to my destination. It's not worth the month sitting there pulling Tony-Stark-in-a-cave repairs, when I could be at home making money towards a new bike.

Which is why I lean towards cheaper disposable bikes for third world exploration. A 15 year old XR that has a piston failure? Maybe if someone has a replacement right there, sure... rebuild it. Falls off a cliff? Buy a new clunker bike from some guy in Colombia and finish the ride.

I think you and I are in agreement, though... you balance your investment (type and value of bike) with your ability to support it (dealership network, credit card limit, mechanical knowledge). In 10 years, I might be willing to take my Tiger to South America. Right now, it'd be my '93 XR600 though.

I think you're right man. Not much constructive here.

I really had hoped someone had a similar experience, found something that light a fire under KTM to send parts, something.

thanks, I needed that

gone for supper

Kedgi

Hmm.
from one of my ride reports...

and from another...

By the way, Lica rode his 990 from BC to Ushuaia and back and loved it.

He just finished a rebuild of the bike and plans to ship it to Africa, ride up to Romania, and then keep the bike in Europe for future travels.
Because he bought a new 990 (Baja edition) to keep in Canada.


It's too bad you're having trouble with your bike, but I'm surprised you expected to get sympathy in Orange Crush.

Have you not been in the OC before?

Must not be a lot going on in the world today. Four hours of this?