maintenance on a 990 adv

[crofrog]

Originally Posted by turnitonagain

I'm not a very good mechanic, or am comfortable doing maintenance on my bike. Unfortunately, I don't have that skill, I enjoy to ride the machine! My journey will take me through some remote stretches of Canada, and I want to make sure that the machine I chose is not only capable, but reliable to get me, my passenger, and gear across and back without being stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Regardless of what bike you choose venturing into remote area's with out knowing how to work on your own stuff is an exercise in hope.

[crashmaster]

Originally Posted by crofrog

Regardless of what bike you choose venturing into remote area's with out knowing how to work on your own stuff is an exercise in hope.

[turnitonagain]

Originally Posted by crofrog

Regardless of what bike you choose venturing into remote area's with out knowing how to work on your own stuff is an exercise in hope.

I agree with this statement wholeheartedly!

[turnitonagain]

All in all, From the KTM Riders, Owners, perspective how would you rank your 990 ADV in all honesty, and what are it's strengths and weaknesses that a new buyer should be aware of.

thanks

[Katoom119]

Strengths: everything. You cannot kill this bike. It will allow you to go much further with less skill than any other brand of bike. Everything is of a higher quality and therefore works better, allowing you to focus more on riding the terrain than worrying about hurting the bike.

Weaknesses: the only real one in my mind is the water pump, but it's an every 10,000 - 20,000 mile issue. Everything else just comes down to does the bike feel comfortable to you when you ride it.

If you're coming from a Harley I'm assuming that every scheduled maintenance work was done by a Harley dealership. I'm not trying to be an ass, far from it. I'm just trying to determine what level of skill you have to work on a bike and most Harley owners I've encountered just take it to a dealership to be serviced.

If you can change the oil in anything then you can do most of the work on the bike. If you have good attention to detail then I daresay you can probably do 90% of the work on the bike. I was pretty comfortable only changing the oil in the bike and that's because when I grew up riding KTM dirt bikes that's all I had to do. Thanks to the OC, I've learned far more about my bike than I ever thought I could and when I find someone to show me how to check the valves I'll never take my bike back to the dealer again. There is a wealth of information about the bike here and if you are mechanically inclined at all and can pay attention, you can work on this bike, easily.

Maintenance wise you just have to be aware of what can happen, like Crashmaster said. Yes this is a high performance machine and yes you have to take care of it, but it's sort of like the difference between a Ford and a Ferrari. Both are reliable, both require work. With a Japanese brand bike you can get away with a bit more in my experience. Go further between oil changes before it starts shifting poorly, run the air filter dirtier, things like that. The KTM, being built more as a race ready bike, doesn't allow as much leeway. You can still beat on it, yes, but if you run it like a Jap bike you'll see a slight decrease in performance. Again, personal experience, and no one ever said I knew what I was talking about.

As far as babying the bike that's just the wrong idea. This bike was designed to withstand the Paris-Dakar Rally and unless you try to take it on a motocross track or ride it in a manner that's just stupid, you won't hurt it. Remember, it's a 500 pound monster, not a motocross bike. There are a lot of people here that can do things with them that I never would even attempt but they are far, far superior riders than I.

Would I buy one for what you're trying to do? Yes, in a heart beat. They are easy to work on, they perform flawlessly when maintained, but just realize that there may be times where you're doing the work yourself. If you're traveling you may not find a KTM dealer in every town like you will a Japanese brand or maybe even a BMW. That being said, in your case, I would go out and look at the BMW 1200 GS, the Triumph Explorer, and the Yamaha Super Tenere before buying one so that you have a frame of reference to which you can compare everything.

[crashmaster]

Originally Posted by turnitonagain

All in all, From the KTM Riders, Owners, perspective how would you rank your 990 ADV in all honesty, and what are it's strengths and weaknesses that a new buyer should be aware of.

thanks

Youre going to get a biased opinion on the OC. But I'll try.

Its hands down the most all around great performing, and most capable bike I have ever owned. It does everything and does it well. If I could only have one bike, the 990 would be it.

Many folks that ride these bikes are coming from a dirt bike background, so they tend to ride not only dirt roads, but nasty two track and stuff that cant even remotely be called a road.

High strung dirt bikes need lots of maintenance, way more than the 990. We are talking oil changes and valve checks every 15 hours or so, constantly changing tires, etc. So coming from that background, by comparison, the 990 doesnt need much attention. It doesnt really need any more attention than most other big DS bikes.

Its tough as nails. Very crash worthy.

It will hands down run away from the other big DS bikes in off road conditions, yet will still run with sport bikes in twisties all day long, eat up freeway with big touring bikes all day long, and do it well.

To me it feels like a big ass dirt bike, and thats what I like. It is a big ass dirt bike really. The geometry is such that the attack position feels natural, feels like it was designed to be ridden standing on the pegs. It rides like a much lighter bike, when you get it underway, all the weight just seems to disappear since it is carried very low compared to other bikes. But when you get it crossed up in the sand whoops and try to save it, or when you realize you are trying to back into a turn with way more speed than you thought you had, then you realize, shit, this is a big bike.

This bike has way too many strengths to list actually.

But here are the issues, some may affect you, some not:

Wind protection is lacking for some. The best solution IMO is to cut down the stock screen and get your helmet in clean airflow. This is only an issue for some folks.

Tall riders, over 6 ft, find the bike cramped when riding in the sitting position and usually lower the pegs.

Water pump is a pretty regular wear item. But the CJ wp shaft is looking like the solution more and more.

To do just about anything to the bike, the plastic and tanks need to come off, and that takes time to R&R. There are workarounds for some items like the oil change. I dont remove anything except the skid plate to do my oil change, and can get it done in under an hour. I dont know why folks think the 990 needs a lot more attention than other big bikes. The intervals with most other big DS bikes are about the same. Just do some needed mods and keep up with what the manual tells you to do and the bike will behave itself, even if a nutcase is attached to the throttle.

Sidestand is bolted to the engine. A modification called the relocation kit is money well spent if you like to thrash the hell out of this bike in big rocks.

Fuel economy while easy cruising is between 42 and 36 mpg depending on model and gearing. When you get into ankle deep sand and start really flogging it, you can bring that down to the high 20's without even thinking about it. But, its a 1 liter bike, it likes gas.

On long trips, carrying a 2 gal Rotopax on the tail is very nice, or you can do the adventure tank mod in which you lose one can, and have an extra 2 gallons where one can used to sit, and its plumbed into the main fuel line. Or you can buy the Safari tanks which hold an astounding 12 gallons after the stretch out a little bit.

I'm sure others will chime in but thats about all that stands out for me.

The throttle on this bike is like a hit off the crack pipe, and once you take a few hits, you'll want more.

The bike is just plain a helluva lot of fun to ride in sand, rocks, mountain twisties, etc, and that's why so many of us are in love with it.

My buddy probably gave the best endorsement for the 990, and he rides a 12 GS. We had been on the pavement most of the day, then hit some desert two track. There was a little narrow sand wash that I wanted to take to get to where we were going. I asked him if he wanted to take it. He said, "lemme ride your bike and I'll do it."

[crofrog]

Originally Posted by crashmaster

Y
Sidestand is bolted to the frame. A modification call the relocation kit is money well spend if you like to thrash the hell out of this bike in big rocks.

Minor typo there. It's bolted to the engine which is why it needs to be relocated.

[crashmaster]

Originally Posted by crofrog

Minor typo there. It's bolted to the engine which is why it needs to be relocated.

Doh! Thanks. I bolted it back to the engine, Fixed!

[Qwik]

I have been riding for 40+ years. Everything from GSXRs (Air/oil, and Water Cooled) to BMWs to my old KX500. I have never had a bike as capable of doing EVERYTHING like this is. I can tour, Rail the twisties, go play in technical offroad, and commute on it. If I could only have one bike this would be it. It does it all. Some minor mods make things easier for maintenance (Oil hose drain is Key) and you always have to do some little changes/adjustments (Bar risers, Seat, suspension) but I have never been more satisfied with a bike.

[turnitonagain]

Originally Posted by Katoom119

Strengths: everything. You cannot kill this bike. It will allow you to go much further with less skill than any other brand of bike. Everything is of a higher quality and therefore works better, allowing you to focus more on riding the terrain than worrying about hurting the bike.

Weaknesses: the only real one in my mind is the water pump, but it's an every 10,000 - 20,000 mile issue. Everything else just comes down to does the bike feel comfortable to you when you ride it.

If you're coming from a Harley I'm assuming that every scheduled maintenance work was done by a Harley dealership. I'm not trying to be an ass, far from it. I'm just trying to determine what level of skill you have to work on a bike and most Harley owners I've encountered just take it to a dealership to be serviced.

If you can change the oil in anything then you can do most of the work on the bike. If you have good attention to detail then I daresay you can probably do 90% of the work on the bike. I was pretty comfortable only changing the oil in the bike and that's because when I grew up riding KTM dirt bikes that's all I had to do. Thanks to the OC, I've learned far more about my bike than I ever thought I could and when I find someone to show me how to check the valves I'll never take my bike back to the dealer again. There is a wealth of information about the bike here and if you are mechanically inclined at all and can pay attention, you can work on this bike, easily.

Maintenance wise you just have to be aware of what can happen, like Crashmaster said. Yes this is a high performance machine and yes you have to take care of it, but it's sort of like the difference between a Ford and a Ferrari. Both are reliable, both require work. With a Japanese brand bike you can get away with a bit more in my experience. Go further between oil changes before it starts shifting poorly, run the air filter dirtier, things like that. The KTM, being built more as a race ready bike, doesn't allow as much leeway. You can still beat on it, yes, but if you run it like a Jap bike you'll see a slight decrease in performance. Again, personal experience, and no one ever said I knew what I was talking about.

As far as babying the bike that's just the wrong idea. This bike was designed to withstand the Paris-Dakar Rally and unless you try to take it on a motocross track or ride it in a manner that's just stupid, you won't hurt it. Remember, it's a 500 pound monster, not a motocross bike. There are a lot of people here that can do things with them that I never would even attempt but they are far, far superior riders than I.

Would I buy one for what you're trying to do? Yes, in a heart beat. They are easy to work on, they perform flawlessly when maintained, but just realize that there may be times where you're doing the work yourself. If you're traveling you may not find a KTM dealer in every town like you will a Japanese brand or maybe even a BMW. That being said, in your case, I would go out and look at the BMW 1200 GS, the Triumph Explorer, and the Yamaha Super Tenere before buying one so that you have a frame of reference to which you can compare everything.

Thank you soo much for your insight, personal experience, and knowledge it is all much appreciated especially as I'm new to the entire advbike segment. My dad actually owned a 950 ADV and told me that they were amazing machines to have, but time has passed since he sold it. So, I wanted to ask all of the kind folks in the OC realm. No, you were not being an ass lol I never changed the oil or performed any maintenance on my bike for two reasons, the first was convenience, the second being I was too lazy to learn how to. one day I woke up and decided that I was missing out on a lot of riding opportunities, both domestically and eventually foray into international travel. So, I went on a quest to search for a RTW/XC machine that will allow me to pursue my dream, and the KTM was always on my list, especially since I used to be hooked on the Paris-Dakar Rallies, which inspired me to fall in love with moto travel.

[scorpion]

If you plan in riding it a lot especially off-road, you are either rich or a mechanic.

I learned a lot riding and wrenching on this bike.
I am smarter, faster, better looking because of it.

[crashmaster]

Originally Posted by Katoom119

Maintenance wise you just have to be aware of what can happen, like Crashmaster said. Yes this is a high performance machine and yes you have to take care of it, but it's sort of like the difference between a Ford and a Ferrari. Both are reliable, both require work. With a Japanese brand bike you can get away with a bit more in my experience. Go further between oil changes before it starts shifting poorly, run the air filter dirtier, things like that. The KTM, being built more as a race ready bike, doesn't allow as much leeway. You can still beat on it, yes, but if you run it like a Jap bike you'll see a slight decrease in performance. Again, personal experience, and no one ever said I knew what I was talking about.

I totally agree with that, but no one ever said that I knew what I was talking about either.

Just like Katoom119 recommended, get out, look at, and if all possible ride each bike you are considering. I know that's easier said than done, but at least try to. Buy the bike that you really like, one that gets your heart racing, and for that, a test ride is key. Any bike can be taken around the world, but its much more fun on a bike that you love to ride, no matter what bike that may be. Some ride old Trail 90's, small thumpers, Gold Wings, Harley's, Katooms, GS's etc and despite the advantages and disadvantages to each, if you love the bike and it makes you happy, nothing else really matters.

[el queso]

Originally Posted by two trackin fool

Is there any thing I need to know about as far as Expence to be ready for or that I need to leave the dealer ship with ?

Should I buy the warranty ??

I plan for this bike to not be sold a way .
I am getting off a KLR . And I am a mechanic doing maintance is not a problem .

Just Curious Thanks

As a former KLR owner, let me tell you, you're going to be one happy dude. I'm talking shit eatin' grin happy.

KTM does things a little differently from the Japanese manufacturers, so you'll have a little learning curve the first time you work on it. But if you're like me, you will learn to appreciate the engineering. I didn't get an extended warranty because I plan on doing most of the maintenance myself

[SF_Rider]

I've been really stoked on my 2008 ADV.

I've had a bunch of bikes. My last before the KTM was a crappy Ducati ST2. First year of the model and FULL of gremlins. Total piece of shit bike with the added bonus of high routine maintainance on top!

Nearing 2 years and 20,000 miles on my ktm with no issues. Love the bike. Have only ridden short trips 2 up. MUCH more comfortable (with rear top box) than any other sport touring bike I've owned.

[two trackin fool]

I had issues with the investment .
I am a dirt biking fool .
I have had a few different street bikes but no sport bikes although I tried to ride like I did ! LoL ~ As soon as this paper work CRAP is strightened out ~ I will be bring her home !!!

Thanks to you all for your time and honesty !!