KTM 950 Slider Moto, revival of my Beastly Big Bertha

So I have a long relationship with my bike, Big Bertha, a regular old 2006 KTM 950 Supermoto. It started when she was uncrated and serviced out as a dealer demo. I was first to throw a leg over her and broke in the motor on a great ride down the Crooked River Canyon, with full load, full throttle blips, up to 6000 RPM. I had lots of miles on 950 Adventures, so I had just the feel needed to manage the RPM's without a tach. After that first ride, something told me that one day, I would be taking some poor unsuspecting 950SM into the shed and doing unsightly and unsavory things to her...

Here she sat, in the spring of 2006, after a ride and cleaning, on the showroom floor.

Ok, pics...Let's see how she looks now.

Thought I had that one uploaded, but it'll have to join the thread this evening. Her last trip to Idaho was a doozie. Clear, cold, 700mi total in two days, with 200 miles of drifting on freshly topped and graded dirt mountain roads on the Idaho leg. Her last glory shot, sitting across from Council Mountain, on the back side of Indian Mountain:

Not long after Bertha was put into service as a demo, she was sold with 650 miles to a young man for commuting and the occasional road-trip with his girlfriend as pillion. I had helped outfit the couple with some travel accessories, such as a custom chopper back rest and large T-bag for her support and luggage capacity, plus an AirHawk for her comfort. The couple travelled to California and Montana, having great fun in the process.

It wasn't but nine months and 4000 miles later, that she was brought into the shop on the back of a tow truck with a totaled out front end...
I was heart broken for the owner, since Bertha was his favorite bike and he had cracked his leg during the incident. Turns out that drifting skills are required to get the bike around the round-a-bouts at speed, when they are still dusted with lingering cinders, applied for traction on the icy days of winter.

This is where the story changes from a light fairy tail to a Frankenstein novel!

Of course, the insurance company totaled the bike when the bent triple clamp, broken steering stop, dinged frame, torn radiator, missing headlight nacelle and completely BROKEN front wheel were added up in the damage estimate.

Just the trip pics to show up on the host...

Noble chariot got us home.


Lots'a black puke running down both sides of the dead lump.

My adventure with Bertha continues...

No pics so nuthing is really happening!
Last month, I scored a motor off Ebay and had it shipped over to the states from the UK. When I looked up my tracking number to see where the crate was, the tracking info said "shipment held, paperwork required". Luckily the ladies at the freight desk were very helpful and got me set up with all the proper documents for importing a public menace, aka one running LC8 motor. Hopefully the EPA and Customs like my paperwork, cause the freight forwarder is just waiting on my paperwork to be released by them.

So what's wrong with the motor?

You're going to transform this bike into something else?

The motor popped in dramatic fashion and blew my leg off the side of the bike while running at a buck. It had no compression or fire in either cyl, the last 100ft of coasting. I havent had time to strip it down and trouble shoot the motor damage. The bike is going to be taken further toward the Slider Moto edge as I recover from the blow motor.

I'd like to take a look at that molten lump and see what happened.

You and me both! I am curious which stack of tolerances let the smoke out of the motor. Glad I dont have to get a new bottle of smoke, like I do with the old Triumph when it burns out. That Lucas smoke is hard to find and spendy, cant imagine the cost of KTM smoke!

My theory so far, diagnosing it from the seat of the truck on the rescue ride home, is that I was jetted a bit close, carbs a bit out of balance, it was near freezing temps(even leaner) and I sustained 75%+ throttle for too long...

Long slow overheat and then a final bake off!
I wonder if it is just head gaskets or if there is internal fragging?
How many parts are welded together? Will I need a hammer to get the jugs of?
I love the hammer!

if the hammer doesn't work it's probably an electrical problem..

awesome thread BTW, love these beasts!!!

Lil' more back story:

So I like to buy my Street bikes from Progressive(insurance company), because that means it is already "broken"-in. Therefore, I don't have to be careful or shy about how I use the machine, once I bolt it back together!

My first street bike, 1992 600F2, was my first insurance buyback, just add Airtech racepanels and paint.
Same with my 2001 R1(of course side-panels and a subframe straightening), 2002 Derbi GPR50(needed a battery, big bore kit and the scratches ignored)
then, finally my 2006 KTM 950SM(what, you didn't think I was gonna buy it used or from a dealer...)

So, what I have learned is that crashes are never skin deep on a streetbike. All manner of frame tabs, threaded inserts, standoffs, fairing frames, mirror mounts, meter mounts, etc are "affected" and change shape when those babies go for a slide.



The 950SM was a welcome relief, since it was the shape and style of a proper plastic covered dirt bike. That meant that the scratches could be left where they stood and no amount of paint would be missed. Like when the OE headlight lens didn't make it back into the mask, I pitched it and strapped on a LC4 mask/headlight, bolting all wiring harness elements to the back of the LC4 mask. When I discovered that I didn't have a glass lens in my LC4 mask, to tolerate the 55/60w headlight bulb, I fudged and slapped a couple of PIAA driving lights on to the edges of the tank, mounting the switch in the top of the LC4 mask. I found that the stock speedo was too finicky about the pickup location to be functional, so I ditched it too and bolted up a TrailTech I had from my EXC, mounting it between the PIAA switch and PIAA solenoid.

It got a pretty busy behind the smaller, shallower mask with all the stock harness and aftermarket bolt-ons. I just try not to hang out back there, so I don't get caught in the rats nest...

Those Feds are slowing up the FedEx shippers too franking much!

It is snowing again and I am getting more than a little feverish to get to work on this project!!

I keep looking over next to the garage where there is that one mid 90's HD Sportster 1200, sitting under a tarp. The frame has coastal style rust and will not hold up the rear shocks much longer. The throttle controls are jacked up janky and the leather straps on the fork mounted tool roll have all but dried up and cracked off. Pics not mine and mine is even nastier than this one.


Hmmmm... Lots-a fellas building funny shite with them old Sporty's. Wonder how much that 1200 motor weighs and how long it is. I already have an oilbag to work with. Maybe the 1200's tail piece could get jammed into the KTM's swingarm? I'd have to flip the rear wheel for a right side drive and hang a flattrtacker caliper mount under the left side of the swingarm. Hmmmm...

Go for it! Nuttin wrong with the ole v twin. subscribed

At first blush, after pulling the tarp off the HD1200 and measuring around the motor with the Mark1 eyeball... not gonna happen! Now I have to get out a measuring tape and some plotting paper, just to make sure. Better call the Fedex girl, too, before this HDistraction takes on a life of its own.

Thank the Fedex truck and Customs agents, I now have a motor.

My paper work was in order when examined and the plastic lug with my lump was released for delivery. It actually beat me home from vacation and was waiting at the shop when I drove by. Weighing 142 pounds, the package took a couple guys to load and unload. The top plastic covering was all retaped with USCustoms tape.

Now I'll can the HD trash talk and get down to business. Pics in a bit, I killed my phone.

Been too busy to play in the shed with Bertha, my duties at GL now occupy me full time...
Since I am home with the crud and running a 102-104 fever, I can at least comment on my lack of progress. The UK motor has a scratch on one case cover and is missing some hardware, like the cover was pulled to inspect for damage, so I prolly gotta get some gaskets.


Luckily the motor came with a full set of coolant lines, cause my top line to the radiator is blown and has a 10" rip down its length. I am thinking headgasket went to cooling system overload, no coolant in the head(s) meant they were red hot when the coolant line exploded, front cyl got a big dose of coolant in the K&N and a smaller dose made it to the second cyl. The intake tracts are covered in a thick white crust deposit, like minerals from water.