990 Adventure suspension settings for 100kg (220lb) rider

A few weeks ago I bought a 2012 KTM 990 Adventure Dakar.
I have gone through the manual and found 4 different settings, comfort, standard, sport and full payload, but it does not say anything about how they relate to the weight of the rider or when packed for a trip.
On the manual for a 2007 950 SM, under chassis settings it says sport (or 90kg), not sure if it will be the same for my bike.

Your advice will be appreciated.

I removed the seat in search of a hook to lock the helmet with the cable provided in the toolkit. I was not able to find it. Anyhow, while I was there decided to read the stickers KTM has placed just behind the tool box. There was the answer.
It seems to be that the sport setting is the one for a 90kg rider.

Am I reading this correctly?

Sport is for street riding. The bike won't dive or squat as much in corners. It sucks in the dirt IMO.

I think the important part is "sport riding on tarmac or riders (and any luggage) weight over 90Kg"

or at least thats what how I read this.

For example my weight is 77 kg, my filled panniers and tent weigh 18kg so when riding fully loaded up i use the sport settings. it seems Ok.

950/990 ADV's have a suspension issue that is best solved by a suspension tuner. The forks are horribly soft as delivered...and the shock is quite firm, giving the bike unbalanced suspension. The ideal solution is to get the forks revalved and resprung for the weight of the motorcycle and load.

I found my stock ADV to act like this: Accelerate and the forks top out, roll off the throttle, and the front end dives. Add a whole bunch of damping (Sport settings) and the see-sawing can be reduced, but it become clank-clank accross the bumps due being way over damped for bumps. It rode so low in the stroke that the front end sagged more tehn 50% of the available travel when I sat on the bike. (I'm 200lbs) I had Riders Edge Suspension do my forks, and it completely transformed the bike. They installed 20% stiffer springs, and valving to suit.

The shock can be made better as well, depending upon the riding you do, but it is stiff enough to not create big issues in stock form.

This is not an issue, is intentional. All who had the opportunity to ride the Marc Coma or Ciryl Depres bikes commented that those bikes rear suspension are incredible hard and the front suspension is relatively very soft, and looking their race results is clear that they know how to tune suspensions.

I respectfully disagree.

The parts on those bikes are not very close to being the same as what is shipped on a production ADV, beyond the fact that they move up and down.

Springs carry the load, valving controls the movement. From a valving perspective, they may run a softly setup front end, but they would not run fork springs that cannot carry the weight of the machine and rider.

The 950/990 come with 0.48 kg/mm springs, which are far too soft to effectively support the weight of the machine and rider without excessive sag. 0.48kg/mm are what KTM supplies on a 450 sx-f. A bike which weighs over 200lbs less than a 990. Most tuners agree that spring rates in the range of 0.58 kg/mm to 0.64kg/mm are what the ADV needs for average use. Bikes used more exclusively off-road can require up to 0.70 kg/mm springs.

I read that the Depres and Coma bikes have 0 sag rear and a lot in the fork.

Just send your suspension to moto pro . They will change your front springs to your weight and they can add a rear shrader valve to your rear shock.

http://www.moto-pro.com/

Or Slavens, or SuperPlush or RidersEdge.

There is significant improvement available for the ADV front end, and several well respected tuners out there who can help one to realize it.

I fully understand the desire to improve and upgrade a machine, there are whole threads covering this sickness we all have however, I would hope a bike like the KTM Adventure or Super E would have enough suspension for the average rider without having to pull the whole thing apart and ship it off for XX hundred dollars of work. What's the deal?

Pleanty of folks wear off-the-rack and are quite happy with it.

But there's nothing like a tailored suit.

I believe part of the reason you see so much discussion is that you are on an enthusiast's site. Most here are not satisfied with bikes the way they come "Ready to Race", so we tear into them and throw money. Same as homes, cars and spouses.

I won't argue the sanity of it.

The 950 Super Enduro was shipped with 0.59 fork springs...so suspension setup is much better "out of the box" than an ADV.

I agree that modifications can be a sickness, but I'm not encouraging folks here to add a bunch of farkles, do-dads and bling to their bikes. I'm just offering what I've learned about suspension on these bikes to the OP who had questions about setting his up.

I'd encourage anyone who gets the chance to ride an ADV that has had the forks firmed up to go for it. I think most would be amazed.

Cheers

That's a fairly nebulous description no?


I could make my front very very stiff and still have the rear stiffer. The faster you ride the stiffer you need your suspension to be to a point, or if nothing else you need more bottoming resistance.

I can tell you that the 950 does not have enough bottoming resistance that's one of the biggest reasons everyone thinks the front rim is so soft... Even small drop offs or medium size rocks can blow the bike through the travel and good luck getting any air time with out landing with the lovely clunk.

Thank you all for your replies.

I am still not sure on how to interpret the label under the seat. Anyone out there?

Most of my riding is going to be highway, country roads, gravel and trails. Nothing to technical or crazy.

If I was to send the forks and or shock to get them set by a pro, I would still have the same problem. What would the settings be for only the rider (I guess this would be set by the pro) and the setting when loaded with luggage.

I would like to give the stock suspension a try, play with the settings described on the label, and then decide.


Thanks,

I'm at Bathurst and Eglinton in Toronto and ive got a 950adv - happy to come help you with the settings anytime. Feel free to email me at alongat.gat@gmail.com or text me at 416-930-7405

Welcome to the experience of having the best bike you'll ever own :)

Look, I know you're Canadian and all, but this whole "voice of reason" and rational thinking is really a killjoy.

Get with the program, here. This is simply not the place for careful, measured responses.

Throw money, fer cryin out loud!

I think the cheapest help for the front forks is to raise the oil level allot. Then do springs and start turning up the rebound once you add springs. It's a band-aid but it helps.

lol :)

Who manufactures springs for my 06 950A?

I only have 10kkm on it. My valving is fresh. I plan to leave them alone and increase my rebound damping.