KTM 690E - All Things Suspension Related

[BigOhio]

Ok, now that cold and wet is here I am back to sorting out the suspension on my 690E-R. As a refresher, I am a rather large individual at 315#. When I picked up my bike this spring I had the dealer respring it for my bulk. The rear spring was the heaviest he could find at the time (I beleive a 10.0). I played with the clickers but have not checked the sag since I got the bike. On my last few rides I noticed the front pushing some especially in the mud so now that I have a little time I decided to check the sag and go from there.

The free sag was at 20mm and the rider a little over 100mm. Referencing the manual I see the free is suppose to be 25mm and rider between 70-80mm. After a little Google research I saw some recommended values of 20mm free and 95mm rider. I cranked down the preload a little and am now at 10mm free and 95mm rider. A short ride seemed to show promise as the front bit better but felt like I should increase my compression damping.

Anyone have any suggestions on if this is a good starting point or should I get a new spring? Any suggestions on where to get such a spring if necessary?

[Seth S]

Originally Posted by BigOhio

Ok,
The free sag was at 20mm and the rider a little over 100mm. Referencing the manual I see the free is suppose to be 25mm and rider between 70-80mm. After a little Google research I saw some recommended values of 20mm free and 95mm rider. I cranked down the preload a little and am now at 10mm free and 95mm rider. A short ride seemed to show promise as the front bit better but felt like I should increase my compression damping.

Anyone have any suggestions on if this is a good starting point or should I get a new spring? Any suggestions on where to get such a spring if necessary?

I am running 105mm of rear sag...static is around 25mm.

this is what my E looks like:

[BigOhio]

Nice bike. With so much sag are you pushing the front or did you lower the forks or something else? I'm thinking with such a heavy shock spring that I may have a tough time getting the free and ride sags within spec. Do you think there is a problem with 10mm of free sag? What does this effect? Also, don't have a good picture of mine to share, but here are my bikes from this summer.

Originally Posted by Seth S

I am running 105mm of rear sag...static is around 25mm.

this is what my E looks like:

[Seth S]

We set it at 105mm of rider sag because thats pretty much the number we have used on all other ktm/bergs etc. Perhaps it should be less on a linkage bike. Either way the bike handles well. The suspension has been resprung and revalved and lengthed about an inch up from the stock E ride height.

Sag...from what I know about sag...can only adjust rider sag and free/static sag is just a reference and doesnt mean much. Adjust the preload on your spring to set your rider sage and away you go. Be sure to measure between 2 spots on the the bike...do not use the ground as a reference as this reading will change with tire choices and tire pressure etc.

[StepOnIt]

Wow glad to find this thread vs mega thread.
Also good to know that other people are having the same prob as I am. I had an 08 KLR 650 and then the 08 690E so there was a big difference in suspension. But didn't know what i was missing till i rode a friends who had his re worked, wow. So I paid the big bucks and sent it off and re-valved etc...and was not any better then when it left. So I was going to send it back but pay for shipping ($100) and the person wanted to change the spring, another $400 or so. So what does a cheap ass do ride it the way it is and suck it up. Now I found a local guy who will set it up (race Tech) and cross my fingers it is better this time.
I was also lucky to be able to swap out the front forks with and R because they wanted to lower their bike. They did the rear because it was cheap. She is riding around the world with my front forks, kinda cool.
So I found a big difference in the R forks vs the E way better.

[StepOnIt]

Originally Posted by The Letter J

You can use a shorter internal spacer to get 10mm more travel (measured at the wheel) on the rear shock. Doing that to the R shock gives you 285mm. In theory you could get a little more shock travel out of it with an even thinner spacer, but the swingarm would smash into the rear brakeline/master cylinder/mount at full extension. If you look at the rally models, the rear master cylinder is positioned differently to work around this problem.

Is this an easy thing for someone who know what they are doing (not me) to do? Getting the rear re-valved soon and an extra inch would be great.
Thanks

[Hooked]

I was getting my rear shock ready to send in to have it rebuilt and to my horror the top preload lock ring was covering up an area of stripped threads on the shock body. I know it can't be repaired but I was wondering if this has happened to any of you fellow owners and what was the fix. That rear shock has been a pain in the rear from the start. Looking at the parts list between the 09 and 08 if possible maybe upgrade to the 09/10 upper shock body. I am not sure where KTM gets the extra travel for the newer models.
HELP

[Head2Wind]

Does anyone have the stock WP shim stack blueprint for either the E or R forks and/or shock?

I'm preping all the parts for a fork/shock refresh and re-valve, need to have a baseline reference to go from considering there is very little out on the webs with specifics.

[Head2Wind]

Has anyone gone in and measured the stock shim stack on the 690 E/R and recorded it and then the $1M question, will you/they share this information?

I am not asking for someone's secrets, just OEM settings. That way I can plan accordingly what I will be purchasing from the suspension shop to build my shim stacks.

Anyone?

[badgerprince]

Originally Posted by Hooked

I was getting my rear shock ready to send in to have it rebuilt and to my horror the top preload lock ring was covering up an area of stripped threads on the shock body. I know it can't be repaired but I was wondering if this has happened to any of you fellow owners and what was the fix. That rear shock has been a pain in the rear from the start. Looking at the parts list between the 09 and 08 if possible maybe upgrade to the 09/10 upper shock body. I am not sure where KTM gets the extra travel for the newer models.
HELP

Mine had the stripped thread issue. After cursing and hammering the stock preload rings off of the shock body I cleaned the threads with a three corner file and bought a new one piece stainless steel preload ring from Rally Raid in the UK. I lubed it and ran it up and down the shock without any issues. Every once in a while I shoot some teflon lube along the ring to prevent future galling.

B

[Jimbobshere]

FYI - I have had some experience with Jeff Slavens work on revalving suspension www.slavensracing.com as he did my 450 EXC a few years back. He specializes in KTM's and has some strong opinions on the 690 suspension. Apparently has done work with them. He seems very willing to help and has springs and parts in stock. Hope he can help.

[grapao]

Hi, I need frequently to change preload on my rear shock, for driving with passenger. Not longs distance, but some fun moments with my whife or daughter in beautiful places here around (I live in the mountains in Italy)
Until now I haven't find any easy preload regulator (like the EXC one for or an hydraulic one) for this bike. WP has one in catalog, but it is for mono coded 4618, and they tell me that 2012 R model has a different one rear shock (also if in the owner manual 2012 it is specified as 4618 !?!).
Can someone help me to discover what is exactly the wp rear shock mono code for 2012 R? Or where I can find it written on the mono body? Some of you already have installed a more useful preload regulator? If yes, what?
Many Thanks.
Ciao
Paolo

[BRYANDENNY71]

There is a lot of scattered information. Lets get this down real simple.
This is outside of any spring rate or valving changes needed for any specific rider.

To get the extra travel out of the 690e suspension:

This is what I gathered as different from the Microfiche.

Even though the part numbers for the fork tube & fork leg are different, from what I've gathered, they do not need to be changed. The E model & R model both have 3 different spring options, 1 of which they have in common. So for simplicity, let's assume that a spring change is not necessary, but you may need to add a spacer to increase the preload on the stock 690e spring if desired. However, I am not aware of anything else that may NOT need to be swapped such as the Rebound Piston or the Screw Sleeve/Pipe & Adapter combo. I'm also not sure how the valving will be effected if you use your stock 690e valve shims on the 690R rebound piston. It looks like the Screw Sleeve threads into the top of the "Pipe", so if the Pipe/Adapter combo is longer than the stock single piece one, then all of the items need to be changed because the thread is different on the Screw Sleeve.

Front: Increase travel from 250mm to 275mm Listed below are the R model part #'s
46800562 Adjustment Tube L=495 $12.99
48600561 Piston Rod D=12 L=529 ALU $88.99
48600762S Screw Sleeve M27x.08 L=100 KPL $23.99
48600455 Piston Ring 5X1X68 $13.99
48600575 Piston Rebound SX 2007 $34.99
48600764 Adapter Sleeve D23D28 $13.99
48600763 Pipe D23L350 09 $52.99

Total: $241.93 (These are MSRP prices, www.cheapcycleparts.com is about 20% cheaper)

My main question is if the items in red need to be changed at all. Can the stock Rebound Piston & Ring be used, & can the Screw Sleeve/Pipe/Adapter Sleeve combo be kept stock or is there an assembly length difference.


Rear: Increase travel from 250mm to 275mm
This is a mystery to me because the shocks are completely different.
So you either use a longer shaft like TrailTech uses from a jap bike (but he wont share with us the part #) or you find a spacer in the shock that can be replaced with a slightly thinner one to increase the travel. Don't go too thin, or remove it, as you may end up with too much travel & might run into issues with your swingarm hitting you master cylinder.


If you PM me or post on here any useful information, I will edit this post as it is needed as this is just information I've gathered so far, I haven't had these apart in my hands yet.

[Evil Invader]

Good one!

[Pole]

Could someone check what's the total amount of rebound clicks in the front forks?
I have messed up the 22mm spanner nut on the damper rod / spring guide.
Now, with 17,5mm of thread exposed and adjuster tube 6mm exposed, it gives me 38 clicks in total.

As far as I remember, there should be less than 30 clicks total?