Hey KTM. WTF?

[crazybrit]

Originally Posted by Chuckracer

Naw...he's just mad.

I thought we'd decided I was just an asshole

Originally Posted by Apple Jam

CB's a pretty responsible mod, just without mod status.......

[DirtyRoadie]

This is a great thread. On one side you got the hardcore guys who would buy and defend an orange turd as long as KTM sold it. On the otherside you have the guys who seem unwilling to tolerate any little quirk. After spending as much as I did on my Adventure I guess I'm kind of the latter of the two and am a bit disappointed in some aspects of the Adventure "ownership experience". However, when I'm riding the big orange monster I seem to forgive alot of the shortcomings. That,and there is currently nothing out there that can do everything as well as the 990. Maybe someday Honda will put the VTR1000SP1 engine in XR650, until then .......................

[crazybrit]

Originally Posted by DirtyRoadie

That,and there is currently nothing out there that can do everything as well as the 990. Maybe someday Honda will put the VTR1000SP1 engine in XR650, until then .......................

Or flipped the other way, if KTM didn't release the original 950 who would have???

The answer is -- I think -- noone. I can't think of any other manufacturer who would have made something as off-road focused. There are obviously many differences from Meoni's bike but in the global scheme of things it's pretty close to the original Dakar bike. I can't see a Japanese manufacturer producing anything even half as off-road focused in the future.

I guess it all depends how much the above appeals to you. The more it does the more I expect one is willing to tolerate the quirks, I don't think anyone denies they exist. Unfortunately, i think evolution is going to go in a much different direction, much more street oriented for the 1290. This is where the majority of the market is.

The 9x0 might become a classic, a bit like the 996 Ducati

[DesertSurfer]

Again, you make for a difficult argument. And also I agree this is all such an old topic, with many solutions discussed in the way back...

In orherwords...tell me something I don't already know.

Originally Posted by crazybrit

Or flipped the other way, if KTM didn't release the original 950 who would have???

The answer is -- I think -- noone. I can't think of any other manufacturer who would have made something as off-road focused. There are obviously many differences from Meoni's bike but in the global scheme of things it's pretty close to the original Dakar bike. I can't see a Japanese manufacturer producing anything even half as off-road focused in the future.

I guess it all depends how much the above appeals to you. The more it does the more I expect one is willing to tolerate the quirks, I don't think anyone denies they exist. Unfortunately, i think evolution is going to go in a much different direction, much more street oriented for the 1290. This is where the majority of the market is.

The 9x0 might become a classic, a bit like the 996 Ducati

[SF_Rider]

Wow, I was loving my bike until I read how much shit was wrong with it.....


You also forgot the fuel tanks are too small and the right hand rearview mirror is mounted incorrectly.

[cat]

Originally Posted by Pete640

Good threat. Only took 2 pages to degenerate to personal attacks.

Cant wait till the new adv comes out and its all BMW styled. Then the critics will remenis how good the old one was...

*reminisce

*thread

[BartG]

I started reading this thread, then realized its just a rant and rave about shit every KTM owners knows about and then missed the part where someone said, stop bitching and just ride!!!! nothing is perfect, if you dont like it, replace it with after market parts.

[Fundy Rider]

When I first read this I didn't think much of it but after coming back to it a few times It started to get my back up a bit.

It's funny when people complain about maintenance and why didn't they design it better and easier to deal with.

I feel KTM is a company that will build a bike that takes alot longer to do an oil change for example because they are looking at it from a performance perspective and the type of abuse it was designed for. Two screens and an oil filter. Clean oil going in and out of both your two oil pumps.

What a pain to take the tanks off. Well I would rather do that than have my gas on top of the bike so when I do ride it the way it was designed for it doesn't feel like an overweight wanna be.

They made the bike to race Dakar. To be fast and be able to take the punishment that the dakar dishes out.

Then they let some of us get close to a Rally Legend.

Yes they did some funny things but you know what I am so glad they did it that way and I am totally ok with having to take the extra time it does to maintain the beast.

Yes a few issues like fuel pumps and such but really come on. Most other bikes in this category would never have a problem with there fuel pumps because they won`t be crossing that three foot river and have to worry about contamintion in the first place.

So KTM thank you for doing something no other manufacture was willing to do.

Build and sell a true Rally Bike and not a pretender.

[Johnf3]

Originally Posted by slidewayes

You missed 20 screws to get to air cleaner and don't drop one

...or no screws at all.

[charlie264]

Originally Posted by Fundy Rider

When I first read this I didn't think much of it but after coming back to it a few times It started to get my back up a bit.

It's funny when people complain about maintenance and why didn't they design it better and easier to deal with.

I feel KTM is a company that will build a bike that takes alot longer to do an oil change for example because they are looking at it from a performance perspective and the type of abuse it was designed for. Two screens and an oil filter. Clean oil going in and out of both your two oil pumps.

What a pain to take the tanks off. Well I would rather do that than have my gas on top of the bike so when I do ride it the way it was designed for it doesn't feel like an overweight wanna be.

They made the bike to race Dakar. To be fast and be able to take the punishment that the dakar dishes out.

Then they let some of us get close to a Rally Legend.

Yes they did some funny things but you know what I am so glad they did it that way and I am totally ok with having to take the extra time it does to maintain the beast.

Yes a few issues like fuel pumps and such but really come on. Most other bikes in this category would never have a problem with there fuel pumps because they won`t be crossing that three foot river and have to worry about contamintion in the first place.

So KTM thank you for doing something no other manufacture was willing to do.

Build and sell a true Rally Bike and not a pretender.

Well said.

[O.C.F.RIDER]

I've had my hard to change the oil on, shitty stock "skid-plated", weird clutch'ed, crunchy trans'd, side-stand bolted to the engine, dodgy fuel-pumped, noisy engined, chain & tire eating, bag 'o shite since October 2003 and I STILL love this fucker as much as the night I brought it home. 52,000 miles (still has the original water-pump living inside it!!!!!!!!!!) and it's still the bike I was dreaming of 30 years ago.
It's a crying shame that KTM is probably going to turn it into another "Starbucks Poser" machine. But if that's what the latte mocha sippers want, it seems KTM cares more about them, then they do about those that like the "raw" feel of something that's VERY close to an actual "race" bike.

Ride On!
Chris

[Misery Goat]

Originally Posted by crazybrit

Great post. I've never heard about any of these issues before.

[Kelvininin]

Originally Posted by mreimler

RANT ON
I love my 990 Adventure but there are some things about the bike that make me think people of lower reasoning were involved in its design. Most of this stuff is addressed in the aftermarket but what does it say when I can get my ’07 FI to run smoother than KTM engineers could?
Here’s my initial list of “WTF KTM?”
1) FI mapping. It’s not rocket science. Other manufacturers can get their bikes to run smoothly, why can’t KTM?
2) Too tall 1^st gear. Come on KTM, a bike designed for “adventure” needs a 1^st gear usable for scrambling up rocky mountain trails at speeds slower than 11 MPH. Just change the sprockets to 16/45 you say? Sure, but then I can measure my gas mileage in yards rather than miles.
3) Windshield. What? I can’t hear you! My head is being buffeted by invisible elves with small baseball bats.
4) Skid plate. Umm…anyway.
5) Side stand. Really? Mounted to the engine?
6) Fasteners. Let’s see, 3 lengths of hex bolts in the fairing upper that differ in length by 3mm. The threaded “clips” made of tin alloyed aluminum. A front axle that needs “tools” for removal. I could go on.
7) Maintenance. Change the oil? Just take off the fairing panels and gas tanks (see #5 above). Remove 2 drain plugs, 1 oil filter, remove and clean 2 screens. Clean up the spilled oil. Fill with 3 liters (per manual) of $17/liter oil. Add some more oil because 3 liters really isn’t enough to fill to between the fill marks. Install drain plugs, filters, screens, covers, gas tanks and body work. Order new threaded clips to replace stripped ones. Now, I also own a ’09 BMW RT so I am well versed in the removal of excessive body panels to perform maintenance but the BMW panels all line up to frame-welded threads and fit without a fight.

Don’t take this post as bashing KTM. Love the bike but WTF were they thinking on some of this stuff?
RANT OFF
I feel better now.

And your point is?

I have never been on a bike that was perfect out of the box, but almost all the "rant" issues are addressed in the aftermarket arena.

The closet bike I have experienced that was near perfect out of the box was the Victory Vision. Even still I have upgraded the stereo system, and cammed the thing out...

[EastSideSM]

Ride, break, fix, repeat:

1. I have a 950 with Carbs, maybe you should too.
2. Wrong gearing? Um, they are called sprockets and you can combine them in any number of ways to get your desired gearing. Try that with a shaft.
3. Windshield. What is a windshield, my car has one, my bikes, nope.
4. Skid Plate. Aftermarket supplies lots of options.
5. Side stand. Relocator, as has been written up in about a thousand posts on this site.
6. Fasteners. Can't really argue with this one. I'm more perplexed by why some are the torx head rather than being different lengths.
7. Maintenance. It is a motorcycle and if you ride it at some point things will need to be fixed/maintained, either learn how to work on it yourself, splash the cash for a dealer to do it or go buy a Suzuki Bandit.

None of these issues you mention are a surprise and can be corrected fairly easily.

Here are some other issues not mentioned, which I really think KTM should have considered when designing this bike:

The bike makes me laugh inside my helmet like an escaped mental patient.
I often get requests for my autograph by LEO who are continuously trying to bestow "performance awards" upon me.
I have to keep buying gas because I ride it all the time.
I have to keep buying oil because I ride it all the time.
I have to keep buying tires because I ride it all the time.
I get shit from my friends because I ride it all the time.
Too many people come up to me and ask me about the bike. This gets really annoying, I especially hate comments like "dude, that bike is sick!!!" Enough is enough already.
Did I mention that the bike makes me laugh inside my helmet like an escaped mental patient?

[CamelBill]

Originally Posted by EastSideSM

Did I mention that the bike makes me laugh inside my helmet like an escaped mental patient?

Right on!