GS and KTM pro's and con's?

[Chad]

Both of our exhausts were white though !!

thats the thing paul they can do it but theres nothing in reserve and you always have this nagging feeling your pushing it a bit to hard.


butthen thats normal for you however your brakes are barely worn in

[Paul-S]

thats the thing paul they can do it but theres nothing in reserve and you always have this nagging feeling your pushing it a bit to hard.


butthen thats normal for you however your brakes are barely worn in

I rode Pete's 950 ADV for 2 hours solid hooning around the Peak district and just wanted to keep it above 8000 rpm all the time - the engine made me do it. Cracking bike both on and offroad. No good for tyres, fuel or saving the planet though at that rate!

That's why I ride my AT so sedately - helps me keep my licence

He just sold it too. If i had the money I would have it as well as the AT but can't justify the two bike so it's the AT for me.

[Chad]

We are lucky when wevfind the bile that we love that suits our needs
for me this is the 1150gsa it's the forts bile I've owned for more than a year in the last ten

must be a keeper

[magwa]

See this link

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=219472

Me too
But I decided to stay put with the BMW in the end ( I've had two AT's now)
and nearly bought a KTM adventure

[Sully22252]

I think I've had all the main contenders, Africa Twin, New Tenere, KTM 950, 1200GS and Varadero. I'm currently using the GS as my main bike but the KTM 950 was the best of the bunch for outright performance and off-road ability, if you can live with the looks. I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that but to me it looks like an overgrown slab-sided scooter, i.e. pig ugly.

Beware of early 950's, they had two problems which KTM never made public. The minor one was a habit of blowing the head gaskets, apparently remedied by torquing the heads down tighter, except they then become very difficult to remove. The second was more serious, leaky waterpumps, dumping water into the oil, and wrecking the engine.

I also wouldn't take the KTM to anywhere third world as if you need a new back tyre you almost certainly wont find one due to its 18 inch rear wheel. It's mighty expensive having one flown in especially.

[boboneleg]

I also wouldn't take the KTM to anywhere third world as if you need a new back tyre you almost certainly wont find one due to its 18 inch rear wheel. It's mighty expensive having one flown in especially.

I'm slightly confused by this, surely 18" tyres are far more common than 17"

[Sully22252]

The Africa Twin, Transalp, Varadero, V-Strom, Tenere, GS and as far as I can recall, just about every other Adventure type bike, takes a 17 inch rear, the exception being the KTM. Tell me if I'm wrong, but most MX and Enduro bikes use an 18 inch rear with a 21 inch front but I wouldn't plan on taking one of those on a long trip.

[boboneleg]

The Africa Twin, Transalp, Varadero, V-Strom, Tenere, GS and as far as I can recall, just about every other Adventure type bike, takes a 17 inch rear, the exception being the KTM. Tell me if I'm wrong, but most MX and Enduro bikes use an 18 inch rear with a 21 inch front but I wouldn't plan on taking one of those on a long trip.

Only slightly wrong as Moto-x bikes use a 19" rear wheel (18" for enduro bikes) but the point I was making is that 18" tyres are easier to come across than 17 inchers.

I have owned several bikes with 17" rear wheels and getting tyres for trail/off-road use can be a pain, perhaps it's different elsewhere

[Sully22252]

I'm talking about Trail/Offroad tyres and as you've got a couple of KTM's obviously you'll know the sizes, but If I recall rightly, the 950 originally took a 140/80x18 inch and I think the 990 now takes a 150/70, but when the 950 first came out, the only tyre available was the Pirelli Scorpion, and that was only available in the necessary size in the countries where the bike was sold, hence the mate I was with had to have a new rear flown into Northern Canada and again in Australia, neither exactly third world but the bike wasn't then available there. Even now I think you'd have trouble in Asia or anywhere in Africa.

The 140/80 x17 for the Africa Twin isn't that common around the world either though a 130 will do fine, or alternatively, when I had my rear wheel rebuilt I went up a half inch on the rim size to allow a 150/70 to fit. Plenty of those to be found around the world thanks to the popularity of BMW's

[Farmboy]

The tyre size wouldnt concern me.

getting other parts would be my biggest worry although having said all that I saw the largest collection of KTM Adventure parts ever seen in one place in a little backroom of a garage in Southern Morocco.

He had everything imaginable from Air filters, chains, bearings etc even a spare 950 adventure for breaking

I asked him for a new air filter for my Africa Twin as mine was clogged up and he said can get one but it will be a week to get one in

There is a moral in there somewhere