Whats the 690 Enduro Like

[phil50]

i had a 640 lc4 and was awsome

[Doug]

Thanks Guys. I went to the TRF meeting last night and they reckoned it would be no good for trail rides which i find sooo difficult to believe after it has such rave reviews in TBM. I kno wits not going to be nimble like a 125 but it should cope with some serious ruts etc with the right rubber on.

[doglegdon]

Thanks Guys. I went to the TRF meeting last night and they reckoned it would be no good for trail rides which i find sooo difficult to believe after it has such rave reviews in TBM. I kno wits not going to be nimble like a 125 but it should cope with some serious ruts etc with the right rubber on.

May i recommend a 525 exec for trails then?!Seriously nasty to your bank balance!

[Doug]

No the 525 doesnt get over the lack of any ignition and a seat that doesnt cut you in two ! I would get another 450 EXC if I hadnt discovered that when i owned 1 before. Speedo on EXC also a total joke. EXC's great but they are a competition machine with some gesture road kit on.

[Roadcat]

I just came back from Horizon's Unlimited Mountain Madness where I used my 690 Enduro for 2 days of off-road trail riding. The bike is brilliant both on and off the road (pity about the rider being so crap!)

The 2 days covered a variety of terrain. Hard packed dirt and tar roads, loose gravel, thick mud, sand and one road of fist sized loose rocks on a slope! The only place where the bike battled was on the big loose stones. I think it was more a case of me being too scared to open the throttle seeing as we were going down a 7 degree slope at the time.

The one problem I did find is that on some of the harder more technical stuff the height of the bike can be an issue. It has massive clearance and travel over the back wheel, which means that unless you have pretty long legs getting a foot onto the ground when needed can be difficult, especially when wearing inflexible motor-cross style boots. I believe that a lowering link is available and might look into them, but first I'll try to drop the rear suspension slightly. Can probably also skin about 1/4" off the seat height by having a custom seat made (which is a must; the stock seat is HARD!)

On the first day we got a bit greedy for points and left our return somewhat late so we blasted back on the twisty tar roads through the mountains. The bike handles extremely well through the corners at decent speed for a thumper with multipurposes tyres on it and gets up to 100 miles pretty quickly when you open the throttle hard.

I rode with 20 psi in the tyres to compensate for the terrain and with the engine mapping set on standard. Retrospectivly I should probably have changed the mapping down to a softer setting as there were a few places where getting just a small amount of throttle was difficult.

All in all I'm extremely happy with the bike, it never fails to put a smile on my face when I ride it, which at the end of the day is the reason I bought it.

[Doug]

Thanks for that roadcat a very good account. Now I am in turmoil as I had resigned to the fact i was going back on an EXC which had owned before. But you have swayed me back again now. I would think that if I get some knobblies for the 690 it could do everything. I know TBM used one on a hare and hounds without too much trouble. It seems everyone that has ridden one reports good things about them whilst those that havent just bark on about the weight and unsuitability.

Whilst I will do some deep rutted trails I get pissed off when it gets too rough anyway regardless of what bike I am on so will still spend a great deal of time riding around on the road.

[Dave J]

Have a look at desert rose riding academy (Patsy Quick) where you can ride a 690 enduro all day (£195). Couple of guys off the KTM forum did this recently and came back being very complimentary of the day and the bike.

HTH

Dave J

[Doug]

Well I've bought one now guys . 2008 KTM 690 Enduro. I just couldnt resist the urge. Watch this for a full report shortly

[Roadcat]

Congrats Doug,

You're going to absolutely love it.

[Doug]

Congrats Doug,

You're going to absolutely love it.

Roadcat, What tyres where they running at Horizon ? The bike had the saharas as standard but the previous owner had ditched these for some Metezeler Karoo's but the back one is on its way out. Looks like it covered some road miles by the look of the tyres as the edges are like new !