KTM 640 E owners...advice please

[clint640]

Ohlins; it's good for 160km/h just; stand up more; 200km on a full tank. And a spanking new one is $8000.00......

DRs are great bikes & good value @ $8K but by the time you slap on the Ohlins all round you've spent what I did on my 640 (new) & you've still got 10 less hp & a small tank.

Cheers
Clint

[chris]

DRs are great bikes & good value @ $8K but by the time you slap on the Ohlins all round you've spent what I did on my 640 (new) & you've still got 10 less hp & a small tank.

Cheers
Clint

Please stop posting good, valid points in favour of the KTM.

[dino3310]

dont fall to the dark side stay with the force
i saw an 2006 DR with a larger touring tank,corbin touring seat,screen,rear shocks he did the dyno thing aswell,exhaust, jets, airbox. i think he had higher gearing on it like my one,it looked fantastic.
he reckoned it was a shit load better than a standard one,faster with more comfort,would have loved to have gone for a blat on it.
naordieboys got his one pretty sorted,certainly looks the part.
these guys got the larger tank and stuff, they got a wealth of knowledge
on the DR series: http://www.kientech.com/.
more than likely you know all this already.

[dino3310]

DRs are great bikes & good value @ $8K but by the time you slap on the Ohlins all round you've spent what I did on my 640 (new) & you've still got 10 less hp & a small tank.

Cheers
Clint

wouldn't the servicing and price of parts be cheaper for the DR,maybe in the long run the DR would work out cheaper with all the extra's.
I'm only guessing of course as i dont know much about the KTM,
but ya just gotta love those DRs

[clint640]

I don't think there's much in it. The KTM uses 2 filters, $36 & $12 for genuine & about 2 litres of oil at each 5000km service. The valve check & oil change is slightly more fiddly on the KTM than the DR, you might get charged for another 1/2 hr labour if you get it done at a shop. When mine was under warranty & I had to get it serviced at the shop it was $200 ish for a 5000km service, I do it myself now.

I'm coming up to 45 000 km on mine, bought it early '04. Apart from the normal chains, sprockets, brake pads,tyres, battery after 3 yrs & a couple of suspension services, I've had to reseal on the cam cover to stop an oil leak ($0), replace one rear wheel bearing ($40), replace the countershaft bearing, seal & bush ($90) & replace the steering head bearings ($70, more of a preventive maintenance thing while the forks were off getting serviced)

My mate with a DR & only 12 000 km has had to replace his leaky cylinder base gasket, which if you had a shop do it, would have probably cost more than everything I've had to do on the KTM put together. That issue has been remedied on newer DRs though to be fair.

I have just ordered about $400 worth of bearings, seals & camchain for it though. She's running sweet now but the cam follower rollers seem to be a common failure area on high miles LC4s so I thought I'd do them at the 50 000km service & throw in new cam & waterpump bearings, seals etc while I was in there. Still pretty cheap motoring in my book.

Cheers
Clint

[dino3310]

shit slow down clint your getting me thinking about one now
sounds like its hard to fault,i guess at the end of the day it will just come down to personnal preference, maybe a pole could be in order would be interesting to see what the most popular dual purpose is.

my only quam with the DR is i want a kick start aswell as the electric.

[dino3310]

POLL

[Oscar]

wouldn't the servicing and price of parts be cheaper for the DR,maybe in the long run the DR would work out cheaper with all the extra's.
I'm only guessing of course as i dont know much about the KTM,
but ya just gotta love those DRs

Having owned several Zooks and two KTM's I can say that KTM parts and accessories are consistantly cheaper than Suzukis.

Example - comfort seat for an LC4 - $189.95 delivered.
Lowered seat for a V Strom $600ish.

Front fender for a LC4 - $45.
Genuine countershaft cog - $30

[dino3310]

thats a good price on the seat oscar, the corbin seat for my DR is $349

[clint640]

Unfortunately, despite the dollars strength against the euro, the new KTM distributor jacked up most parts prices last year. That comfort seat is now $240, but even with the increase most bits are still cheaper or on a par with a lot of the jap stuff.

Cheers
Clint

[warewolf]

Yes, they decided to move more towards the Suzuki model: cheap bikes, expensive parts.

[tri boy]

Weekend just gone, Clint let me have a ride on his 640. (thanks)
I have never ridden a 640 before, and it was a 10min pootle mostly on tarseal, but it gave me a taste of it's ability.
Firstly, it is a seriously well set up machine. Soon as you get rolling you know this bike will be able to go more places than my fear factor would allow me.
It has the ability to accelerate quickly, with a good spread of tourque, but I wouldn't say off idle stump pulling grunt. It seems to respond higher up the revs than say an XR600. (I might be wrong there).
Yes it vibrates. Actually I would call it excessive footpeg and handle bar grip Tingles. Vibrations seems to refer to a lower frequency pulse. This had a much higher frequency tingle. (think large Dildo on high)

Personally I don't think I will be doing the type of rides that such a bike really shines in. So I probably will not be getting one, (unless its at a price too good to pass up).

Comfort wise, besides the vibes, it was fine, and the Comfort seat was a gem.

You will need to ride one Ian to get your own views obviously, and I think a good weekend on one will be the only way to make a final call. Either way, its a fantastic bike.



Just a quick idea. Pouring molten lead into the bar ends might help eliminate the tingles there. And maybe an industrial rubber footpeg mount might help with the footpegs. Just a thought.

[tipper]

think large Dildo on high

trying NOT to...

[NordieBoy]

Just a quick idea. Pouring molten lead into the bar ends might help eliminate the tingles there.

Lead shot also works.

[warewolf]

It has the ability to accelerate quickly, with a good spread of tourque, but I wouldn't say off idle stump pulling grunt. It seems to respond higher up the revs than say an XR600. (I might be wrong there).

You're probably on the money there. There is more power up top, and more "up top" altogether, but as is typical it comes at the expense of bottom-end grunt. It takes a concerted effort to push them to redline as they just seem to rev and rev and rev, and dropping back into the midrange seems to work better.

And maybe an industrial rubber footpeg mount might help with the footpegs.

The 640A comes with rubber footpeg covers. I tend to leave mine off as the vibes don't annoy me, but my foot slipping off when they get wet certainly does