KTM 990 - long term experience wanted

**ducatijim** · 27th May 2009, 12:08

I would expect that KTM must have attended to the throttle issue(?) by now....its moaned about all over the world!
Helmet buffeting is an issue for sure - I have both std and touring screens and both are quite bad.....there are plenty of opinions on just where to cut them to fix this....as many opinions as there are riders!
Which ever decision you make, I am sure you will get tremendous pleasure from your new bike, and either of the 'Germanic' trailies will put a good smile on ya dial! Oh, and 50 is not wot its cracked up to be.......enjoy the last of your 40s while they last!!

**Crisis management** · 27th May 2009, 12:21

Originally Posted by Ruralman

Just one other thing about the KTM - I didn't find the front brake anywhere near as good as the Tiger's. Do they improve as they wear in?

Turn the ABS off, that hardens the feel up a bit but remember you have a skinny 21' front rather than the fatter 19'' that the tiger has, I find the 990 front brake needs treating with respect as it's very easy to lock up. You might find similar issues with the handling, on a series of tight corners the 990 needs to be flicked very positively from one side to the other, it's not as fast at changing direction as a sports bike!

**Oscar** · 27th May 2009, 12:24

Originally Posted by Crisis management

Turn the ABS off, that hardens the feel up a bit but remember you have a skinny 21' front rather than the fatter 19'' that the tiger has, I find the 990 front brake needs treating with respect as it's very easy to lock up. You might find similar issues with the handling, on a series of tight corners the 990 needs to be flicked very positively from one side to the other, it's not as fast at changing direction as a sports bike!

+1
For a bike that does serious on/off-road work, front brake performance is always going to be a bit problematic. You don't want sports bike type ferociousness on gravel or clay.

**Woodman** · 27th May 2009, 14:08

Originally Posted by NordieBoy

But do they ride with an analog throttle or digital thereby bypassing the problems and showering them with roost?

I know WoodMan rides his KLR using the throttle as a switch.

38 hp versus 100odd hp, is a slightly different switch.

**warewolf** · 27th May 2009, 17:24

Originally Posted by Crisis management

You might find similar issues with the handling, on a series of tight corners the 990 needs to be flicked very positively from one side to the other, it's not as fast at changing direction as a sports bike!

The 950-derived twin disc set up on my 640 is braking overkill and seriously impairs the bike's 'flickability'. The disc itself weighs 1.5kg and the calliper + brake hose is around 500g. Removing that 1.5kg gyroscope has dramatically improved things. I used to notice how slow the bike dropped in to cornersm, could feel how much it resisted changing direction. Not anymore!

Probably not an option on the ABS 990.

**Padmei** · 27th May 2009, 20:29

Don't know much about throttle snatch & brakes & stuff but that bike looks pretty bloody cool

**Ruralman** · 27th May 2009, 20:54

Originally Posted by Crisis management

Turn the ABS off, that hardens the feel up a bit but remember you have a skinny 21' front rather than the fatter 19'' that the tiger has, I find the 990 front brake needs treating with respect as it's very easy to lock up. You might find similar issues with the handling, on a series of tight corners the 990 needs to be flicked very positively from one side to the other, it's not as fast at changing direction as a sports bike!

Firstly the 990 Adventure R does not have abs - I guess they decided that for the purpose this bike was designed for ABS can be more of a negative than a positive.

I did try out the brakes in a trial panic stop when I was riding solo and it didn't lock up or feel like it would. I was very conscious that it took quite a bit more lever squeeze than the Tiger to get hard braking, but as others have pointed out that is not a bad thing on loose or muddy surfaces

As for the flickability - its bloody tall and does take some input to tip from side to side but not as much as the Tiger. With the new tyres and greasy road I wasn't interested in leaning it over too much so really putting it to the test in the twisties will just have to wait.

**Ruralman** · 27th May 2009, 21:17

Originally Posted by ducatijim

I would expect that KTM must have attended to the throttle issue(?) by now....its moaned about all over the world!
Helmet buffeting is an issue for sure - I have both std and touring screens and both are quite bad.....there are plenty of opinions on just where to cut them to fix this....as many opinions as there are riders!
Which ever decision you make, I am sure you will get tremendous pleasure from your new bike, and either of the 'Germanic' trailies will put a good smile on ya dial! Oh, and 50 is not wot its cracked up to be.......enjoy the last of your 40s while they last!!

I haven't looked yet at where, but if we could get hold of the hinges that move the outer screen on my MRA screen (I'll go out to the garage and get some photos rather than trying to describe it) then it would solve all our problems, no matter what bike you ride.
You can adjust the height and angle and the space between the two screens allows some air between to reduce the vacuum behind the screen which creates some of the turbulence effect.
If we could source the hinges then we could get a bit of plastic moulded to fit any screen to attach to it.

**oldrider** · 27th May 2009, 21:57

Originally Posted by Ruralman

I turn 50 next year so I am thinking I should go for it and enjoy something like this while the body is still able to handle it.
Anyone interested in a bloody good Tiger????

Bloody good Tigers are the "only" kind of Tigers that Triumph make!

Just been up to ChCh for my Tigers 24,000mile/40,000km check.

Sweet as, I turn 70 in five months time, it'll still do me for a while yet!

(A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do)

**Crisis management** · 28th May 2009, 08:49

Originally Posted by Ruralman

Firstly the 990 Adventure R does not have abs -

I did try out the brakes in a trial panic stop when I was riding solo and it didn't lock up or feel like it would.

Oops, must pay more attention to detail.....

With ABS off I can lock the front with 2 fingers (admittedly with a bit of effort) and that was with either the Scorpion I had on or the TKC I have on, maybe the brakes need to bed in a bit. The rear however, I need to stomp on to get a lock out of.

Update, having taken the 990 for a thrash this afternoon...3 fingers is better for getting all the braking you want and it does feel a big soft for the first third of the travel then nicely solid.

**Ruralman** · 31st May 2009, 21:13

Further to sorting out turbulence off bike screens

I see from this website that you can just buy the outer screen and the mounts. Looking through the list (although I'd have to check the KTM screen with a tape measure to be sure that the 22cm wide setup would fit on it) it looks like the VTA4 model would fit.

http://www.twistedthrottle.com/trade...view/2710/339/

The one I got for the Tiger was a whole replacement screen with the outer airfoil etc - looks like maybe I could have just bought the outer bit for it too and saved a few $'s . Beware that the prices are in $US.