Adventure R - experiences ?

[giorgioXT]

I'm very interested in the Adventure R ...seems to be the ideal descendent from Teneré ...but it has the reliability and ruggedness of the Yamaha ? I know KTM enduro competition bikes , probabily the best ones, but they require a level of care and work (oil changes etc) that are not acceptable for a long range trip

anyone has experiences or advices about ?

[badwolf]

Hi Giorgio,

do you really need an answer from me?

Let me bring my powerfull piece of junk to Austria first!

By

Pietro



------------------
Pietro Tosetti (KTM EGS 640 Adventure R 2000 "Drago") &
Patrizia Coari (Honda Dominator 650 "Brontolo")
Milano - GFC 23 & 24 - EChM 499 <A HREF="http://www.pitpat.it
A" TARGET=_blank>http://www.pitpat.it
A</A> volte un atteggiamento rigido e' conseguenza di una paralisi.

[dingofish]

Good question Georgio and I am making the same questions.
We need someone out there that has put an adventure R through some decent paces and has an opionated attitude to tell us what they think about da' KTM....is it a goer for overlanding or another cafe cruiser?
Dingofish

[badwolf]

OK! OK! Let me expalin mi answer to Giorgio...

Giorgio and I are old buddies, so I thought that he were kidding me, knowing very well the my adventures with the AdventureR...

My bike was teorically the best I could have buyed at the time of my purchase... miles away from the others!

Let's condider just the suspensions! WHOA! A 50 mm WP fork! The top in WP monoshock! =:-O

What bike has the same standard suspensions?

I surfed the web for monthts, and nobody could tell me any trouble with the LC4 engine... so I gave away my '97 Cagiva Elefant 750 cat and I buyed it.

Let me say something before I start telling the story: the bike is wonderfull... I truly love this bike!

I'm basically a tourer, my driving style is not exasperated and the check-ups were made correcly as KTM states in the owner manual.

At first glance, the bike was perfect but from the first Km. some minor trouble appeared: the fuel tube from the emergency reserve went out from the nozle while running and fuel spilled on my leg and warm collector (do you remember Tianen and Meoni at Dakar '98?).

At 4500 Km the bearing of the balancing axis broke up... 15 days withot the bike...

At 5000 Km Check up.

at 5500 Km the connecting rod was broken: KTM replaced it and replaced the piston, some bearings the aluminium support for the fuel pump... a disaster! (( I started asking for a total engine replacement... the bike was two months old!

Now the bike is 16 months old and has 30000 Km on the trip master. 2/3 of the engine was replaced... The cilinder, some gears, more bearings... A lot of spokes of the wheels where broken without any apparent reason...

...so...

Have you ever considered the DR 650? Is a very good bike! ))

Bye

Pietro


------------------
Pietro Tosetti (KTM EGS 640 Adventure R 2000 "Drago") &
Patrizia Coari (Honda Dominator 650 "Brontolo")
Milano - GFC 23 & 24 - EChM 499 <A HREF="http://www.pitpat.it
A" TARGET=_blank>http://www.pitpat.it
A</A> volte un atteggiamento rigido e' conseguenza di una paralisi.

[badwolf]

Hi Toad! Nice to meet you!

You disparaging? No my friend! Don't worry!

I was disparaging it, but the problem in my case was not the bike itself, but KTM as a brand...

KTM builds wonderfull race bikes, and (now) good rally bikes, thanks to Fabrizio Meoni that fully re-developed the 2001 660 Rally...

The problem is that they are not used to customers that want to use their bikes as "trail bikes" unless they try to sell the AdventureR as a trail...

In the italian 2001 catalog they are very affirmative saying that with the 2000 model of the AdventureR you can ride about 30000Km without any mesurable wear... this is true in my case just for the 2/3 of the engine that was replaced in the year of warranty... now the warranty is gone, and I'm on my own!

I can immagine that an industrial process may fail sometimes... the warranty is here to protect customers in this cases.

KTM is lazy trying to solve definitely those problems.

Come on! I suggested you a Suzuky because with this bike I buyed mayor problems and little satisfactions... try to start a trip with the fear of the next problem!

If you agree that in case of troubles you're alone and supportless, you can buy an Adventurer.

Anyway not all the AdventureR are unaffordable bikes, is very similar to the russian roulette.

Sorry for the "just italian version" of the website... We are working on it! )

By

Pietro

[giorgioXT]

I think that KTM is still used to the level of precision and maintenance used on racing bikes ; let me explain : it's normal practice between amateur MX bikes to open the motor every 4 races ...normal for Enduro riders to change the oil every race ...but Adventure R it's NOT a racing bike !

I hope that KTM will look at this - and check every feature and mounting tolerance , because I'm convinced of the bike sheer potential- either as is and from a commercial point of vue (it's the ONLY TRUE OVERLANDER ready to buy ! ) but i'd rather give some power for reliability ..

[GWJ]

Hello all,
I am a traveler who has logged 30,000 km of Africa on a KTM adventure with no problems.I have not even adjusted the valves!It is the best bike for africa,ie sand and bad roads.I hope my good luck holds...maybe the quality control has improved as it is built in the new factory

[GWJ]

Hi GorgioXT

You have asked for any expirience and information with the KTM Adventure-R.

Until yet we travelled four and a half month through South Amerika (Chile, Argentina Bolivia) and made some 20000km. A lot of them on gravel roads (some of them not very god).

Until yet I had only two problems on my one-year-old Adventure: I lost the mirrors and I have to replace the bearing in the frontwheel.

I checked the valves after 1000 and 10000 km and they still sound very good. The oil was changed all 8500 km.

Now, after 24000 km over all, the bike is running perfectly and I can they that it's the best travelling-bike I ever had.

Greetings from Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Robert

[GWJ]

I have just purchased a new 2001 KTM Adventure. Well l should start of by saying l do like this bike, but there were a few problems to begin with. Firstly, the shocks leaked oil on day 1, the engine was leaking oil, day 01. Within a week almost every fluid spilled onto the garage floor, including one of the fuel lines (my bike was 2 cm's from cermation!!!). At this point the bike had yet to see a dirt road, l got to be honest l wondered how the $#%& did they win the paris-dakar this year.
Anyway now l am at 2500km and everything seems to have "settled in". The one weird thing that no one has an answer to, is that the starter motor most of the time works but sometimes doesnt turn at all when the starter button is pressed???? The best solution is to walk away for 5 minutes and scream in a paper bag. Sounds like a classic KTM electric problem.
Well, l knew this was going to be a fiddly bike, especialy in Canada where l am the only guy with one. But in saying all this it really is a lot of fun up north on the logging roads.
Would l recomend this bike? Yes but only to people who love to tinker and get there hands a little dirty.

[badwolf]

Hi MarkC,

first of all, a little trick when elettric starter fails: you must depress kick starter until it gets tough, then decompressor and depress K.S. more or less 10 cm.... release everything, take a big breath an KIIIIICKKK screaming :-D ! Nothing will happend, but if you kick hard and scream loud maybe your E.S. will be frightened enough tu run smootly your bike on! (It seems a joke, but it works! believe me! ;-) ).

Ah! Almost forgot it!

Wellcome to this list!

You'll see that half of the AdventurerS users travelled the world with their bikes without changing a tear of cheap oil... The other half... well, I've just changed the second connecting rod and other minor detailes like the bearing of the engine axis... :-(

In 30.000 Km my '00 model has 2/3 of the engine replaced, and a '01 cylinder... I turned a ace kicking my bike on (but it's really cool kickin it on when I exit from my office in the city! ;-) ).

Tomorrow I'll give back my Y2K model to KTM an on friday a brand new Y2K+1 model will take it's place...

I'm really fool is'nt it? ;-)

By

Pietro

------------------
Pietro Tosetti (KTM EGS 640 Adventure R 2000 "Drago") &
Patrizia Coari (Honda Dominator 650 "Brontolo")
Milano - GFC 23 & 24 - EChM 499 <A HREF="http://www.pitpat.it
A" TARGET=_blank>http://www.pitpat.it
A</A> volte un atteggiamento rigido e' conseguenza di una paralisi.

[GWJ]

Hi Pietro
Well l hope your new machine works better for you.

Will keep you posted on the KTM's process though the year. I am heading up north for 5 days next week.....in the Algonquin region.

Cheers
Mark

[wastegate]

I have had my 2001 AdventureR for a few
months now, little dirt riding as the
UK countryside was closed. I have tried it
on a motocross course and on a trail riding
day (mostly xr250/tt250's along).

I love this bike, I can ride 150miles, spend
a few hours on the dirt then ride home. For a novice like me it makes it easy with great suspension. My only problems have been:
a) Fuel starvation when going over (small) jumps
b) A bloody uncomfortable seat
c) Starter sometimes can't turn over the engine.

c) is easy. Just pull the decompresion lever open, close it again and, hey presto, it starts first push of the button.

The fuel tap looks soooo vunerable, anyone
know how to protect it?

Advised to fit a wire from rear brake pedal to
bash plate, stops the brake lever bending into
the engine in a spill, the holes are there already.

Off to the sahara at Xmas, we will see!!

[superspy]

Greece is one of the bigger customer of KTM.
We have a big club and because Greece is the paradise of Enduro we use our bikes very hard at every dirty road - track.
Let me tell you some tips.

- Never run the KTM for long above the 120-125 KM at tarmac
-It has much power but only one cylinder. Give it a change!
- Dont use too high gear with too low speed
- You can break the motor as easy as the first 1000 km, but if you are careful you can clock beyond 60000 km with out problems
- Yes the bike is for rally but if you use it like that you must at do the full service every 1500-2000 km max
- If you go for enduro you must do the full service every race - practice

BRGDS Spyros

[JNTaylor]

I have just purchased a new 2001 Adventure R for a trip from the UK to India. I've given it a good running in and, except for the tank discolouring with petrol (which is being replaced under warrenty - I've seen this happen on other Y2K1 bikes too - so it seems to be a problem), it seems to be running fine. Check out separate Seat post (!)

I am driving with a friend who has purchased a 3 y.o. Adventure R, so hopefully we'll keep you updated of any problems.

I've heard many stories from disaster (oh don't take THAT bike cos' you can't get the parts/too much work) to excellent (yep no probs/ideal bike for the job).

One thing: Reccomondations: A little daily care will help a great deal. Check loose nuts/oil level/grease clutch cable/chain DAILY. Change oil (depending on conditions) every 2.5-3K - there are some tricks and some throw-away copper compression washers and 2 resivoirs. Practice all changes before hand. Seat (OUCH!) see separate post.

Take Care and enjoy!

James

[MORAITIS]

Hi Giorgio

I'm the owner of a KTM ADVENTURE 640 R, with engine number 8584069 and chassis number VBKGSL405WM725467.

My experience.

At 7.500km i had problem with the 2 bearings on the front wheel.

At 8.500km fuel pump problem came up and it was fixed under warranty.

At 12.500km the cylinder roller bearing (on the left side) broke and an engine overhaul was required, it got fixed under warranty.Two friend of mine had the same problem at 22.000km my first friend with engine number 858406180-640 R ADVENTURE-, and other friend with engine number 758404562-620 R ADVENTURE-.

Now at 30.000km i have problem once more with the cylinder roller bearings and the connecting rod.

Other minus problems is the vibration, the seat, and the leaks from the front forks and the cylinder head.
Off course i must tell you that this model is very nice for driving in roads that are in bad condition.

Finally and because QUALITY is... the characteristic of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy started or implied needs, I believe that this bike doesn't have the reliability for the long run and it is not suitable to travel to the world or Africa.

The roller bearing problem is there, KTM knows that, but still there is no official recall from the factory or any official announcement regarding that.

KTM ADVENTURE 640 R is interesting for cafe racer.

Please choose something else.

My opinion, prefer BMW or DR or even TRANSALP.

Best Regards
Dimitris MORAITIS