Hello. I'm usually in the BMW section, but today went to the bike show in Abbotsford and checked out the '05 950s. The bike had the Corbin seat and actually feels comfy!! I'm now considering trading some of my bikes, but i need some info and opinions first.
Any opinions on the corbin seat, and what are you RTW type travellers using?
What kind of fuel milege does this bike get on average? How does the bike react to altitude (anyone been to Bolivia lately?) and are there any problems running shite gas? I dual-plugged my GS, it'll pobably run off camp-fuel now I really love my old air-head. Comfort, simplicity. I'll go anywhere you'll find a KLR, just ask Grant , but i have to admit, this new Katoom sends a shiver down my spine everytime i see it!
I used to race a 380EXC, until i had a bad off, but i'm very well aware of the quality and engineering of this bike. Maybe i'm looking for someone to talk me out of it, which in that case i probable came to the wrong forum...

Oops, wasn't done yet. My final question is does the charging system provide enough watts to power heated gear,and maybe heated grips, and if not are there any up-grades available.
I thank everyone in advance for your advice

Mr. Ron,
Corbin seats in genreal are great, as I used one on an Elefant for years. I do have a Bill Mayer on my 950. I find the bike perfect for long distance adventure touring and 2-up at that. I sold my GS ADV.
Altitude: I have been over 12,000' and live at 7000' and the bike is maintained for sea level. No problems.
Octane: there is a wire to disconnect for low grade fuel.
Charging system: I run 2 electric jackets, have a GPS socket, and heated grips. No problems.
As much as I hate to refer someone to another site over this one, try advrider.com look under orange crush for more info on 950's
Allen.

Thanx Al! This is such a sweet machine, i couldn't sleep last night. Say, did you have to install an accessorie??? socket, or does the bike come stock with one? Also, any word on the fuel milege? Check this out...my '89R100GS, new rings, ported and polished heads with new valves and guides, dual-plug ignition and 32mm. carbs. My milage is as follows: Canada-44mpg Reg.
Mexico-36mpg to 40mpg Reg.
California-32mpg to 36mpg reg.
Arizona-28mpg to 32mpg
.....go figure!?!

I was getting 40 mpg (UK mpg not US mpg) 950S, large KTM panniers, top box and tank bag, I weigh 200 lb. 3000 miles accross Spain and 50/50 piste in Morocco last September. I fitted the KTM gel seat, and found it most comfortable and an inch lower than the standard. I see that KTM have lowered the 950S for 2005 by a couple of inches -I'm 6 feet tall and can only get the balls of my feet on the ground at the same time. I would be quite concerned about the reliability of the 950 ( see 950 head gasket thread..) I'm still waiting for mine to be fixed from last September - yes really!! Have you had a puncture yet and tried to get the tyre off? - you can't, now that is a worry.

Thanx Bill! This milege is compareable to the airhead, so thats cool. Been doing some research, apparently KTM has adressed the clutch, waterpump and head-bolt problems for '05, and now it comes stock with the plastic luggage with a water-sleeve. Always thought that was a good idea, but i'd like to here from others on the performance of plastic luggage.

I have an '04 KTM 950 which I love. I'm only at about 7000 miles/11,000 km in the last year but I've had a few long days on it.

Mods & additions: My previous bike was the F650 Dakar. I had a set of Al Jesse's luggage on it. The same bags will fit the 950 (& the Vstrom) so all I had to obtain was new racks. Since I sold the bike to Al, part of the deal included new racks and a Jesse "pizza box".

I also added a 12-v socket in the plastic part of the side area. I used a marine-type, low profile socket that looks fairly nice where I mounted it. I'll probably mount another one on the other side/same spot.

I removed the rubber from the footpegs. That effectively lowered the pegs a little and gives my boots more bite on the footpegs.

I'm 6'2"/1,88m so I installed the KTM handlebar risers. I also installed a new airbox cover from Summer KTM that opens up the box a bit.

I took the exhausts and remove the catalytic converters by drilling them out from the flange end. This uncorks the engine and lets out a fair amount of heat that the catalytic converters retain.

I raised the needles on the carbs one notch.

I added a Laminar Lip which pushes the air to the top of my helmet instead of mid-helmet.

I use a Caterpillar o-ring as a throttle-holder to give my arms a rest. This is the same size that a lot of BMW guys use.

I hardwired the power for the GPS using the unswitched acc. lead already fused. I mounted an old Touratech GPS holder above the speedo.

I purchased a "Boejangles" seat. Search www.advrider.com for his contact info. The seat is absolutely first class and is simply beautiful.

I tried the Corbin seat. If it's the original one that they've always offered, be careful. It's extremely slick/slippery.

That's it. It sounds like a long list but in reality, it's not bad.

Trip wise - I've got a couple of 1,000+ km days on it. It wasn't easy but then again, I'm north of 45 and don't tolerate trips like I used to. :-)

Power and handling are excellent. Miles is about 40 mpg which is a lot less that the Dakar but I'll take the power every day. No problems with the bike and I'm hoping to do a trip to Central America this year assuming I can get the time off - a huge problem for me.

Cheers,
Gerry
PHX AZ

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Gerry
PHX AZ USA

The KTM plastic luggage is tough, loaded bike fell over a couple of times in car parks, and I've dropped the bike at low speed without the luggage, and the rack hasn't shown any ill effects. The water taps on the luggage look a bit exposed, and they are very difficult to fill - I use a small funnel through one of the rubber bungs with the lids open. They weigh 6 kilos each when empty which is a bit much compared to aluminium ones, but as I say they are tough. You are lucky getting them as standard, I paid £500 for mine with the rack - but we do get 2 years unlimited miles warranty with the bike in the UK (just as well with the problems I've had). KTM UK are fitting a 2005 spec engine into mine, and extending the warranty for an extra year as compensation. I've also fitted Akrapovic exhausts, which save a few kilos weight, and open the gas flow up to the extent where it runs and pulls smoothly from 2500 rpm, making it much more tractable -coupled with a 45 tooth rear cog, much better at slow speeds on the bumpy stuff.


[This message has been edited by Bill Holland (edited 21 January 2005).]