Life with a 990 Adv.

[Walkabout]

Now that the 990 has moved on to another owner it seems time to say something about owning these bikes – no one in here is saying much about the later models, 1050 cc and upwards, so perhaps there are plenty of folks still owning the 950/990 bikes?
My comments here are based on just 18 months of ownership with perhaps 7-8K miles of riding; so not a lot and certainly not as much as many other owners, but enough time for me to get my own views sorted out about this bike.
Anyway, “so little time, so many bikes”.

The bald facts.
Mine was a 2008 990 Adv fitted with the H+B Gobi panniers, a KTM rear rack and, later, a KTM touring screen + after market heated grips.
At purchase it was re-shod with brand new Pirelli Scorpions front and back as part of the purchase deal.
It had done about 27K miles by the time I sold it and other than the odd gravelly surface and some rather slippery cobblestones it was never taken off the asphalt which was a factor in selling the bike.

My riding of this bike was mainly in the UK in terms of time but with some 4K miles in the Alps and Dolomites over a few weeks.

Somewhat miscellaneous views.
I liked the bike when I first bought it, but my pillion passenger took an instant dislike to that part of the seat which immediately meant that she wasn't coming out on the bike as readily as may have been the case; it sounds trite typing this, but it isn't – such instant first impression reports from the back colour the whole riding experience and lead to some expense. In this case, an air hawk seat was brought out of “retirement” (no expense therefore) and a new, different, size and type of rack was purchased – the main complaint was that the pillion seat squab is too short.
Personally, I liked the ergonomics of the seated position and when standing on the pegs and, fortunately, most of my riding with this bike turned out to be one up only.

Once the novelty of filling two tanks had worn off, I considered this to be a faff, although the principles of why the bike design has this arrangement far outweigh this very small point.
More relevantly, those two tanks don't add up to a massive amount of fuel in total – something like 17 litres from memory.
I've always liked riding V twins (a big factor in buying my first KTM) so fuelling can become an issue when giving it some – perhaps I didn't turn that throttle far enough, perhaps I am getting too old nowadays, but I did get more than 50 MP(UK)G which, for me, was fine for a big V twin engine.
In the worst case looking around the west coast of Scotland for a sup of fuel I managed 195 miles on the odometer between fills, while the fuel warning light had been bright for at least the last 20 miles of that run. This was one up with a stack of camping gear on board.
Those fuel tanks are great! Manufactured of super tough plastics (polypropylene?) they can take any amount of kicking around which is just as well because the left hand tank has to come off to change the oil – sure, there are workarounds (all discussed elsewhere) but that is what KTM say is needed.

By the time I had run around a few Alpine passes the back tyre was looking a lot worse for wear; I was contemplating this situation one particular day, having been aware of it for a while, when a German camper next door to me made a specific point of pointing out to me just how bald the tyre really was – up to then I had been wondering if I could make it back to the UK.
So, a replacement was purchased during a day trip into Austria.
The lesson to me was not to buy tyres for KTMs in the country where they are manufactured and certainly not in Innsbruck because they don't stock Scorpions or any tyre for that matter to fit a 990 back wheel.
And, don't go shopping for tyres around lunchtime in Innsbruck either – closed for lunch, come back in 2 hours. Back after two hours, we, the Honda dealer don't have such tyres (a really helpful, not, place called Zingersomethingorother).
Eventually, a car tyre garage across the road from uselessZinger tracked down a stock of these tyres and got one sent over to their place within a couple of hours.
After that, it was just a case of paying plenty of bucks for the round black thing and the labour involved + due taxes.
Incidentally, ½ a dozen bike/tyre places in Garmisch-Partenkirschen had no stock of KTM back tyres either.

The 990s are known for having to change the slave cylinder, if not the master cyl of the hydraulically operated clutch (loads of stuff is written about this elsewhere).
I didn't, and by the time I sold the bike I do think that I could feel the clutch mechanism “hardening” - it's something of a strange feeling, akin to the mechanism coming up against a stop before it is fully disengaged.

In general, my bike did not use oil, but I was checking the level regularly on account of those two big cylinders pounding up and down; nor did it need topping up until one fine bright day after striking the tent and doing the usual checks on the bike it was low on the dipstick – this was strange, because it had not been used in any way differently from the other days on the alpine passes.
The local garage mechanic poured about a pint of oil in, taken straight out of his big storage tank so I don't know the exact amount he used, and it never happened again. Weird.

More worryingly, coming down the Stelvio pass, the back brake gave up completely without any warning – on the previous hairpin bend it was working fine and at the next it was not.
It was gone, completely faded away.
The rest of the downhill Stelvio was done with engine braking effect and careful use of the front brake and by the time I was at the bottom of the pass, the back brake had recovered.
It had been bashing a few passes during the earlier part of that day and it didn't do it again but some confidence was missing thereafter when on the slopes and the hairpins.

For sure, the throttle action on the FI is snatchy; I just got used to this and did nothing about it other than to open the throttle a bit wider and/or feather the clutch now and again.

Servicing.
Recommended service intervals are short by current standards, set at 4.5K miles.
On these grounds alone the bike is best owned by those who are competent and content with doing their own maintenance IMO.
Everything is crammed in tight together and there is little room to access things, certainly without removing those fuel tanks.
I did have to change one of the two headlight bulbs and that took a deal of effort because of the tight working space – I don't really remember the detail now, but it was fiddly compared with other bikes (some of the plastics around the headstock had to come off in my case). I wouldn't want to do that on the side of the road.

I paid for one major service – that one which includes for checking the valve clearances and changing the brake fluids at two yearly intervals.
It costs big bucks, not so much in materials but in labour rates.
This was because I was getting an impression, rightly or wrongly, that after market value might be somewhat related to “a full dealer service record” in the time honoured tradition of BMW bikes.

These are not cheap bikes (fully adjustable WP supension etc), and that may be why they do tend to hold their value well.
The really basic reason that I sold mine was because I just was not making use of the 21” front wheel.

[c-m]

I recently bought one. Can understand almost all of what you're saying, though mines a 950 so is buttery smooth. If carrying a pillion I'd opt for a seat by seat concepts. They do a great 2 up seat kit (replacement foam and cover).

I've had the tanks and panels off a few times, I didn't do my own valves but I've so far found the bike easier or more straightforward at least, to work on than my old BMW G650 xCountry. You can mostly get by with the stock toolkit which is a bonus too.

Bad points for me are the weight, and the short service intervals.

[mollydog]

Dave,
By all accounts from what I know of these bikes, I think you did VERY WELL.
In '08 KTM twins still had some niggles but generally were better than the many issues on the trouble prone 950. But with only 27K miles total, not really testing bike to it's limit.

I posted a pic recently showing a few riding buddies. (bunch of silly old Geezers) Most ride KTM twins. Several 950SE's, couple standard 950's, many 990's and a couple 1190's, couple new-ish GS, an F800 and a Vstrom or two in the mix. About 15 guys, all own several bikes.

Most owned KTM's previous, many own KTM dirt bikes too. At least 3 or 4 of the twin owners have done rebuilds ... some more than once. But these expert riders ride at super-legal pace, do probably 15K a year (minimum) with at least 30% off road (including Baja, Black Rock Desert and Utah).

I've been on two rides where one of the KTM twins expired. Both times they'd lost the water pump, didn't notice, blew head gasket, ran out of water, engine ruined. (950's)

One guy on a 950 had this happen 3 times!!! I towed him on one ride using my Vstrom. Finally KTM stepped in and gave him an ALL NEW motor ... FREE.
This with an extended warranty, which don't always pay. (he's a lawyer!) That bike is still on the road.

Several of the many 990 owners had 950's previous, and both the 1190 guys had KTM's before too. Big fans. These guys make use of the 21" front as many of their rides include hundreds of miles of fire road, even some two track and worse.

Every ride is like a race and always a lot of crashes.
Many have an open account with their Orthopedic doctor. But you would not believe the pace and how far over they will lean even with a 21" knobby up front.

KTM's lightweight combined with good chassis and suspension and snappy motor make these twins a favorite in the Hooligan crowd. The bikes are seriously tested. (abused?)

Newer twins have done better (after about 2010) but ALL these guys do A LOT of maintenance. Fewer than half do their own work ... the rest use a shop. ($$$$$) KTM are not a cheap date! But lots of fun ... if you know how!

[c-m]

The 950 and 990 adventures are pretty damn reliable. Plenty around with massive miles on them without major issue. On the early ones you need make sure the recalls have been done, but any you buy now will have had those done a long time ago, in the UK at least. Perhaps US dealers a little more slack.

The 950/990 is hardly a stressed motor, sticking to the service intervals and making sure any recalls have been carried out and owners should see massive milage.

No doubt about it though, the later twins take things up a notch when it comes service intervals, and general wear, but they are also heavier and not as off road worthy.

[sandrocchio_01]

the issues/design flaws which I encoutered were the water pump and side stand. For the rest it is more reliable than other bikes.
Unfortunatly its weight and fuel consuption make this great bike a risky choice for overland journey, yet still feasible on my opinion.

[c-m]

Fuel pump left me stranded at an airport recently.

Oddly some people are scared of EFI, but I've only had fuel problems/failures with carbed bikes. Every EFI bike i've had has been fine in that regard.