Hi there, I am a novice rider preparing for a south america ride. I own a KTM 950, it has low miles. I am a little concerned about the reliability factor on a big trip. I have an opportunity to trade it in on a GS 800. I know this has been done to death over at adventure rider but I am just interested from a travel point of view. I wont be doing any hard riding, rather climbing (the old fashioned way) mountains while I am down there. I would greatly apreciate any help I can get. Thanks

I have now sold my ktm950 but had done somewhere in the region of 50 thousand miles (70 odd thousand kms I think) and have to say overall the bike was very reliable - few issues involved the clutch slave which was replaced with an upgraded aftermarket one which never failed, the back brake a constant problem even when replaced with a recall item, a fuel pump at 30,000 and a few other small items, I had every confidence that the KTM would easily have kept going for another 50 thousand the only thing was the price of parts and the maintaining of the beast which was more complicated than it need have been.

I always kept ontop of thing and replaced them before failure so things like wheel bearings, clutch, head bearings various seals etc were replaced sometimes and maybe too often but I did not want failures of these items when out of europe if possible.

I did however get a bit sick of the high cost of some parts and the short life span of items like the clutch -was onto the third one when I sold it, needed a new clutch basket in the forseeable future (cost over £400), what really stopped me keeping the bike was two things

1) ktm would not sell me a new replacement short engine - this would have meant I could have switched engines at say 100000 miles and the parts cost to rebuild the engine were frankly totally insane. KTM s Rob Brown reckoned an engine rebuild would be in probability be needed between 75000 and 100000.

point 2 -Also I needed something far easier to work, slower and more fuel efficient/comfortable two up/ less attractive to prying eyes when away for longer trips so the old BMW r80gs won the day. Still think the KTM was and is a fantastic machine bit to complicated for constant long overland trips - but hey so are most the big GS and many other bikes.

By the way mine was a 03 model from the first batch released - i really reckon KTM were very careful on quality control and build with this first batch to get them as right as they could - if they failed too much the results for KTMs future would be well shaken, as it seems to me the later models (04-05) had loads more problems and I do know of several 03 models that are still going well now without to many issues.

Thanks jake that was helpful

What year is your 950? As you know from ADV, .... or don't have.

Cheers,

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Patrick passed Dec 2018. RIP Patrick!

Well I bought Jake's (adventure950) 03 KTM at 40 odd thousand miles, racked up another ten thousand miles before part exchanging it against a new 990s. Jakes wasnt wrong saying the clutch needed work in the forseeable future as the carrier failed on the way back from his house to mine the day i bought the bike!

That said in general terms the bike itself performed brilliantly and ran like a swiss watch, I've dragged it through river crossings, up mountains, done 1000 mile days 2 up, scratched with sportsbikes and offroaded with 250 strokers. at that sort of mileage you can anticipate some faults and these included. the clutch carrier bolt shearing off due to a worn indent on the back of the carrier (£120) the ignition barrel contacts corroding causing headlamps to not always work (cleaned up but replacement was £70 unless you wanted the key to match the fuel caps in which case £280)
A Battery failure (£130ish) A rear caliper that was completely U/S as a result of corrosion £160 and a fuel pump failure (Jake supplied me with a part used spare that did for me so dont know the cost) and to be fair the fuel pump failure had as much to do with my deep water play on salisbury plain as anything else

at the 55,000 mile service the valves were within spec and the cam chains were also within spec. replacing with the 990 was just because I could, not because I should neccesarily and I was sad not to put more miles on her

I think I now own your old 950, got it on e-bay from Devon, it has now done 54000 and I think it has gone tits up!
Nasty rattle and low oil pressure with the oil hot or cold.
Any body know if a 990 motor will fit?

I met 3 people on the road who had clutch slave probs. Having to get the parts shipped from home to keep them going.
Not being a owner I don't know the offending part but would recommend carrying a spare going on my third had experience.

Pete

__________________
Vietnam, Cambodia & Thailand 2016
Buenos Aires to NYC 2012-2013: www.facebook.com/curryhunt
India and back 2009-2010:

In the UK: Oberon replacement and in the US: Evoluzione replacement.
Both fit and forget items and no more clutch slave cylinder worries. £95 and ~£150 respectively.

Dont write it off just yet!!!

Sounds like Cam chain clatter? Not too much of a big job and there's even a ghetto fix whereby by you put a spacer washer on the cam chain tensioners, effectively extending the tensioners to compensate for some slack in the chain.

If it aint burning oil then it's good. The engines in these bikes are solid, just some parts and components get worn too easily.

There's a wealth of information at advrider and google 'ktm hall of wisdom'. I'm learning to wrench on the 950 (not an easy bike to start on!), but it's so rewarding to work on. I've just done a major service and the bike runs like a train 46,000 miles on it now

Edit: Low oil pressure (sorry, missed that bit) - there's a spring in what I think is the oil pump that gets stretched and loses its boing. Look at Zasgers KTM story thread on advride and it is in there somwhere....

Increase your engine idle speed, should be 1400 rpm

Only just seen this so probably to late to offer any help, fwiw my bike was part x'd through a dealer who were informed of any known issues to the extent of me paying out a few hundred more in the deal than i needed to, just to keep it honest. and I got it fully serviced by another dealer including valves

Anyhoo hope you got it sorted in the end

for anyone reading this and thinking they have similar symptoms I would first consider the water pump seal, these need changing periodically (KTM have revised the part now) but essentially the oil and water pump of the bike share a common shaft seperated by a seal, if this goes water can start creeping into the oil, the standard oil filter is paper (s/steel versions are available) and swells up blocking the oil flow, which in turn causes loss of oil pressure and subsequent cam chain rattle


Gary and Loo if you are still about the site and in the duchy then we might well bump into one another some time, I feel bad having read this even if i couldnt have known you would have had drama I would happily buy you a pint if you told me more about the bike and how/who you came by it, if it was mine and was the dealer pulled a fast one I shall at the very least refrain from being their customer in the future

Hi guys,

i saw I nice ktm 950 adv from 2004 with 80'000km to sell on auction, price might be interesting and the bike looks very good.

What do you think about such a high milage?

Do I have to count with an engine rebuilt?

Thanks for information

get an africa twin mate mines done 100000km original clutch ,new wheel bearings

Zimi,
This link might help you to make a judgement:-
950 Issues

As for all makes and models of bikes, it very much depends on how the bike itself has been treated and maintained in its' earlier life.
Only you can make that call when you inspect it; I think this is a key reason why people buy bikes from their friends and other people that they know can be trusted.

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Dave

Hi people

I've got a much modded 2004 950 Adventure. They're a well made, reliable machine with great performance & suspension but like all bikes, have their particular areas of weakness. These are best addressed once & for all prior to undertaking a big trip. Ist, replace the standard clutch slave with an aftermarket one. I used an Oberon unit made specifically for the 950 & it's easy to install & solves that issue. 2nd, the standard fuel pump (same as the one on Honda africa twins) will eventually fail due to the contacts wearing. There are several fixes for this - I chose the popular Facet fuel pump replacement. These are very reliable & designed for ultralight aircraft. There is an excellent kit available which provides all of the items to install it, including fittings & fuel line. Others have installed a vacuum pump & there is a kit (Dr Bean's) which replaces just the contacts on the standard pump with reliable solid state. The standard sidestand mount design bolts to the engine case & can crack the case in a getoff on the left side - this has happened to several owners & is a major expense & pita to fix. There are several sidestand relocator kits out there which solve this problem & give you a much stronget sidestand mounting, well worth doing! Like many bikes, the voltage regulator can fail due to heat - mine did. All I did was replace it & drill some small holes in the l/h wing of my bashplate to allow more cooling air onto the reg. No dramas since. Some people install a 2nd radiator fan kit which is a good idea for lots of slow riding. Once again, there are several cheap, easy to install kits out there. The 950's aren't the most fuel efficient engines around - you can spend heaps & install a 44 litre Safari tank, but I just take a 12litre fuel bladder & roll it up when not in use. The 990's are fuel injected but still not much better fuel wise.
The best thing about these bikes are that they do everything really well - great for the road & offroad, the Paris-Dakar design (they were originally designed for Dakar & won outright on their 1st try) gives them a very entertaining, lively feel when riding & they go very hard when you want it. Like some bikes, the rims are a bit soft (esp the front rim). Many people replace them with a stronger rim. Great machine though, I've owned many bikes & this beast is definitely the best. There is a magic resource on the ADVrider website under "orange crush" (specifically about the KTM twins) look under wisdom of the forum for anything & everything associated with the 950/990 Adventures. All you'll need is there. Good luck & all the best.

Nick - Darwin, Australia

Nick