- Location
- The Land Northward (Bountiful), Utah
Velocity Award.
Nice.
Nice.
My '07 KTM 990 Adventure
- Thread starter Greg
- Start date
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
It's very intimidating to work on, that's for sure! All the cooling changes seem to have made a huge difference, but I won't really know until I get it out riding. I think it'll be a lot happier now.
That rear tire wears like iron! It was near new when I bought the bike and now after nearly 6k miles, it probably has almost 2/3 tread left!
I don't really like how it brakes in the dirt, locks up real easy and gets a bit spooky... I have spun that rear tire all over the place in the dirt though and it doesn't effect it. :greg:
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
I've been out on the 990 Adventure a few times in between these crazy Spring storms and it's had a few more minor, but very important changes. First off was some suspension tuning! With the help of a buddy who works at the local KTM dealership, we broke out the factory manual and tuned the suspension for aggressive offroading, playing with the clickers adjusting pre-load, compression and rebound. The big bike probably could use a heaver set of front springs, but for now we played with what he had. It was pretty interesting to see how the suspension was adjusted as I got it, the forks were set at different compression & rebound settings!
Next up was tossing on a fresh set of rubber... I was happy with the Heidenau K60 Scout on the street and it wore like IRON, but it was pretty pathetic offroad. There were plenty of times offroad that I lacked both braking power due to the rear tire sliding around or accelerating power due to it spinning. The Heidenau is over 1/2 worn and is showing a solid center stripe of rubber, so it makes sense that the traction is lacking offfroad. I was very happy with the TKC80 on the front so I went with another of the same, it's hard to choose anything else when I got around 6,000 miles out of the last one, it does well offroad and killer on the twisties! I then decided that it was time for a real knobbie out back. A friend said that a rally bike needs a rally tire, so I bought a Dunlop 908 RR (Rally Raid!) for the rear. People are claiming that it's a great all-around knobbie and lasts 2,500+ miles on a 100 HP bike. It wasn't cheap, but the increased traction offroad will be worth it.
Pics of the miles at the time of the install and the new tires.-
On Sunday I went on a ride with a friend, we rode up to Glade Park, CO and down Sheep Creek Road to Gateway, then up John Brown canyon and over the La Sal mountains and down Sand Flats road to Moab. In all, we rode 250+ miles in VERY rough terrain (getting to and down Sheep Creek is brutal on a big bike!). Then we hit the highway & freeway on the way home... the perfect ride for these big adventure bikes! I ended up dropping my bike once when my rear brake went away.... Somehow the brake pedal got forced under the engine case and overheated the brake until it quit working... I came to a steep section, tried to grab the rear brake to help slow me down and.... nothing. I got on the front as hard as I could (it was very rough & rocky) and eventually it washed out... right as I was about to run off the road and into a big boulder. The guy I was riding with ended up dropping the BMW 4 times, once due to a sheep that clipped his front tire at 30 MPH!
I was super-impressed with the suspension tuning work, it almost feels like a different bike. Night & day difference in how planted and controlled it now feels! I managed to launch the 990 a handful of times and pulled plenty of wheelies! It flies and lands much better!
The knobbies also really helped, that Dunlop 908 rear is so much better offroad. There were a few times where I thought I was going to loose traction in rocky, rough sections only to have that tire find the grip and keep the bike moving forward. The tire does howl on the road, but it's not the loudest tire by any means. There are also a little more vibes, but I'll gladly trade those 2 things for better offroad performance.
Some pics from our ride.-
Sheep Creek road.... it's steep, loose and has a ton of nasty switchbacks!
Next up was tossing on a fresh set of rubber... I was happy with the Heidenau K60 Scout on the street and it wore like IRON, but it was pretty pathetic offroad. There were plenty of times offroad that I lacked both braking power due to the rear tire sliding around or accelerating power due to it spinning. The Heidenau is over 1/2 worn and is showing a solid center stripe of rubber, so it makes sense that the traction is lacking offfroad. I was very happy with the TKC80 on the front so I went with another of the same, it's hard to choose anything else when I got around 6,000 miles out of the last one, it does well offroad and killer on the twisties! I then decided that it was time for a real knobbie out back. A friend said that a rally bike needs a rally tire, so I bought a Dunlop 908 RR (Rally Raid!) for the rear. People are claiming that it's a great all-around knobbie and lasts 2,500+ miles on a 100 HP bike. It wasn't cheap, but the increased traction offroad will be worth it.
Pics of the miles at the time of the install and the new tires.-
On Sunday I went on a ride with a friend, we rode up to Glade Park, CO and down Sheep Creek Road to Gateway, then up John Brown canyon and over the La Sal mountains and down Sand Flats road to Moab. In all, we rode 250+ miles in VERY rough terrain (getting to and down Sheep Creek is brutal on a big bike!). Then we hit the highway & freeway on the way home... the perfect ride for these big adventure bikes! I ended up dropping my bike once when my rear brake went away....
Somehow the brake pedal got forced under the engine case and overheated the brake until it quit working... I came to a steep section, tried to grab the rear brake to help slow me down and.... nothing. I got on the front as hard as I could (it was very rough & rocky) and eventually it washed out... right as I was about to run off the road and into a big boulder. The guy I was riding with ended up dropping the BMW 4 times, once due to a sheep that clipped his front tire at 30 MPH!I was super-impressed with the suspension tuning work, it almost feels like a different bike. Night & day difference in how planted and controlled it now feels! I managed to launch the 990 a handful of times and pulled plenty of wheelies! It flies and lands much better!
The knobbies also really helped, that Dunlop 908 rear is so much better offroad. There were a few times where I thought I was going to loose traction in rocky, rough sections only to have that tire find the grip and keep the bike moving forward. The tire does howl on the road, but it's not the loudest tire by any means. There are also a little more vibes, but I'll gladly trade those 2 things for better offroad performance.
Some pics from our ride.-
Sheep Creek road.... it's steep, loose and has a ton of nasty switchbacks!
Tonkaman
Well-Known Member
- Location
- West Jordan
Looks like an awesome ride. That's a pretty long day for such brutal trails
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
It's a typical rough day ride around here, fun but parts of the trail are a real handful on a big bike. I should have taken pics of the rough, rocky parts! Riding a 450 over those parts would make it much easier and less work, but what fun is that? :greg:
Tonkaman
Well-Known Member
- Location
- West Jordan
Wow, I can't even imagine a 250 mile day. You are one tough SOB!
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glockman
I hate Jeep trucks
- Location
- Pleasant Grove
Did I just spot you in PG on the 990?
I think he's in Wyoming riding right now. Though, he is riding so it could have been him.
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
I think he's in Wyoming riding right now. Though, he is riding so it could have been him.
Yeah, that wasn't me... I was in Utah for just a short bit, but was traveling North (and then South) past Flaming Gorge and into to Wyoming for some amazing dirtroad exploring! :greg:
glockman
I hate Jeep trucks
- Location
- Pleasant Grove
You suck. I work with a friend of Cody's. He was showing me facebook or IG posts. Looks like you guys had a sweet ride. I'm super jealous.
. I work with a friend of Cody's. He was showing me facebook or IG posts. Looks like you guys had a sweet ride. I'm super jealous.
glockman
I hate Jeep trucks
- Location
- Pleasant Grove
Dino? Joseph.
- Location
- Smithfield Utah
Greg, How is that D908 treating you? I have the Heidi K60's and the rear isn't quite doing it for me off-road..
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
The D908 is a good DOT knobbie tire for a big bike, but it is a little loud, vibrates pretty bad and isn't lasting long... (Actually, now that I think about it I've put 2,300 miles on it already and it's only half-worn. Perhaps 4k+ miles is within reach?) It seems like a good dirt-oriented tire that can run the slab when needed. It does NOT like to be leaned over like the Heidi did... I could scrape the pegs on my Adventure with the K60, but when I tried to lean it over far with the 908, the rear washed out from me without any warning and I laid my bike down on the road.
It's not a cheap tire, unfortunately. Have you seen the MotoZ Tractionator? I ran one on the rear of my KTM 690 Enduro and it seemed to be holding up well when I sold it. It's a DOT knobbie with a very hard rubber, the downside is the noise, it HOWLS... one rear tire sounds like a truck with a set of Boggers.
- http://www.chaparral-racing.com/Pro...rt-hard-terrain-rear-tire/909-110-100-18.aspx
- Location
- Smithfield Utah
Cool thanks for the info. I've been running the D606's for years and while they've served me well I think I'm ready to try something different. Haven't really looked at the MotoZ I'll have to check it out. Boggers on pavement??
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
After the Meeker Rally ride I decided it was time to upgrade the foot pegs. Riding for multiple days offroad standing on the pegs was killing my feet, I wanted pegs that were wider and longer, helping steer the bike. I looked at many option, but settled on the Warp 9 pegs. They're wide, long and have a very special feature... More on that later! Holding them in hand, they're VERY beefy and will offer tons of traction. The install was straight forward....
And then it was time to celebrate the install! Built in bottle opener... :greg:
Really looking forward to the next ride!
Oh.... I've now owned the Adventure for over a year and I've put almost 10k miles on it!
More on that later! Holding them in hand, they're VERY beefy and will offer tons of traction. The install was straight forward....
And then it was time to celebrate the install! Built in bottle opener... :greg:
Really looking forward to the next ride!
Oh.... I've now owned the Adventure for over a year and I've put almost 10k miles on it!
glockman
I hate Jeep trucks
- Location
- Pleasant Grove
Bad ass! Warp 9 makes some awesome products.
- Location
- Smithfield Utah
A bottle opener?! No way--sweet! :greg:
- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Well, it's March and time to start thinking about the big bike! I had some changes to make, starting with the tires. I ended up getting 3,375 miles out of the Dunlop 908 RR and probably could have got 500+ more, but there wasn't much life left. It worked great offroad, but was noisy, expensive and vibrated at speed. The front TKC80 had plenty of life left, but I pulled it off so I could run a matching set of new tires.
I've heard good things about the new MotoZ Tractionator Adventure tire and decided to give them a try. I had ran their Desert H/T on a previous KTM 690 Enduro and it seemed like a good DOT knobbie that would last long, but it howled like crazy. The rubber compound was pretty hard, but still had great traction on road and off. MotoZ claims it's a natural rubber compound, making it last longer and hook up better. I got mine from Pacific Powersports, in Temecula, CA. Brian and the guys were easy to work with, they recently got a container of MotoZ tires so they *should* have plenty for awhile. Pricing for my tires was $89.99 for the 90/90-21 and $179.99 for the 150/70-18.
http://pacificpowersports.info/
A friend recently changed up his lighting on his KTM 950 Super Enduro and mentioned he had a pair of near-new Rigid Dually D2 lights. My cheap chinese LED lights had taken a beating last year and some of the LED's had burned out, so this sounded like a great upgrade! (I got my previous LED's from superbrightled.com and they're warrantying my set of lights!! Very cool of them.) I soldered the new plugs in place and bolted the new Dually D2's in place.
I also wanted to upgrade the headlight bulb to a LED, I've been converting my other vehicles to LED bulbs and found out about the Cyclops motorcycle LED headlight bulb. - http://www.advpulse.com/adv-products/led-headlight-bulbs/ A quick bulb swap and now the headlight is putting out light of the same color as the Dually D2's and there is a LOT of light! I'll work on some night-time pics.
3,600 lumens from the headlight and and 3,096 lumens from each Dually D2, for a total of almost 10,000 lumens! Drivers won't have a choice to see this motorcycle on the road! And my night time riding will be a little less stressful with all that bright light.
I've heard good things about the new MotoZ Tractionator Adventure tire and decided to give them a try. I had ran their Desert H/T on a previous KTM 690 Enduro and it seemed like a good DOT knobbie that would last long, but it howled like crazy. The rubber compound was pretty hard, but still had great traction on road and off. MotoZ claims it's a natural rubber compound, making it last longer and hook up better. I got mine from Pacific Powersports, in Temecula, CA. Brian and the guys were easy to work with, they recently got a container of MotoZ tires so they *should* have plenty for awhile. Pricing for my tires was $89.99 for the 90/90-21 and $179.99 for the 150/70-18.
http://pacificpowersports.info/
A friend recently changed up his lighting on his KTM 950 Super Enduro and mentioned he had a pair of near-new Rigid Dually D2 lights. My cheap chinese LED lights had taken a beating last year and some of the LED's had burned out, so this sounded like a great upgrade! (I got my previous LED's from superbrightled.com and they're warrantying my set of lights!! Very cool of them.) I soldered the new plugs in place and bolted the new Dually D2's in place.
I also wanted to upgrade the headlight bulb to a LED, I've been converting my other vehicles to LED bulbs and found out about the Cyclops motorcycle LED headlight bulb. - http://www.advpulse.com/adv-products/led-headlight-bulbs/ A quick bulb swap and now the headlight is putting out light of the same color as the Dually D2's and there is a LOT of light! I'll work on some night-time pics.
3,600 lumens from the headlight and and 3,096 lumens from each Dually D2, for a total of almost 10,000 lumens!
Drivers won't have a choice to see this motorcycle on the road! And my night time riding will be a little less stressful with all that bright light.