2006 Ktm 950 Sm Review
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Reputation 95
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Years Contributed: '08, '09
Motorcycles: KTM 1190 Adventure / KTM 530 EXC
GPS: Southwestern PA
Miles Typed: 6036
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Since KTM is bringing more street bikes to the USA for 2010, I figured some people might be interested in what my (almost) two years and 24,558 miles have been like on my 950 Supermoto R.
Summer 2007: My bike stable consisted of a 2005 Kawasaki ZX-6R (aka the Ninja Bike), a 2004 Suzuki Wee Strom, and a 2004 Suzuki DRZ400S. Life was very good. That combination of bikes really covered a lot of bases, but my single car garage was very cramped. As much as I liked the Ninja Bike, I had put over 20K miles on it and was getting the itch to try something new. I figured that if I could find a bike that combined the sportiness of the ZX-6R with the versatility of the Wee Strom, I could shrink the stable to two bikes. So I started demoing bikes that were sporty, versatile, comfortable and good on beat-up back roads.
So the short list at the time was: Ducati Multistrada 1000 "S", Triumph Tiger 1050, and the Buell Ulysses. The Ducati was a great bike that didn't quite fit me right, but I liked most everything else about it except the maintenance intervals. A lightly used, pre-farkled "S" could be found for about $10K (the 1100 had just come out). The Tiger was really nice too, but felt a bit soft. Great engine, comfy, but it didn't have the sporty edge I wanted. Perhaps with upgraded suspension it would be fine. I really liked the Ulysses too, but the engine didn't push my fun button. Big torque, but that heavy crankshaft and low redline didn't suit me. I could overlook the fan noise and vibes at idle, but it just didn't give me a shit-eating grin any of the three times I demo'd it. I still think it's a cool bike.
My local Euro dealer, European Motorcycles of Pittsburgh carries BMW, Triumph, Ducati, and Vespa and then picked up KTM. They got a shipment of street bikes in and encouraged customers to take demo rides. It was all over when I rode the KTM. It had the perfect combination of qualities to suit my needs. The only concerns were a small fuel tank (3.7 gal), a big price tag ($14K list), and a number of issues with the LC8 engine such as the starter torque limiter, clutch slave cylinder and water pump seal. As someone on a KTM thread said, it's an imperfect kick-ass bike. The issues (and fixes) were well-known and documented. I didn't have 14 large to spend, so I finished out the year daydreaming about the KTM and keeping my eyes peeled for deals on a Multistrada.
December 2007. I stop at EuroMoto for some kind of Xmas Open House or something and Lee (the owner) pulls me aside and tells me he can cut me a deal on the SMR. The bastard :-). A few weeks of soul-searching later, I bought the bike on December 21, 2007. Merry Christmas to me!!! It had 252 demo miles on it (probably 50 of those by me). I paid $10,665 which is quite a discount off the $14K list price. I believe the dealer got the bike classified as a demo and got some money from KTM to help move the bike. I included a 48 month KTMcare extended warranty ($700), and a $1000 parts credit (to buy accessories at a 15% discount). KTM was offering 6 months, no payments or interest, so I hopped on that deal. The grand total with warranty, part credit, taxes, etc was $13,308. Ouch. Way more than I'd ever spent for a bike before.
So now I had FOUR bikes in my tiny garage. The Wee Strom sold immediately to a guy from NYC. He picked it up the day after Xmas, so the garage was back to three bikes. The Ninja Bike took longer to sell because of the "high miles" (21000) even though it was in cosmetically great condition. It was sold in early May. So both bikes were gone before the 6 month "free money" window expired. I pulled some money from savings and combined with the bike sales, paid it off in full before any interest or payments were needed.
Enough background, on to the bike. I had a $1000 parts credit and a 15% discount, so let the mods begin!
Leo Vince exhaust slip-ons ($500). The stock exhaust is hot and heavy. The LV cans save weight, reduce heat and sound better. After two years, the inside surface of the cans are getting a bit discolored from crap thrown up by the rear wheel. I'm probably the only one that notices when cleaning the bike. Sound is nice with the inserts in. It has an awesome snarl with the inserts out, but it's too loud IMO for riding around John Q Public. I don't want to be "that guy" that wakes up the sleeping baby when I start my bike early in the morning to go on a ride.
46L KTM (Shad) top case, back pad and mounting bracket (~$250 total). The top case looks dorky, but adds a lot of versatity. That's plenty of waterproof, lockable storage space for day trips, commuting and long weekends. That back pad pushed my wife too far forward which made it very cramped for both of us. She rarely rides pillion, so I left it on. It fell off somewhere in central PA a couple months ago. Otherwise the top case is a winner.
I bought a Wolfman Enduro tank bag (strap on) to use on the SMR and my DRZ. It's small and still lets me get to the gas cap. It's just the right size to carry my wallet, phone, glasses, camera, etc and be small enough to not get in the way. It's always on the bike.
I got a KTM tail bag for Xmas 2008. It looks much sportier than the 46L topcase and is a good size for day rides. My only beef with it is that it doesn't use the same adapter plate as the topcase, so it takes a few minutes to remove one mounting rack and install the other. Not a huge deal, but I'd use it more if I didn't have to swap adapter plates.
16 tooth front sprocket. The bike is geared really tall. 6th is useless below 80 MPH. Going down one tooth up front added some pep and made 6th usable on the local highways (65 - 75 MPH). The down side is that first is even shorter than normal, but I never use first on the street.
I experienced quite a bit of surging at barely open steady throttle when new, so I had the shop raise the needle one notch during the 600 mile intial service. That sorted out the surge for me.
Fuel mileage wasn't great (mid to upper 30s) and word on the forums was that the Head2Wind jet kit would improve that to 40-ish, improve throttle response and not take too big hit on peak power. It works by using a foam pre-filter which flows LESS air than stock and adjusting the jetting appropriately. Evidently the carbs respond well to more vacuum. So I installed the jets and pre-filter and life was better. Fuel mileage is a consistent 40 MPG and the bike runs a little better. No night/day change for me, but I was happy enough with the result. Total cost for the jet kit and pre-filter was about $100.
I bought the Laminar Lip tall windscreen to reduce the wind blast at highway speeds. It attaches to the headlight mask with 3M Dual-Lock dots. I had concerns about the dots, but the damn things are really strong. I'm 6' 3" tall and the windscreen puts the wind at my shoulders. This adds some wind noise while riding, but no buffeting (for me). I am really happy with the LL screen, but KTM now sells a windscreen for the 690SM that is a bit smaller, looks better and is probably what I would try if I had to do it over again (just for the looks).
The guys that run Cycle Control (www.CycleControl.com) are local and asked to use my bike at the test mule for creating adjustable levers. I said sure, so last winter (Jan 2009) I added some trick shorty levers to the bike. This was my first experience with fancy levers. Adjustability is great and feel is good too. There is less lever travel. Winner!
I put sliders on the front and rear axles. I kinda wish I had traditional frame sliders (just in case), but haven't purchased those yet.
I bought (but never installed) some fake CF stuff to protect the frame from boot wear. The paint is worn where my boots hit. Maybe I'll get around to installing them this winter.
I removed the fuel vapor canister and the SAS air injection system when I installed the H2W jet kit. This requires buying a couple block-off plates and removing a few miles of unnecessary plumbing on the engine. No performance gain, but things are tidier and I can't get any weird fuel tank venting issues if I get gas in the fuel vapor lines.
The last of the mods was sending the stock seat (not comfy) to Rick Mayer and having him rebuild it on the stock pan. I did this in January 2009 (after a year) when I couldn't ride anyway. I'm quite happy with the comfort of the new seat and it looks OK too. Renazco is the more popular choice for KTM seats, but Rick Mayer had a half price sale going that I couldn't ignore. I'm good to ride all day on the seat.
On to life with the KTM...
You read lots of bitching about oil changes on KTMs. The naked Supermoto is no biggie, but it is more complex than a single drain plug and a spin-on filter. There are two easily accessible drain plugs: one for the oil tank, one for the crankcase. There are two oil screens: one for the oil tank and one for the crankcase. They are both easy to get at. The oil filter is a paper cartridge thing that hides behind a couple bolts near the shift lever. 30 minutes total to an oil change if you don't screw around.
I changed the oil and filter every 3000 miles. I always use the OEM oil filters and run Mobil 1 15W-50 (full synthetic) oil. I started with the "official" Motorex stuff, but it's twice the price of Mobil 1.
Expect the bike to use some oil. I suspect most highly tuned big twins consume some over the life of an oil change. My bike uses less than a quart over 3K miles. So I buy 5 quarts for an oil change: 4 for the change and 1 have in the garage to top off with.
The SMR has an external oil level sight tube on the oil tank. I noticed that the oil level changes quite a bit between cold and fully warm (after riding for while). To avoid overfilling, I check the oil immediately after a ride. I pull in the garage, take off my gear, then check the oil and top off as necessary. I fill it to the Max line and it reads in the middle between Min and Max when cold.
Speaking of the oil level sight tube, they are prone to breaking. Mine started to split at the bottom where it fits over a barbed fitting. This resulted in the bike marking its turf with a quarter-sized drop of oil or two. If the split extended beyond the barb, it could leak quite badly. Mine split at 15K miles and was replaced with an OEM part. Some people have experimented with other tubing. Rumor has it KTM changed the tube recently to a new part number, so maybe that issue is solved. Others have removed the oil sight tube (put in bolts) and replaced the oil cap with a cap/dipstick from an Adventure (I think).
Another weak point on the LC8 models is the fuel pump. You read lots of stories from people with Adventures carrying a spare or swapping out the original for an after-market one (Faucet). Mine died at 13K miles while at the shop (great timing) for it's first major service (Nov 2008). They replaced it under warranty. The new one has been fine so far, but I'm coming up on the about the same mileage, so I hope the replacement isn't about to crap out too...
One of my concerns about the LC8 was "clacking". This is when the torque limter on the starter wears out and lets the motor spin backwards or something while starting the bike. Supposedly it sounds horrible. This is a common problem on 2006 and prior years. KTM has improved the design, so getting the replacement kit solves the issue. It appears the 2007s have the new parts as I don't recall seeing any reports of clacking on newer models. My bike has been fine. If your bike clacks, it's typically covered under warranty and sometimes even out of warranty in good faith.
Another concern was the water pump seal. This keeps the coolant in the water pump from leaking past the impellor shaft into the engine oil. What happens is that water gets into the oil, and then into the paper oil filter, causing it to swell. This reduces oil pressure and will cause the oil pressure light to flicker or stay on. Low oil pressure is bad. Again, this was a common failure on 2006 and prior year bikes. Seems they'd last about 10K miles. KTM came out with improved parts, but considers this a "wear item" so you are on your own to buy the new/improved kit if/when your seal fails. It appears the 2007 models have the new parts since I don't recally anyone with a newer model having the problem. It remains to be seen how long the new/improved seal lasts. I'm getting concerned at 25K miles on the original. The kit is under $100, so I might replace mine just to be safe this winter.
My lower steering head bearing died at 20K miles, right before a trip to New England. We're talking broken, rusty, rollers falling out type dead. I guess I didn't notice the degradation in feel, and then it became notchy at the end of August 2009. Come to a stop and the bars didn't want to move left/right without a tug. Funky... $20 in bearings and an evening in the garage later, then new bearings were in. I don't know how water got in there, but the new ones are well lubed with waterproof grease for boat trailer wheel bearings.
All in all, the only things to fail in 25K miles were the oil sight tube, steering head bearing and the fuel pump. I can't bitch too much about that, but it hasn't been stone axe reliable either.
This bike eats tires. Seems that I can only get about 3500 - 4000 miles out of a rear tire. The original Scorpion Syncs died at 3500 miles, so I went to pure street tire since I don't really use the SMR for dirt roads. I have tried Pilot Powers, regular Diablos, and Diablo Stradas. Fronts are good for (barely) two rears. I think the strong engine braking has a lot to do with it as I didn't go through tires like this with my 2002 Triumph Sprint RS (similar weight and power). The Sprint was good for 5K miles (give or take) with similar use on the same model tires.
I just replaced the chain and sprockets at 23K miles with a DID VM2 and steel sprockets. The original chain was quite shot (bad tight spot) and I should have done the swap earlier.
Still on the original brake pads, but the rear pads are pretty tired. New pads all around coming this winter. The rear brake has tendancy to squeal loudly when coming to a stop. I don't know if there is a true fix for it or not. All kinds of stuff has been tried (different brand pads, lube, etc) by other owners to fix it. Some days it squeals, other days it doesn't. Weird. Very annoying when it does though. It's quite loud. I might try different rear pads.
Speaking of brakes, it's a common issue for the front to pulse a little when coming to a stop. Power and feel are great IMO, but the low speed pulsing is annoying. No one is sure what the cause is. Some days it pulses, other days it doesn't. Seems fine after removing the front wheel, so maybe exercising the pistons (pushing them back to get the wheel off, then pumping the lever to push them back out) does something good (cleans off brake grunge?).
Suspension. Hmmmm....
I tried to set the sag on the bike to 1/3 of total suspension travel (65-70mm), but could only get 60mm out the forks with the preload backed all the way out. So I set the rear to be 60mm and called it good. I only weigh 170 in street clothes, so it's probably sprung a bit stiff for my weight. The SMR comes with slightly stiffer springs than the regular SM which probably doesn't help either.
I found that setting the damping to the "Comfort" (softer) settings works best for me on less than perfect pavement. Fully adjustable suspension is great. A few clicks and I can make frost heaves in Vermont more livable and in minutes stiffen it up for a track day. When set soft (for bumpy roads), the bike has some wallow and vagueness, but not too bad. It's a trade-off of comfort for feedback. Cranked up for smooth roads or a track day and the ride is quite harsh on bumpy roads. Luckily a few minutes with a screwdriver is all you need to dial it in for the task at hand.
That said, the bike wants to stand up when hitting bumps while leaned over. I guess this is called "bump steer". Less high-speed compression damping is the cure, but the fork only has one compression damping adjustment. I guess I've never ridden a bike with truly great suspension so I may (or may not) know what I'm missing. I'm pretty happy with the stock stuff, but it could be better. It's certainly worlds better than any other bike I've owned except the Ninja Bike (which had fine suspension for my needs).
I read about lots of people putting steering dampers on the bike. I've never had a bike with a steering damper, so I don't know what I'm missing. All I know is that I tend to keep a light touch on the bars and never have any issues with headshake or tank slappers. I will sometimes get a brief bit of headshake when the front sets down after getting light over a rise, but nothing spooky. Maybe I just don't ride hard enough to cause it. Dunno... Hasn't been an issue for me.
Power. The SMR is plenty quick for street riding, but I wouldn't call it fast. Not liter sportbike or Busa/ZX14 fast anyway. I'd like to think I have a pretty smooth riding style and generally don't worry about the rear spinning up on corner exits. I have no wheelie skills, but the bike power wheelies in 1st and 2nd, even for me. A local guy with the same bike has no trouble lofting and riding one in 3rd and maybe 4th (with some help from the clutch and a rise in the road). There are times I wish it was just a bit quicker or gruntier. I think the 990 FI engine would be perfect after riding a friend's Super Duke.
Vibration. The SMR isn't smooth. You definitely know you are riding a motorcycle. That said, the vibes don't bother me or put any body parts to sleep. YMMV. There is a section of the midrange where the bike vibes more. Since it doesn't have a tach, I can't give any RPM range, but it's there. Pretty smooth below it and above it, but I don't spend too much time above it unless I'm riding aggressively. The bike does like to rev if you give it some, and that is one of the things I liked about it compared to the Ducati and Buell.
Fuel Range. I thought the small tank was going to be a deal breaker, but I've learned to live with it. I generally average about 50 MPH according to my GPS, so that means stopping for fuel every 2 - 2.5 hours. That's a good interval to get off the bike and stretch, so the stopping for a short break isn't the problem. The issue is planning your route so that you are near gas every 100 - 120 miles. And that hasn't really been an issue either here in the East. It's just that I have to pay attention to fuel stops when riding in unknown areas. The bike has been getting 40 MPG which turns the low fuel light on between 100 and 120 miles. The bike takes 3 gallons at that point, so I theoretically have a bit over a half gallon for reserve. On a recent trip to Lake Placid, the fuel light came on at 120 and I pulled into a gas station with 150 on the clock. The tank was almost empty. My riding buddy with the VFR was going to be my in-flight tanker if I didn't make it to Lake Placid.
Other miscellaneous thoughts...
The headlight sucks. Glad I don't ride at night.
The finish seems to be holding up fine aside from the wear from my boots on the frame. The bike still looks good.
The Future...
It's time for a big round of preventative maintenance on the KTM this winter. The chain/sprockets are done, but it still needs:
New brake pads all around, plus good caliper cleaning
New brake fluid
New fork oil (maybe softer springs while they're off)
New tires
Replace clutch fluid
Evoluzione clutch slave??? ($180)
Water pump rebuild kit?? ($100)
Re-torque steering head bearing (should be settled in now)
Valve check/adjust
Try "X-bike" jetting which opens up the airbox, high-flow air filter, stock jetting with 170/175 mains.
Install two Powerlet sockets on the headlight mask to run my GPS and video camera
I am still quite happy with the bike. The "new bike buzz" has long since worn off, but I don't find myself lusting for the latest greatest. The new Ducati Multistrada 1200 looks really good, but I can't see getting rid of the SMR for it given the $20K price tag for an "S" model. I've been a bit of a Bike Whore the last few years, so being happy with the stable is kinda weird. I miss having a race rep sportbike. The Ninja Bike was great fun, so I ponder getting a used sportbike, but then the tiny garage stops that thought. If anything, I'm more likely to upgrade the DRZ to a KTM enduro/EXC and get a spare set of 17" wheels for it so that I can play in the dirt or on the local kart/motard track with a simple wheel change.
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2015 KTM 1190 Adventure
2009 KTM 530 EXC
Source: https://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,47232.0.html
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