• Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to register so that you can join the community and use the numerous features on the site. After registering, don't forget to post up an introduction!

Fuel for you KTM haters.

Forums New posts
SpiritAtBay said:
You didn't ask me but I don't mind replying LOL

JAPANESE all the way baby!
Click to expand...

woodsguy said:
I'm on my 4th Honda 450 with no complaints. That said I think the bike is a Yamaha FX250. Yamaha realibity is 2nd to none. The bike is a little ripper. Yamaha suspension is tops. Glenn has one. Some of the components aren't as high-end as KTM but good enough. Now if you're wanting to dualsport it I'd go some kind of 500cc from Austria.
Click to expand...


Sorry to hear about the woes. Obviously every brand has lemons and there are Japanese bikes out there with similar problems. I had Honda tell me to shove it when I had endless problems with one of their cars and I lost thousands after eventually parting it out, so these tactics can happen no matter what company you buy from.

I’ve had plenty of jap bikes that were absolute nightmares and never ran right no matter what I did. The brand I had the most problems with was Honda-I had a crf150 that died and wouldn’t start back up any time it got wet, a cr125 that went through pistons almost as fast as spark plugs even after playing with the jetting, an xr600r that also was a jetting nightmare. They were all Japanese and all carbureted and all left me stranded multiple times like your husky.

Now I have a 2019 ktm 300 xc with 230 extremely hard mostly race hours on it and it’s still more reliable than my old Japanese bikes.
 
A9AF890D-FFCB-4FD7-A44D-80643AAC4F43.jpeg
 
Can you even imagine the problems KTM’s would have if they were ridden the miles BMW’s and Jap bikes put on. Buddy of mine says he rides with a guy that has a 1290 and he just leaves it running when they stop because he’s afraid it won’t start.
 
Yours need to be in a museum some where. It’s one in a million. They come up for sale on ADV every day with high mileage of about 3k miles. It don’t take most very long to know they need to get rid of those things while there ahead of the game. I promise you Honda and BMW make motorcycles that make it home every time you ride them.
 
dirtryder said:
Yours need to be in a museum some where. It’s one in a million. They come up for sale on ADV every day with high mileage of about 3k miles. It don’t take most very long to know they need to get rid of those things while there ahead of the game. I promise you Honda and BMW make motorcycles that make it home every time you ride them.
Click to expand...
Theyre not bad motorcycles at all really... the truth of the matter is they're just race bikes and race bikes aren't mean to have the miles put on them.
 
I picked up a 2023 Husqvarna Norden 901 on Thursday

Absolutely loving the bike. Have about 300 miles on it now.

Went to adjust the chain slack last night and noticed some residue on the engine.

The coolant was leaking somewhere in low volume. Reservoir was still at the full mark but it was in a few areas and left white residue.

Checked hose clamps. The easier to access ones took a full turn each. Tightened the easier ones up.

The real culprit that was the one on the thermostat housing.

20230603_201644.jpg



Had to drop the skid plate because initially the clamps worm gear was facing the radiator and I couldn't get a socket on it. I had to use a 1/4 wrench to slowly loosen it enough to slip it around towards the engine. Then I tightened it up.

After I finished that up I did a double take as I looked at the radiator. The lower radiator support bolts were not there. As in never installed from the factory. You can see in the above photo on the right side it's missing. The paint on the radiator is unmolested so that tells me a bolt has never been turned on that surface.

They were missing from both sides.

20230603_195756.jpg


20230603_195805(0).jpg


Reaching out to KTM of North Texas/Straight Line Motorosports to see if they will provide new bolts, washers, and bushings without me dragging 2 hours to their store.

Also noticed the skid plate was rattling when I was getting ready to re-install it.

Which was another gift from the Austrian gods, a loose vibration dampner that slots into the fuel tank and helps secure the skid plate.

20230603_201818.jpg


I had to remove the outer skin panel on the skid plate to access the T30 bolt that holds it in, it was only threaded half way in.

I didn't take any photos but I also noticed my left handguard would turn freely on the bar. The clamp bolts were loose so I snugged those up pretty quickly.

Seems Husqvarna may need to start using a breathalyzer on employees returning from their lunch breaks at the local Biergarten.

Not deal breakers by any means, but quite disappointing as a first time KTM/Husqvarna buyer as far as QC goes.

Thankfully I'm pretty mechanically inclined and went into this knowing I'll probably have to fiddle with the bike a little bit to get it up to snuff.

In spite of these issues, I am loving the Norden and it's an absolute riot on the streets. I've never ridden anything like it and can't wait to put some big miles on the bike.
 
dashiznit1 said:
Sorry to hear about the woes. Obviously every brand has lemons and there are Japanese bikes out there with similar problems. I had Honda tell me to shove it when I had endless problems with one of their cars and I lost thousands after eventually parting it out, so these tactics can happen no matter what company you buy from.

I’ve had plenty of jap bikes that were absolute nightmares and never ran right no matter what I did. The brand I had the most problems with was Honda-I had a crf150 that died and wouldn’t start back up any time it got wet, a cr125 that went through pistons almost as fast as spark plugs even after playing with the jetting, an xr600r that also was a jetting nightmare. They were all Japanese and all carbureted and all left me stranded multiple times like your husky.

Now I have a 2019 ktm 300 xc with 230 extremely hard mostly race hours on it and it’s still more reliable than my old Japanese bikes.
Click to expand...
When I was researching the Africa Twin I read about several issues.

The fuel tanks on some Adventure Sports models have wax in them that breaks free and clogs the fuel pumps up.

The Apple CarPlay functionality is still terrible and people have a lot of issues with it disconnecting from their headsets.

Several reports of DCT valve blocks needing to be cleaned or replaced around 40k miles.

The biggest concern was a common issue of the Adventure Sports wheels cracking where the spokes are inserted after a few thousand miles. One guy has had his replaced and is on his 3rd set. Seems like a pretty dangerous part failure.

Nearly all of them will have some type of flaws when you start drilling down into forums on a bike that's been out a few years.

All that being said, KTM earned it's bad rep for quality control years ago and has an uphill battle ahead of it in terms of clearing its name, and it doesn't seem to be making large strides.
 
We had 3 KTMS on our ride today, unbelievable, done broke down. Not even the horrible 690. Miracles.
 

Attachments

  • 20230605_091835.jpg
    20230605_091835.jpg
    740.6 KB · Views: 43
Well with all this talk about the KTM and how QC was suppose to be better.

Been thinking about selling my DR without doing anything to it and buy a TW200 :)

to me it still has the weight disadvantage to it compared to DR. Plus all the electronics to break.
 
Hey my 1997 KTM 620 RXC was just as fast as my 1985 and 1986 XR600's. Neck and neck. None of my big bore dirt bikes ever broke down despite pounding them hard in the rocky Colorado mountains almost daily. I had two flat tires over 10 years and no breakdowns, but I sold the beautiful KTM after about 5K miles. Just did not handle that well sliding around turns at 50mph, but it was largely because the Ohlins was sprung for someone 100# over my weight. I'll bet with more time and money I could have easily set it up better so not KTM's fault. It was an extraordinary flashy DS though, great fun on the street except for intrinsic LC4 vibrations.
 
Bajaexplorer said:
Well with all this talk about the KTM and how QC was suppose to be better.

Been thinking about selling my DR without doing anything to it and buy a TW200 :)

to me it still has the weight disadvantage to it compared to DR. Plus all the electronics to break.
Click to expand...
I don't even want any of what you've been smoking. Sell a DR for a TW? I just spoke to a friend in CO today and he was mad about one of his DR's clutch cable breaking at 86,000 miles. He had a spare cable with him but it took over an hour in the rain to fix. The breakdown held up some GSA riding buddies who stuck around as the water rose, holding plastics, a seat, gas tank and tools. Then 3 of the 4 GSA's then went down in the next water crossing, which had grown crazy. It was a bad story, quite typical of my buddy's luck :-) But hey his 2005 BMW R1200GS now has 265K on it and is the highest mileage R1200 in CO. Guess what.. never a breakdown on the 2005 GS
 
Boulder Ed said:
I don't even want any of what you've been smoking. Sell a DR for a TW? I just spoke to a friend in CO today and he was mad about one of his DR's clutch cable breaking at 86,000 miles. He had a spare cable with him but it took over an hour in the rain to fix. The breakdown held up some GSA riding buddies who stuck around as the water rose, holding plastics, a seat, gas tank and tools. Then 3 of the 4 GSA's then went down in the next water crossing, which had grown crazy. It was a bad story, quite typical of my buddy's luck :-) But hey his 2005 BMW R1200GS now has 265K on it and is the highest mileage R1200 in CO. Guess what.. never a breakdown on the 2005 GS
Click to expand...

He screwed up. That spare clutch cable was supposed to have already been run alongside the one that's in use so all you have to do is swap the ends.
 
Agreed. And he of all people knew better. As i recall i rode his now 70k drz across the white rim trail years ago at around 45k on it, and returned with a single clutch cable strand remaining between me and a big problem.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top