- Joined
- Feb 6, 2006
- Messages
- 12,144
- Reaction score
- 5,580
- Location
- Cape Town, deep in the lentils
- Bike
- KTM 990 Adventure
I am the new custodian of a bit of a unicorn. Unless you are a bit of an anorak nerd on these things, you'd never know what lurks beneath its skirts.
Some bikes have a bunch of bling thrown at them, this has almost nothing of that on it. It's all very single minded and focused on making a very good bike the best it can be. All the mods were clearly in service of a ride rather than an aesthetic. Clearly a LOT of time and passion was invested into it. I think the crown jewels of the mods is a full set of Ohlins TTX suspension. Yes, those mythical golden things that one only really ever hears about.
And tucked away in the back...
On my old bike I had spent much time and money of taking the stock standard boingy things to 265mm of travel with .56's linear springs, revalved to suit from Superplush in the US. The upgraded forks were great. More travel was brilliant but the biggest improvement was being able to hit stuff much harder and not bottom out, not deflect and track with more confidence. It really made the front, a weaker point in the package, become quite predictable, more control, less dive, better in sand and it very seldom bottomed out and even then it wasn’t those rim-buckling-tooth-rattlers I used to have. The clickers had a much bigger influence now that they had a better spring and valving behind them. The rear was also given a lift to match the 265 but the spring and valving was standard. It was ok, but a little harsh at pace and prone to a wicked kick with a spring that was a bit meatier than necessary if things weren't timed well. Traction, a measure of how well the shock actually does it's business on very busy stuff was not great but it was solid. It wasn't going to let one down and had saved my arse often, but at the extremes it wasn't forgiving.
The old bike has been put out to pasture as I am not going to rebuild that beast for the 3rd time. For sometime now, I've been looking for the last year of the 990R's - 2012. Quite a few times I've nearly pulled the trigger. But got really lucky when @Runner had this one up for sale.
In 2013 when I got the old bike into rallying, I was considering a set of these things. Our Rand then made them R25k brand new, now, just second hand fronts off eBay even without postage are about that! I spent an unhealthy amount of time perving over them and scouring the net for peoples experience of them. There was and still is precious little of peoples experience of them suffice to say that the little that there was, was very appreciative of them. I suppose those that got them were so busy having fun on them that they weren't bothered to let others know about their experiences.
Now, you can get the standard Ohlins TTX 22 cartridges to slot right into the fork bodies with the right choice of springs for your weight, but there's an issue with the rear....
These bikes can't run a standard TTX 44 rear shock, the reason is that the reservoir won’t fit and it has to be rotated rearwards 15 or 20 degrees from stock. So a company in the US makes a bespoke solution for the 950’s and 990’s. Ken from Powercell partnered with Ohlins to make a bespoke offering. He lops off the top mounting point and rewelds it back on so as to fit. He also changed some of the internals to suit the bike.
When I got the bike the rear shock needed some love, one of the unique non Ohlins seals that Ken modified had seen better days. Martin Petzhold, the sole Ohlins agent in the country did the work.
That's the offending bit that was replaced on the left
So, now that I’ve set it up for my preferences – Changed the bar positions... That took some work, the steel bolts needed quite a bit of persuasion and heat to get them out...
Then lowered the rear preload and dropped the trippleclamps a bit, rebalanced the front wheel, fixed a leaky seal, removed the Emig steering damper, tightened the head bearing...
So..... how does it ride?
I think I need to borrow a stock standard 990R for comparison. It's been a long time since I rode a stock bike and these observations are against my old bike which is far from standard. On top of that, there’s the Emig 20mm offset Tripple clamps involved in things too which add their own flavour to proceedings.
I can say that everywhere is much different to what I remember. Even discounting that my old bike was well setup, this is something else!
On tar, nothing seems to upset it. It’s a very plush but with little dive and is very precise. Even with the knobbly, loads of feel and rock solid at any speed. The confidence level is beautiful. The 20mm offset gives much stability to direction but its the way it travels I feel super connected to the road. The one less disc isn't as great a loss as I would have thought. It still hauls things up pretty well. I think the reason for the double discs wasn't only for stopping power, I think it was as much heat distribution too. I am pretty sure I'll run out of tire before I run out of brake and on gravel that'll definitely be the case. If I had more road tires on, it might be that the brakes might not be the equal of the tire.
Having one less disc and caliper is almost 3kgs off the unspring mass. If I didn't know I wouldn't know there's something missing from the front, but 3kgs hammering up and down must have some effect that only if I jumped between a stock bike and this one would show what's what.
I’ve not got it onto some fast gravel or technical stuff yet, but just this morning went and messed about in Macassar. At first, I thought that they must have done something to the one bit of the beach road that has this tightly packed river stone type surface. It’s normally a jarring experience. Now it truly felt smooth?! The comfort was spooky. It was open mouth stuff.
It starts here and heads off along the beach
Then onto the washboard sand, I barely felt it. No skipping or packing of the forks as they struggle to keep up with wind created corrugations. I was floating over it and yet I could feel exactly what the front was doing. The stuff I was riding on was off the track to the left.
That legend motor with none of the nanny-state traction control needs to be respected as too much of a good thing still has consequences that even the best suspension isn’t going to solve. These bikes love steering with the rear, or rather, it’s fun to steer with the rear, however it’s now a little more behaved with zero kick from the sharper edges or bigger mounds. It just squats and fucks off!
I am genuinely amazed! The step up from stock is not small. Writing this, I still can't quite digest how so very good this suspension is!
Then, it was off into the quarry to try out the sand. I didn’t have all my gear on so wasn’t going to push it, but it’s very stable through everything. I think it’s more from the 20mm offset than anything else. I didn’t have the balls to try skipping the multiple deep whoops yet, but the ones that were better spaced that I could double were fun.
I jumped it off a few things landing flat or into the back of the next mound, it just soaks and sails right through them. I wanted to find out how far into the fork I was getting. I put a small powerful magnet on the one fork...
Perfect.
Through all this, I have yet to start playing with clickers. I have only been riding it with everything set to middle. Can't wait to fiddle!
Also, I can’t wait to sail it through the Richtersveld. I have a suspicion that it's going to be utterly magic.
I think that todays bikes have suspension that is heaps ahead of what was available then, maybe close to this here... The 1290 I rode the other day felt very refined and capable. But those last few degrees of brilliance come at a price that is only found at the most rarified of special editions.
These bikes in their day were the apex predators at the Dakar. They are enormously capable in a way that is hardly believable. As a dual sport adventure bike for the open stuff they are supreme. They have a presence and the styling just gets more iconic as the years tick by.
I'm never going to race it, those days are gone. But, to have this as a base level for even the most benign of rides is just another level of gorgeousness. On those odd occasions where I want to turn the wick up and let those 100 and something ponies do their thing, it's fabulous to know that what's keeping me connected to mother earth is the best there is.
Anyone in the Cape have a stock standard 990R and want to ride a REALLY sorted version?
Some bikes have a bunch of bling thrown at them, this has almost nothing of that on it. It's all very single minded and focused on making a very good bike the best it can be. All the mods were clearly in service of a ride rather than an aesthetic. Clearly a LOT of time and passion was invested into it. I think the crown jewels of the mods is a full set of Ohlins TTX suspension. Yes, those mythical golden things that one only really ever hears about.
And tucked away in the back...
On my old bike I had spent much time and money of taking the stock standard boingy things to 265mm of travel with .56's linear springs, revalved to suit from Superplush in the US. The upgraded forks were great. More travel was brilliant but the biggest improvement was being able to hit stuff much harder and not bottom out, not deflect and track with more confidence. It really made the front, a weaker point in the package, become quite predictable, more control, less dive, better in sand and it very seldom bottomed out and even then it wasn’t those rim-buckling-tooth-rattlers I used to have. The clickers had a much bigger influence now that they had a better spring and valving behind them. The rear was also given a lift to match the 265 but the spring and valving was standard. It was ok, but a little harsh at pace and prone to a wicked kick with a spring that was a bit meatier than necessary if things weren't timed well. Traction, a measure of how well the shock actually does it's business on very busy stuff was not great but it was solid. It wasn't going to let one down and had saved my arse often, but at the extremes it wasn't forgiving.
The old bike has been put out to pasture as I am not going to rebuild that beast for the 3rd time. For sometime now, I've been looking for the last year of the 990R's - 2012. Quite a few times I've nearly pulled the trigger. But got really lucky when @Runner had this one up for sale.
In 2013 when I got the old bike into rallying, I was considering a set of these things. Our Rand then made them R25k brand new, now, just second hand fronts off eBay even without postage are about that! I spent an unhealthy amount of time perving over them and scouring the net for peoples experience of them. There was and still is precious little of peoples experience of them suffice to say that the little that there was, was very appreciative of them. I suppose those that got them were so busy having fun on them that they weren't bothered to let others know about their experiences.
Now, you can get the standard Ohlins TTX 22 cartridges to slot right into the fork bodies with the right choice of springs for your weight, but there's an issue with the rear....
These bikes can't run a standard TTX 44 rear shock, the reason is that the reservoir won’t fit and it has to be rotated rearwards 15 or 20 degrees from stock. So a company in the US makes a bespoke solution for the 950’s and 990’s. Ken from Powercell partnered with Ohlins to make a bespoke offering. He lops off the top mounting point and rewelds it back on so as to fit. He also changed some of the internals to suit the bike.
When I got the bike the rear shock needed some love, one of the unique non Ohlins seals that Ken modified had seen better days. Martin Petzhold, the sole Ohlins agent in the country did the work.
That's the offending bit that was replaced on the left
So, now that I’ve set it up for my preferences – Changed the bar positions... That took some work, the steel bolts needed quite a bit of persuasion and heat to get them out...
Then lowered the rear preload and dropped the trippleclamps a bit, rebalanced the front wheel, fixed a leaky seal, removed the Emig steering damper, tightened the head bearing...
So..... how does it ride?
I think I need to borrow a stock standard 990R for comparison. It's been a long time since I rode a stock bike and these observations are against my old bike which is far from standard. On top of that, there’s the Emig 20mm offset Tripple clamps involved in things too which add their own flavour to proceedings.
I can say that everywhere is much different to what I remember. Even discounting that my old bike was well setup, this is something else!
On tar, nothing seems to upset it. It’s a very plush but with little dive and is very precise. Even with the knobbly, loads of feel and rock solid at any speed. The confidence level is beautiful. The 20mm offset gives much stability to direction but its the way it travels I feel super connected to the road. The one less disc isn't as great a loss as I would have thought. It still hauls things up pretty well. I think the reason for the double discs wasn't only for stopping power, I think it was as much heat distribution too. I am pretty sure I'll run out of tire before I run out of brake and on gravel that'll definitely be the case. If I had more road tires on, it might be that the brakes might not be the equal of the tire.
Having one less disc and caliper is almost 3kgs off the unspring mass. If I didn't know I wouldn't know there's something missing from the front, but 3kgs hammering up and down must have some effect that only if I jumped between a stock bike and this one would show what's what.
I’ve not got it onto some fast gravel or technical stuff yet, but just this morning went and messed about in Macassar. At first, I thought that they must have done something to the one bit of the beach road that has this tightly packed river stone type surface. It’s normally a jarring experience. Now it truly felt smooth?! The comfort was spooky. It was open mouth stuff.
It starts here and heads off along the beach
Then onto the washboard sand, I barely felt it. No skipping or packing of the forks as they struggle to keep up with wind created corrugations. I was floating over it and yet I could feel exactly what the front was doing. The stuff I was riding on was off the track to the left.
That legend motor with none of the nanny-state traction control needs to be respected as too much of a good thing still has consequences that even the best suspension isn’t going to solve. These bikes love steering with the rear, or rather, it’s fun to steer with the rear, however it’s now a little more behaved with zero kick from the sharper edges or bigger mounds. It just squats and fucks off!
I am genuinely amazed! The step up from stock is not small. Writing this, I still can't quite digest how so very good this suspension is!
Then, it was off into the quarry to try out the sand. I didn’t have all my gear on so wasn’t going to push it, but it’s very stable through everything. I think it’s more from the 20mm offset than anything else. I didn’t have the balls to try skipping the multiple deep whoops yet, but the ones that were better spaced that I could double were fun.
I jumped it off a few things landing flat or into the back of the next mound, it just soaks and sails right through them. I wanted to find out how far into the fork I was getting. I put a small powerful magnet on the one fork...
Perfect.
Through all this, I have yet to start playing with clickers. I have only been riding it with everything set to middle. Can't wait to fiddle!
Also, I can’t wait to sail it through the Richtersveld. I have a suspicion that it's going to be utterly magic.
I think that todays bikes have suspension that is heaps ahead of what was available then, maybe close to this here... The 1290 I rode the other day felt very refined and capable. But those last few degrees of brilliance come at a price that is only found at the most rarified of special editions.
These bikes in their day were the apex predators at the Dakar. They are enormously capable in a way that is hardly believable. As a dual sport adventure bike for the open stuff they are supreme. They have a presence and the styling just gets more iconic as the years tick by.
I'm never going to race it, those days are gone. But, to have this as a base level for even the most benign of rides is just another level of gorgeousness. On those odd occasions where I want to turn the wick up and let those 100 and something ponies do their thing, it's fabulous to know that what's keeping me connected to mother earth is the best there is.
Anyone in the Cape have a stock standard 990R and want to ride a REALLY sorted version?
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