KTM 950 high mileage?

[Steve Pickford]

Any body out there racked up a lot of miles on their 950 yet? If so, how is the reliability & what are the costs for having it dealer serviced?

Thanks

Steve

[amiller]

Hi Steve,I now have some 30,000kms on my LC8!the only problem so far has been a seal go in the slave cylinder on the hydraulic clutch,this is a problem as it is not an easy bike to ride out of London without a clutch !signs were oil comming out near the gearbox sprocket,then of course the clutch not woking.As for running cost rear tyres last about 14,000 kms and fronts last about 20,000 kms.Other running costs are realy no different than any other bike of this size,but beware the engine HAS to run on fully synthetic oil, say KTM.Also chain and sprockets have just been changed at 30,000 kms.

[alpinerider]

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

[Jake]

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.

[alpinerider]

Thanks jake that was helpful

[mollydog]

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

Cheers,

[stickysidedown]

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

[gary and loo]

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?

Originally Posted by stickysidedown

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

[mcgiggle]

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

[garmei]

Originally Posted by gary and loo

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?

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....

[garmei]

Originally Posted by mcgiggle

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

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.

[frinch11]

Originally Posted by gary and loo

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?

Increase your engine idle speed, should be 1400 rpm

[George1]

I sold my 950 and bought the 800gs, great bike but lacks the fun and speed you can approach obsticles on the KTM. Its down to the suspension not being as good. On the road in and around London its great. Keep the 950 and get the BM for the trip, then sell it when you get back.

Originally Posted by alpinerider

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

[stickysidedown]

Originally Posted by gary and loo

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?

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

[Zimi]

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