As all the previous advice indicates, F.I. is a plus, not a negative.
So Damien, you are an enduro rider, but do you have much experience with long distance bike travel into "3rd world" situations?

I think your Maroc warm up ride is a wise move. This will allow you to figure out solutions to the things that don't work out, that break, fall off or whatever.

IMHO, you're biggest probs with the 690 will be carrying luggage, fuel and water. I've ridden the 690 off road, great bike! But no real sub frame? 14 liters of fuel is more than the stock tank capacity, no?

14 ltrs. should allow about 140-150 miles? Not bad, but for Africa you might want a bit more? F.I. gives terrific fuel economy, a big plus over carbs. But if you go WFO all the time or if you're running a Race Map in the F.I. ECU, then economy can suffer. I'd go with a very conservative "lean" map for travel. Maybe KTM can help with this.

Packing light will be important, but honestly, in very rough going carrying luggage can cause probs. Things break, come loose, catch fire and are lost. Not many have done RTW type travel on the 690, at least I haven't heard much about it.

Speaking of going light, you don't want to end up like these German guys

For more info than you'll ever need about the 690 KTM, go here over on ADV:

KTM 690 Adv/Rally/Enduro/Duke/SM (merged) threadfest... - ADVrider

700 pages of KTM religion.

I know KTM offer hard boxes with it ... and have a rack ...

if the fuel tank is tough enough to take a rack and hard boxes, I am sure its fine to take saddle bags

The 14 litre Safari fuel tank is in addition to the 12 litre under seat model ... so all up its about 26 litres. That should be fine.

I would be interested to have closer look at what can be done to turn one of these into a touring machine.

And yes, nobody packs like the Germans! In all my years I have never seen a German touring "light" ... for that matter, I have never seen one touring without metal boxes! It just seems to be the German "technique" when it comes to riding around the world. There seems to be no debate in Germany about how this is done ... its (1) get largest possible bike (2) stick metal boxes on it (3) load it up until you simply cant add anything else. (4) find a way to strap a another 10kgs in spare tyres to the rig and (5) Then when you have done all that, you can consider yourself "prepared". So now you can go!

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another not-so-light example of a guy i met...


oh, and i'm very curious how your 690 holds up on long trips. good luck with your try-out trip!

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http://sanderonasingle.blogspot.com/

I have heard of a few people that have had probs with the FI on 690 engine, but all the problems I have heard of were with 08 models.

What year is yours?

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damien,

would you care to give us an update? did you take the 690 to morocco? any reliability issues?

thanks,

elrockers

Returned recently from a weeks trailriding with full luggage in the Dordogne region of France.

I've completed the following mods to the bike, most of which were done to resolve known issues:

Rally Raid 'bar riders with damper mount as I had a Scott's damper left over from my Super Enduro, the RR risers are also stronger than the KTM items.

RR upgraded upper and lower tank mounts, stock parts prone to breaking.

RR billet brake pedal, sprocket cover and 640 side mounted toolbox.

RR low temp fan switch, had it for a while but didn't fit until I returned from France. The fan on my mates 690 with the low temp switch was kicking in a lot earlier than mine (85 v 105 degrees).

KTM aluminium bashplate that's been extended rearwards to protect the rear master cylinder.





TT stainless racks, best on the market IMO and I'm not generally a TT fan. Made some brackets for the Wolfman panniers to fasten to, had a friend TiG weld them in place. Also added mounts for a Tool Tube.





Ti Akra, came with the bike, looses some weight without being too noisy but mnor importantly, gets rid of the stock stainless cat equipped silencer which runs very hot.

Giant Loop tankbag, modified to suit plus an Airhawk for the road mileage to the Dordogne and back.



Future mods include the possibility of fitting an RR rad guard and a screen from a 690 SM and the RR additional fuel tanks although cruising through France at 65mph swa the bike return 60+mpg. Just checked the valves for the first time at 6,500 miles, didn't need changing.

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My photos: www.possu.smugmug.com

Wow, that is a really nice setup!