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KTM 690 Enduro - Can it do Africa? KTM 690 Enduro - Can it do Africa?
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Old 15 May 2013
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Originally Posted by colebatch View Post
Narrow box has so far put me off getting one too.

And yes, same question .... WHY ?
It's because the 690 Enduro is based on the 690 SMC and hence, uses the SMC transmission, presumably for cost reasons although KTM could have at least raised 6th gear to equal the 16/45 gearing.

I use 14t on the front when trailriding, 15t for general riding and 16t for longer road rides which improves MPG drastically, all with a stock rear sprocket.
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Old 15 May 2013
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Originally Posted by Steve Pickford View Post
It's because the 690 Enduro is based on the 690 SMC and hence, uses the SMC transmission, presumably for cost reasons although KTM could have at least raised 6th gear to equal the 16/45 gearing.

I use 14t on the front when trailriding, 15t for general riding and 16t for longer road rides which improves MPG drastically, all with a stock rear sprocket.
I used a 17t for the ride back from Barnaul to London last year and it worked well.
It's a bit tight, and had to leave the cover off the sprocket but cruised at 80 to 85mph.
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Old 15 May 2013
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One thing to be careful of when using bigger front sprockets on the 690 is doing so in conjunction with aftermarket clutch slave cylinders. Although they don't have the same poor reputation as those on the 950, I'd still like to replace mine with an aftermarket option and carry the stock part as a spare on longer road trips but the only one I know of (Sigutech?) does not work with anything larger than a 15t from what I've heard, lack of clearance is the reason.
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Old 3 Jun 2013
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Originally Posted by Steve Pickford View Post
One thing to be careful of when using bigger front sprockets on the 690 is doing so in conjunction with aftermarket clutch slave cylinders. Although they don't have the same poor reputation as those on the 950, I'd still like to replace mine with an aftermarket option and carry the stock part as a spare on longer road trips but the only one I know of (Sigutech?) does not work with anything larger than a 15t from what I've heard, lack of clearance is the reason.
Not true.. I was using 16t with a sigutech. On the 690 thread in ADV I believe there are people using a 17t but that is way too high for 1st gear in my opinion.
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Old 14 Aug 2013
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This thread has convinced me to but a KTM 690R Duke. I was concerned about reliability but not now. The fantastic economy is a nice bonus.
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Old 15 Aug 2013
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Since posting this I've read on KTMforum that potential problems exist with the hydraulic camchain tensioner. Has anyone experienced any problem in this respect?
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