Hello,
I'd like to introduce a bike that to my knowledge has not been mentioned here before. It is the KTM Military LC 400 LSE and I picked mine up yesterday.
It is made for the German army (and the Dutch I think), they chose it over a BMW 650 GS military model after extensive testing.
It comes with many features as standard, so I hope I won't have to make a lot of modifications for touring in South America.
For a picture (from the web, not of my bike) see below.

Here are some specs and standard accessories:

398cc, 34 hp (detuned for robustness)
158 kg dry (without panniers and topcase)
130 km/h max
low seat height (I'm 180 cm and both my feet are fully and firmly on the ground)
main and side stand
kick and electric starter
large battery (from the KTM 950 Adventure)
easily adjustable rear spring
reinforced frame (max total weight 380 kg)
18 liter tank
uses 91 octane petrol, but can be switched to 80 octane
engine protection
handguards
heated grips
12V power socket
KTM tank bag
Hepco & Becker panniers and top case and super strong frame for these
battery charger
extensive manual (explains all the service work)
set of tools (I think all that's needed for the service)
small wind shield
that's all I can think of at the moment.

I cannot comment much on the ride, I have only ridden it on the motorway from the dealer to my place and I don't want to use it before a full service.
It's not incredibly powerful (I can only compare it to my Suzuki Bandit), but it accelerates to 130 km/h without problems, even uphill. It's quite vibey, but again compared to my 4 cylinder bike. It was comfortable enough for 2 hours and I imagine it would be for longer. I haven't tested the fuel consumption, but the range is said to be over 300 km.
Oh, and the price: 6590 Euros new, I got mine used for 3400 (2004 registration, 7300 km on the clock, good condition). Not bad for a bike with all those accessories in my opinion. Probably not available everywhere, but then Germany is a nice place to visit ;-)

Any comments or questions welcome (I do have more pics if there is interest). And please let me know if you think there are any mods I should do.

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looks like a good 'un.
Nice bike with lots of attractive features so it should not need modding, much - learn to live with it and see what you don't like after that.

It's expensive new, but you got what looks like a good asking price.

The low seat is a great idea - far too many of this type of bike are stupidly high in the saddle.

Yes please, let's see some more pics!

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Dave

+1 on the pics.... Looks MUCH better than that GHASTLY ORANGE!

Indeed!

Just had a look on mobile.de - der Automarkt für Gebrauchtwagen und Neufahrzeuge - Finden oder Verkaufen Sie einfach und schnell ihr Auto and there's loads of them for sale. price ranged from 2600 euro to 6500.
Looks like all you'd have to do is pack, kiss mum on the cheek and fuel it up. good to go!
Being a military vehicle i imagine it would be fairly mildly tuned? more for long life than Dakar winning speed. - about right for a trip then!

nice find!

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'99 R1100GS - In a suitable shade of black

It's not that life is so short, It's just that we're dead for so long....
"The world is a book, those who do not travel read only one page." ~ Saint Augustin

The ones online i saw for sale were reg'd 5/04 and 08/04 would that put them after the reliability problems earlier KTM's had (sorry if this is wrong, I'm not well read on the KTM history, just something I remember reading)

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'99 R1100GS - In a suitable shade of black

It's not that life is so short, It's just that we're dead for so long....
"The world is a book, those who do not travel read only one page." ~ Saint Augustin

Here some more pictures (all from the web).
I found mine on mobile.de, but the cheapest I found was 2800, not 2600. I bought it from the dealer in Offenbach, in case somebody is considering a purchase. He has lots of them, at least 30, and he is quite keen to get rid of them quickly (it is actually a car dealer). He painted some black, blue and orange as well. The cheapest ones (in which I was interested at first), have around 22000 km on the clock and are scratched heavliy, must have been dropped a lot in battle ;-) Went for a nicer and more expensive one for piece of mind, although I'm sure the others are fine, too. They all have a full service history btw

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There are only 2004 models on the market, this is when the army started ordering them and they sold a lot of surplus ones to dealers last year. I think even the "new" ones are unused from 2004. Not sure about reliability problems before 2004 (I'm not a KTM expert), but I assume the army wouldn't have ordered them if they had shown reliability problems during the test period.

Hey,

Nice! I'm looking for a more off-road expedition addition for my transalp... . I was thinking about a DR 650 SE or XT 600 or something... . I might check one of these out though. They seem pretty much ready to go.

Any ideas about leg room on these bikes? I don't like em too short... . (Low saddle is not necesarily a plus on those long rides...)

Thanks!

Rob

My sister is a captain in the RLC and had to do her bike test, she did it in the army and all on a KTM EXC, I wonder if its the same as that.... Interesting, I'll have to ask....

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Bonis Se Aliovorsum Avertentibus Hic Crescit Pravitas

The Dutch army have them also (bought then together withe the german army. (we have more than 100 bikes bought)
Reson in NL was the simple technick and service fron KTM, they said...

These loko super super value. Shame about the plastic panniers...bound to get trashed. Eveyrthing else looks spot on.

Anyone know what the service interval is between oil changes/engine rebuilds (some of the KTM offroad bikes are like 20 hours or every 2/3 days in our shoes)

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Thanks
Joe

Aha,

I checked with Peer on the oil change intervals already, and that should be 5000km. I'd hope with the mildly tuned engine it would last a while. Being an LC4, you can probably slot in a 640 if the engine goes after a while...

Why would the plastic bags go sooner? I would expect they are more robust then most aluminium containers... .

;-)
Rob

PeerG,
From what you say, you visited the dealer in Germany; were there any problems with the buying process?
Getting the bike registered in the UK is another question: any problems there? (I think I understand the basic procedures).
I guess you may have returned to the UK on German export plates?

Thanks for any further information on this aspect of getting your new bike,

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Dave

Well Peer.... I'd say there's a few people here that would love to hear on your verdict once you get your service on the bike done and take on it's first proper test run!
I know i'll be watching closely

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'99 R1100GS - In a suitable shade of black

It's not that life is so short, It's just that we're dead for so long....
"The world is a book, those who do not travel read only one page." ~ Saint Augustin

Seems to be the ideal bike. I would even consider one if they had RH gearchange