didn't hear about clutch issues yet when I was on the market for 790R,
good to know. I would also add a note about potential problem with overheating rear shock because of cat proximity. There's been numerous reports of rear shock failures because of that. There is already heat shield available on the market. Mostly affected are R models though.

I think I should explain more so people get a feel for the scale of this problem.

Some owners have questioned why this apparently seems not to have affected the 790 Duke which was introduced a year earlier. The answer is we don't know.

Uli Schildt picked up his bike in Arizona and rode 3,000 miles back to Washington State. A week later his clutch failed but KTM refused to replace it under warranty. Uli writes, "[KTM] say the clutch is a 'wear item'. I tried to reason with them, to no avail. Left several messages at KTM in California but they have not replied."

Uli suggests, "anybody with a 790 to pull the clutch cover and inspect. This takes less than 5 minutes and requires almost no mechanical skill. You don't need to drain the oil, since the clutch is well above the sump (although a few drops may come out)."

And this is what David Bentley's clutch looked like when followed Uli's advice and removed the cover. It seems in perfect condition.



But this is what Mark Ferbrache's clutch looked like with signs of oil overheating and burning.



Mark writes that he had to replace his clutch at his expense, "KTM just said wear and tear so had to pay myself." If your clutch looks like this you might want to investigate further, so take the three bolts and cover off, then take out each plate and check them for heat damage, loss of material, etc.

J P De Villiers writes, "After my first clutch burnt and the fault was put on me after only 2700 km. I put a [heavy duty] Rekluse torque drive with the hope it will be a stronger replacement. It took exactly 300 km, clutch started taking high an slipping exactly like before."

In Quintin Mclaughlin's case he had only just run the bike in and had the initial service before setting off on a road trip through France, Spain and Portugal. Clutch failure at only 2,000 miles and KTM's reaction is to leave him stranded for four days and having to arrange repatriation of him and bike despite supposedly being covered by KTM Mobility breakdown cover.

Laia Sanz's clutch had to be replaced at the Bosnia Rally. Laia is a thirteen-time Women's Trial World Champion, so you would expect SHE knows how to use a clutch.

Bill Cairns was one of the first to report a clutch failure to the community. Bill is a avid poster of biking action videos and KTM took one look at these and decided Bill was misusing the clutch. KTM would not allow the warranty on the rest of the engine to continue unless Bill spent close to £3,000 on a complete engine rebuild.

The 790 community generally believes the clutch problems are due to a lack of lubrication and possibly because the oil filters are not picking up small amounts of debris that is then blocking the oil jet lubricating the clutch, however KTM REFUSES to engage with any of the owners who have had problems, making a resolution impossible to determine. This is irresponsible in the extreme.

I believe these reports are only the tip of the iceberg.

READY TO RACE (but hey guys, please be gentle with the clutch)

__________________
"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

From https://790adventure.net/early-fault...shock-failure/

There is a theory going around incriminating the catalytic converter... Some facts however don’t align very well with this theory:

This failure is only on the R, the S model is not affected at all;

There is at least one example of a failing shock absorber on a bike with the catalyser removed from day one. Ergo, the catalyser in that case was not to blame;

As bikes get more mileage, failure rate should have increased. This is not the case, the bikes with failing shock absorbers are all low mileage (less than 2k, very new).

This seems to indicate that the issue is probably not the catalyser but more likely a default on some [R model] shocks with a problem from the factory.

__________________
"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

For balance, how many bikes have not had clutch problems?

Singling out a few (especially when the root cause is not confirmed) is defective analysis. At least say what % of bikes have shown any problem. I'm up to 7500 miles without any problems, including a fairly hot tour of southern Europe earlier this hear.

I've very happy with my 790 as well.

Clearly the vast majority are OK, though I will be pulling the clutch cover on my 790S to take a look once I'm back in the UK.

The issue isn't that there are failures, all mechanical things are subject to breakdown, the two issues are (1) that KTM is refusing to accept any clutch warranty claims, and (2) is declining to engage with owners to try to identify the root cause of the failures.

The bikes are sold as 'Ready to Race' so should be able to take at typical off-road treatment, but in the case of Uli Schildt above (who's 67 years of age) all he has done is to ride the bike across the States, mainly on asphalt and only a little bit on gravel road.

__________________
"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

Is yours an R model?

Sorry to re-awaken an old thread but just wondering if anyone has anymore updates on the clutch issues or has anyone heard of any more similar issues?

Thanks

The R and S models have the same engine, and the Duke is the same in that area. The R does have a different shock so if some of those are suffering from heat from the cat that could be a reason.

Some later feedback on the clutch issue suggests that blockage of the centre oil jet (just 0,3mm dia) could have been caused by excess Loctite on the jet from factory assembly, though this is not yet confirmed. Others think that wrongly adjusted clutch with no free play could have led to clutch slip generating excess heat.

Given that there seems to have been no more occurrences and that all the failures were on low mileage engines I tend to the former. While it's a poor show if KTM aren't picking up warranty I suspect this could be associated with owner attitude and dealer support as much as anything.

I've done 8,000 miles on mine so far with no mechanical problems and planning to do 20,000 round central Asia later this year. Don't let a few isolated events put you off what is a very good bike.

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good to be optimistic and I wish you all the best on your trip but 8k miles is not that many yet, any bike or car today (even Chinese) ususaly do this without problems. Potential buyers are right they do research before they commit to buy. The only problem for me with KTM 790 adv is this bike is not too simple for RTW trips or similar.

It has complex electronics, for sure. There are two sides of that - one, if it breaks by the side of the road I probably won't be able to fix it, and two, hopefully modern electronics should be pretty reliable and NOT break by the side of the road!

I agree 8,000 miles isn't much but the clutch "problems" seem to be restricted to lower mileage engines. It's not like KTM have suddenly forgotten how to make clutch plates after years of doing it.