After my ride on the Dakar yesterday and having used friend's older model KTM's, I've pretty much decided to go for the KTM.

Only problem is that I would like to test ride it first as a final check and do you think I can find a dealer who has a bike available for a test ride?

Does anyone know of a dealer in South England who as an 04/05 model available as a demo bike?

Geoff

Try 'Bracken Motorcycle Workshop' They always a have a good stock of new and used KTM's and are very helpful. www.bracken.co.uk

[This message has been edited by mcdarbyfeast (edited 17 January 2005).]

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\"Bon Chance\"

Thanks for the suggestion, but they were the 1st place I tried and they don't have any of the 04 or 05 models available for test riding.

Very good choice IMHO...I have an 03 and its been fantastic. Most of the reliability issues were sorted out from the 03 onwards. All the bad reports re comfort / vibes etc are just a case of getting used to and setting the bike up properly. The main diff between the GS and the ADV is that you get top quality components from day one. Even down to the twin eaton oil pumps.

Get yourself some bar raisers which make the bike a whole lot more comfy on long days. Eventually you might want to ditch the BST40 and go with an FCR, pricey mod but it will be a totally different bike, smoother, less vibes, heaps more go and if its set up right, better fuel consumption too...

Also, another tip, sorry to go on like this, ask the dealer if they can help you out with some KTM factory/workshop tools as well. They are usually pretty cagey about their workshop tools and sometimes don't even let you see them but at bike purchase time, you hold all the cards and will have much better luck. The adventure has a lot packed into a small space and has some tooling quirks as well so the right tools make any job much much easier on these bikes...eg special feeler gauge for valve adjustment. Get a workshop manual too. Just an oil change for the first few times can be a 4 hour job...

Owning an ADV is a love / hate thing. Sometimes you just want to set the thing on fire (usually when working on it) but then you take it on a trip the grin won't go away for months...