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Duke problems reported are minor—a few reported oil leaks from bottom of engine, water leaks from thermostat area, poor running. If the 790 Adventure engine hadn't been used in the Duke I might be slightly more concerned.
Human nature is such that many people only post on forums when they have a gripe and the vast majority of silent customers are very happy. I've found all three of my 690R bikes to be ultra reliable and the only problems have been introduced when dealers have serviced the bike (or not serviced in one case). My initial plan was to part exchange my 690R in Spain for the 790, but seeing as I sold my London 690R a couple of months ago along with the Tenere and another bike, I've decided to buy the 790 Adventure for UK/Northern European travel. I can't see I'll come across much in the way of off-tarmac routes, but am confident the standard bike will be able to handle them. |
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In 2008 I started a thread on UKGSer about breakdowns caused by the fuel pump controller on the BMW R1200 GS. Eight years later the fault was still going on and the thread now contains details of over 450 failures. It became a personal crusade of mine as many of these poor guys were on their annual holidays and had their trip totally ruined.
The sorry saga of 1200GS/GSA fuel pump controller failures (410 so far)) Archived reports: http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthr...roller-replies The early F800GS and F650GS twin models (introduced in 2008) had numerous chain failures, numerous radiator hose leaks, steering bearing failures, wheel bearing failures, fuel tank splits, and so on. I personally suffered from a chain failure PLUS repeated radiator hose leaks PLUS a rear wheel bearing failure (in Fez). You can read about these under 'warnings and recalls' at http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthr...OPULAR-THREADS Eleven years on and my blood still boils about BMW's couldn't care less attitude and their attempts to hide the scale of problems. A company that size should have done the right thing for its customers. |
Unlike BMW's marketing strategy for the twin cylinder F6xx/F7xx/F8xxGS bikes, the two 790 Adventure models are exactly the same in engine mapping, engine performance, gearing and wheel types.
There are no factory-fitted KTM options, everything is retrofitted at dealers. The windshield, seat and front mudguard are different on the two models but you can buy the part from the other model and swap it in (windshield is £70-80, seat is £120 and mudguard is £60). The tubeless tyres are different brands, but my dealer is doing a free-of-charge swap of the Avon Trailride tyress from my 'non-R' for a set of Karoo 3 tyres from the 'R'. The 'R' has an advanced Rally Mode option but you can add that to the 'non-R' model, either at the time of purchase or later. So the ONLY permanent difference between the two bikes is the suspension; the 'non-R' has shorter, non-adjustable suspension and the 'R' has higher, adjustable suspension. And of course this affects the ground clearance and seat height. Dakar rider Chris Birch describes the bike as a modern take on the old KTM 950 Super Enduro, but "with a lower seat height, all the electronics and good fuel range." The general opinion amongst test riders is that KTM has created a new category of adventure bikes and that even the standard 'non-R' model is superior off-tarmac to the Triumph Tiger 800 tiger, the BMW F850 GS and the Honda Africa Twin. On-tarmac might be a different story, so await road tests with more insight. The 'non-R' is likely to be the better adventure tourer. Obviously someone over 1.85m (6') might go for the 'R' together with the optional higher seat purely for the legroom, but it seems there's a lot of shorter people out there who are planning to buy the 'R' even though the bike won't actually get to see the rough stuff that the suspension is intended for. I've been following the reports from the press launch last week in the Erfoud/Merzouga area and the video linked below is the best I've seen with a lot of 'insider insights'. |
same engine and leaking oil pretty common :(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_JEG2g7C3o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Guti36BZI0o |
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An oil leak there is not uncommon on any KTM and is an easy fix... If you slide off the front sprocket there is a bushing behind it that rides against the outer counter shaft seal, this bushing can be easily slid off by hand.. Between this bushing and the countershaft bearing is a 25mm x 2mm o-ring {maybe bigger on the new bikes} that seals the inner countershaft.. So it works like this, the o-ring goes against the counterbearing, then the bushing pushes against the o-ring sealing the oil from getting through from inside the bearing.. The outside of this bushing seals against the case seal keeping oil from escaping out side the countershaft.. In order to seal the O-ring to the inside of the bushing the countershaft bolt/nut has to be correctly tensioned to hold pressure against the works.. The whole idea of this design is that instead of the case seal cutting a groove and wearing the expensive countershaft, it instead wears out the easily replaced inexpensive bushing sleeve... The o-ring is pretty much the only thing that will fail in this system and is easy to replace... Running a too tight of chain is one of the biggest reason that the little o-ring fails in the first place... As the suspension compresses to mid travel the distance from the countershaft to rear sprockets gets farther apart causing a snug chain to become tighter causing bind on the countershaft as to where it pinches and shags the o-ring.. When we have a group of riders parked around I will usually take a walk around to look at the bikes and often will spot at least a couple bikes where I recommend the owner add some slack to the chain.. I see bikes come out of dealer service with the chains to tight.. On my bike the same O-ring that fits behind the countershaft bushing also fits the clutch slave cylinder so I carry a couple on each trip to perform double duty, though I never remember having to change one in the field.. I put on a new countershaft O-ring seal every time I change out a worn countershaft sprocket, seems to be a good practice as the seal seems to hold for the life of the sprocket.. |
damn, I sat today on 790R and it's so wide in the bottom because of that tank it will be hard to fit between 2 pines in woods tight trails :(
don't like that design. |
Wider than your knees or the bars?
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wider then your knees but at the level of your ankles... Bars you can turn and fit into very narrow area but not so much with that tank. here is example on my yesterday's ride, I wouldn't rather get through on 790 here: https://i.imgur.com/xfUh3zp.jpg |
end problems have started...
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That video is bullshit, groundless scaremongering about Chinese build (that hasn't even started) and a few gripes lifted straight off Facebook. If you took any new bike you'd get worse than that.
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took a look at the front of this bike without factory skid plate,
and didn't like what I saw. Straight in front, down low fuel line connecting those two part of the tank, inches from the ground and front wheel. When you hit there on the rock with that thin skid plate you can have a big problem, not to mention fuel pump which is on the left side of this tank on the very bottom... doh |
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It seems KTM have worked hard to provide unacceptable buffeting for riders of all heights on both the R and S models. Am awaiting third party offerings (Puig's is far too high) and in the meantime am running with a clip-on deflector. Apart from that, very pleased with the bike.
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