Moto-Brian

I've seen guys run Multis in places most wouldn't dare. I, myself have ran an Adventure in the deserts of Las Vegas where even Trophy trucks tread and seen first hand the durability tested of these KTM machines. Again, I think the issue of dependability of "european" machines gets thrown around because of what people read on the internet. Please tell me how many miles and what years the bikes you had issues wither were. You have a 520 EXC listed in your signature. The last year of that bike was 1999. A shit load has changed in the short 14 years. That's what I am talking about. Guys thinking what happens to 10 plus year old machines and it is still the same now. It isn't. We've put demo units through a solid 12 month rotation of HARD riding and not one failure. No tank issues like you describe (Again, old Adventure issues), no water pump issues like the older bikes had, etc. I just find it funny that the people claiming the Yamaha is heads and shoulders better are people that probably haven't even ridden it yet. I said it was capable. I said it was definitely worth checking out, but seeing that most people don't actually ride these the way they were intended, the Multi is a bike that should be considered.

I'd say the adventure is a bit more complex to work on, but all the other bikes are cake. Again, not sure if you are stating from experience or opinion based on others opinions from the Internet, but in three years, I worked on several KTMs and went through tech training and can say they are as easy as everything else.

Not sure where you get your info, but the 990 adventure is a very solid machine. This is an example of either very old machines or what is said on the Internet forums. The adventures are solid bikes for sure. I've not enough experience with the multi yet, but the newest generation multi has been received rather well.

Oh, spend the money and get a set if fork tools. Traxxion sells a spring compressing tool, plate and rod tool for minimal money. Using tie downs is a recipe for damaging your forks and especially the fragile rods.

Penskes are easy to replace the spring. Just take all preload out and spin compression ring up and off threads. Spring will rise enough to take the base off and remove the spring. No need to use straps or anything. What you have is what they refer to as a double clicker. Great shock. My suggestion would be to try and get even a 25mm cartridge kit. Reuben can get some older ohlins kits or build you one for only a few hundred bucks. Running stock front and aftermarket rear is somewhat like trying to light a match in the wind. It will be better for you on the bike, but to get the forks done correctly will make a world of difference. The oil in a Penske is seperate from the nitrogen and oil in the shock doesn't get as contaminated as an ohlins does. But, I would suggest unless it was already refreshed, to send it out to Reuben to get the oil refreshed. It makes a big difference. Your bike is sensitive to chassis geometry. You'll need to get the eye to eye correct and the fork height correct. Again, consult with Reuben. Awesome upgrade. You'll notice a huge difference.

Multi Strada with the new Skyhook. It is amazing and seriously adaptable to different aspects of riding. Sport touring, off road and aggressive street not to mention the other stuff it can pull off. Of course, I am somewhat biased! But, I also have a ton of seat time on the KTM Adventure and would suggest you wait until Summer of 2013 as the 2014 will be introduced to the US market. The Yamaha is a cool and different bike, but it lacks a lot of the things aggressive off road/adventure riders look for. It is a very capable machine, though and is very cool. But, ride one back to back with a Multi and you'll see what we mean when we suggest that bike...

Dude, that's really silly on a bike with that small of HP. It's not going to do wheelies, but the fact is that he will run out of RPM fast. He'd be on the highway screaming the RPMs. -1 like Papa stated is really the way to go. You are essentially adding almost 5 teeth to the rear. Silly...

The difference is that the Haydens and the schools with XRs, etc are doing it on dirt. Not pavement. The flat track experience is loose and relates to what a bikes does when certain inputs are given and loose is a way to achieve that. Pavement at CRP ain't dirt in the back yard that is loomy and loose... It is helpful to get any seat time. But, when someone wants to get better at a big bike, riding/racing a smaller bike at CRP or similar isn't the way to go about doing it. Now, if JBot wants to buy an XR100 and come do some flat tracking, he will learn a ton. It's completely different worlds, my friend.

THIS!! Now, I can attest that riding a 450 and actually sliding and understanding front end grip, etc., you will get these from a 450 or even a 250 Supermoto. Smaller bikes just cannot replicate the slides and movements of the bigger bikes. Now, fun factor? 100%. ANYTHING two wheels is fun! But, the smaller bikes are loads of shit eatin grins!!

Just as silly as a current generation 600. You are saying that a 1000 is silly, but a guy taking and adding essentially 6 teeth on the back sprocket of said 1000 with 160 hp makes even more sense? You understand that the throttle response becomes MUCH more aggressive with the shorter gearing and adding the hp of said example is going to net what exactly? The point is that you can compensate for inadequacies all anyone wants. OR, they can work on skills and become better riders where they don't need such changes. Again, -1 in the front is more than enough... Plus, the example of a 160 hp 1000 allows a rider to be lazy moreso. The torque that is available from the 1000s is such that shorter gearing is VERY much a counter productive exercise. But, guys do it for the whooooolies so, that makes sense. But, I cannot see why someone needs to shorten the gearing so much as you are leading folks to believe. It's really pointless and silly. It just doesn't make sense to do that aggressive of a gearing change...

Jbot- I have to somewhat disagree with some things here. Small bikes are cool and will allow seat time which will obviously be of some benefit. And, as Red stated, you are willing to mentally take maybe a slightly higher level of risk when riding. But, small chassis to big chassis and the cause and effect of the small bike vs big bike is completely different. We have been working with a few dads that have had sons running through NSRs to RS chassis with smaller CC motors to big bikes. The NSR step is a fine "learn the skillsets and a bit of intro to body position, etc.", but they recommend getting into a larger chassis as soon as possible to transition into the big bikes quicker and more easily. The smaller chassis do not give the rider the results from input as the bigger bikes will. I myself have ran YSRs a bit before and I can say that going from big bike to small bike is a closer link than small to big. Point being is that if you need seat time, you need big bike seat time. Now, you go and put an 85 motor in an NSR or YSR and you will have a more reasonable result sequence of throttle control, inputs and results. But, not too many of those floating around... It isn't a bash on any of the small bike riders so, when they get all huffy after this post, understand that it is from experience on both sizes and watching even the small bike guys come play on the bigger bikes. The cost is an awesome benefit. But, if you really want to keep racing with the big bikes, you really need to take a winter trip or two down south and work on riding the big bike and getting seat time in that way. The cost is more, but you will net better results from the smaller % of seat time on the big bikes vs more seat time on the smaller bikes. The transition and the relationship between the two are very much more than a lot of people are making it sound out to be... My $.02...

I still don't see a reason to drop 1 and add 3 for street. RPM will be higher and no need. I can see -1 for street, bit adding essentially 6 teeth for the rear is really silly.

If you need -1/+3 on a 600, you're doing it wrong. We run very close to stock gearing at a lot of tracks. If you need to hear to that type of ratio, you are lacking corner speed typically. Guys will ask is what gearing we run and I try and avoid it. Basically, they try gearing for a more experienced rider and they can't pull that gearing. We are also moving to a lot of 5th gear gearing choices for a lot of tracks for example vs. 6th. Point is that unless you wanna squid and pop tons of whoolies, -1 in front is about all you'd ever need. More than that and you need to work on other things and are simply covering up certain inadequate skills.

What was echoed by others. You want to shoot for the best ratio between front and rear. Think of it this way - what can you do to get as equal a diameter between the front and rear sprocket? Don't fall for needing more teeth in the rear for better drive, either. It is a bandaid for low corner speed. Work on corner speed and the teeth come off the rear sprocket... You need drive so, yes - you will need to adjust the sprocket ratio. But, several guys are close to stock in terms of ratio...

Oh, 4x4 as to be expected... Some guys get the 2 wheel drive which is crazy to think...

You were interested in a Wrangler. I have a 2010 Toyota FJ Cruiser I am going to have to sell due to a new company car. It has over 70k, but understand it is all highway and has had the synthetic oil changed as often as asked. Has been Team Trailed out with Toyota TT stuff (Bumper wings, mirrors, etc), has a clear mask on it since new and black wheels with fresh rubber on all FIVE. Has rock sliders and a leveling kit due to be put on soon. Auto, roof rack, tow package, passenger arm rest, FJammer stereo with 6 disc, off road package. Almost every option you could get... Needs only a windshield from a damn rock and probably will have that fixed before selling... I think I am going to ask $24k or thereabouts...

Good call. I wasn't sure on that older style bike if they used that setup. Nice!

Yes. If you open the fuel petcock in the "open" position, fuel should flow out.

They are MX boots and would be murder using as a street boot...

Hopefully, you figured it out, but you just uncheck what you do not want to download on to your phone. Essentially, if you were like me before my new 5, I couldn't load all my music. So, I had to uncheck certain songs/artists to not load as it was too much for the memory I had. My 64GB won't have that issue. All this iPhone 5 talk, what cases are you guys looking at? I was going to do another Element case, but they are pretty bland for the first launch. So, was snooping around and saw these guys: https://www.lunatik.com/products/taktik-5 I really like the idea of using my phone more for mountain biking, etc. These cases are pretty damn sweet! Looks very military like and guess what? They are right up north in Chicago!!!

Shit... Who's ass do I kiss? You do know my internet image, correct? I'm pretty sure I am probably the anti-kiss ass kind of guy...

Reuben is viewed that way??

Serp is correct. The big guys like you mention and others are usually drop shipping if their suppliers permit. However, closeout and related items are in stock things. Basically, they are bought in large QTY and the company they bought from isn't going to warehouse it. However, several are warehousing a lot of the inventory they advertise. These are fewer than more. Iron Pony is a shop that inventories a majority of their product advertised. In fact, I know that in the catalog, they only choose what they carry and are top sellers. That's why I am baffled as to why people don't buy from them more and think getting a savings of even 20% is worth the hassle they get. If you had ordered from Pony online even or called it in from the catalog, etc., you'd have had it shipped out that same day if by a certain time.

My old 750. No affiliation and funny how it ended up. Blew the good motor up apparently which sucks because it was a RIPPER!!! Reuben built and FAST!!! Really wonder how it ended up here, but anyways, it was this before... Here's the ad. Seems he still has the spares... http://weraclassifieds.com/ads/2005-gsxr-750-3/

I cannot tell you exactly, but that one would be a lean towards the old school Duke and the pre-production unit we saw wasn't anything like it. I am starting to think that one pictured is something they just did to get some attention to the brand as the new Adventure will not be released in the US as a 2013 and the RC8R will be pretty much the same outside the slipper and BNGs...