I embarked on some maintenance and repairs of my KTM recently, and came to the conclusion that this whole internet thing, you know, blogs, and forums, and email, and websites and all, it’s really something. I would have been lost without the online community on KTM TALK, a forum for KTM owners and enthusiasts.
The basic issue: when you replace worn out sprockets on motorcycles, you generally need to replace both the back and the front. If both get worn to to the point where they start to resemble shark’s teeth, instead of symmetrical triangular profile, then you probably need to replace the chain as well. On high-end racing bicycles, road and mountain, you usually replace the chain frequently enough to avoid wear on the front chainrings and rear sprockets clusters. A new Campagnolo front chainring on my road bike costs more to replace than both front and rear sprockets on my KTM motorcycle. Go figure. The lighter the part, the more you pay. Chains, on the other hand are cheaper, and you can make cool hippie bracelets out of old ones, which is nice if you are a hippie. Go figure!
Back to the motorcycle: Both front and rear sprockets looked like shark’s teeth, so it was time to do the job. I used an online parts finder at KTM Cycle Hutt to open up a schematic of my bike and order the part online. This is the same system the local chumpshow uses to find and order parts. The parts showed up in a few days, free shipping, and I was excited to rip into this project. The problem is, the front sprocket I ordered didn’t resemble the worn one that was on my bike. That’s when I consulted the community on KTM TALK. Ask a question, get an answer. It turns out there is a thing called a “dampened front sprocket” with a massive rubber bushing that sandwiches the metal sprocket. These are only put on new bikes as a sound dampener to ever so slightly reduce the operating noise inherent in these Austrian-made gas-powered rattlers. They also do not appear on the KTM online parts diagrams. The replacement sprockets do not come with the rubber, because, once the bike makes it into the good old U.S.A., why does KTM care if it’s a little noisier? Point is, if I didn’t have KTM TALK, I’d still be scratching my head wondering what to do about these two rubber pieces that look like cross-sections of a hockey puck. I’ve had great luck finding answers on ADV Rider as well, and it seems like the good resources there also cross over to KTM TALK. Just a heads up, y’all. The world wide intraweb thing is pretty cool.
After 8,000 miles, the 640 Adventure was ready for new sprockets and chain. The teeth on the rear sprocket look like shark fins, ditto on the front, and after what happened to Darth on the last few miles of Loop the Lake (had to leave the Blue Angel on the side of the road and ride bitch with Stanton), I decided it was time for some preventative maintenance. I bought all my parts online from KTM Cycle Hutt, located in North Dakota, after a bad experience with the KTM dealer out in Draper. After counsel from Bart, I realized I needed to do the chain too, so I called Cycle Hutt to try to squeeze the chain on my order, but it had already gone out. The sprockets showed up before the weekend, but the chain didn’t, so this project will have to wait a few days. Stay tuned for a report. Instead, I decided to install new turn signals, taken off of Darth’s KTM 450 EXC-R. These are the stock “pointy” ones he took off after adding tiny micro LED turn signals. That was before he crashed while trying to ride wheelies. He probably wants these back now. This job required taking off the front mask, clipping some wires, and getting jiggy with the soldering iron, but after putting it all back together, they work just fine and the whole setup looks pretty slick.
Lights on.
Lights off.
After returning from the Trans-America Trail trip, I had very little desire to touch the KTM let alone ride it. It was a reliable steed that saw me through some good times and some trouble, so it was nothing personal. Part of it was that last day from Burns, Oregon to Park City, Utah all on the pavement. Seemed like my wrists and hands were still buzzing after a week. Also, the bike needed some maintenance. My Dunlop D606 front tire and D908 rear were totally hammered, both from the aggressive and sometimes rocky off-road riding, as well as the road riding. My rear sprocket is worn to the point of replacing, and I decided to have the dealer do the 2nd big service, because it involved a bunch of things over my head, like checking and adjusting the valves. The head KTM mechanic at the Edge Motorsports, Victor, seems like a really good dude, passionate and knowledgeable, and most importantly, certified by KTM. They did forget to rebuild my clutch master cylinder, which is one of the main reasons I brought it in, but that wasn’t Victor’s fault. The service guy who wrote my ticket must have spaced it. That’s about it for the boring maintenance report. While I was picking up my bike, I just had to check out the new KTM 690 Super Enduro and ponder how it would have performed out there on the Trans-America route. No windscreen might have been tough to handle, but with enough room on the tail for some soft bags, this thing looks like it would have devoured the dirt.
3/4 view of the new 2008 KTM 690 Super Enduro. Big, bad, dirtbike. I like.
Keeping the posts updated on the road proved to be a challenge. Until I have a chance to go back and place images in the context of the posts, you can see a sampler of photos I took with an iPhone on Flickr:
Moto’s iPhone Photos
When Darth and Obi-Ben return to civilization, we’ll upload some of their shots and video.
All is well after two days and lots of dirt. The small issue I was having with the KTM not starting ended up being a non-issue. When we rolled out of SLC on Saturday, we stopped at The Edge Motorsports in Draper, Utah. Cody the technician took one look at my clutch lever and offered an explanation: I had replaced a bent clutch lever with an aftermarket lever and the aftermarket lever wasn’t engaging a small switch in the clutch assembly. In a nutshell: it starts every time as long as it’s in neutral. No worries.
After the first day, we landed in Baker, Nevada, at the Silver Jack Inn (which will warrant a longer post later). Hooked up with an old friend from Park City, Mike, on a tour on his Moto Guzzi.
Second day was scheduled to be an all dirt route from Baker to Eureka. Before getting rolling, we all rode to the top and back of the paved road into Great Basin National Park, a twisty climp up to the summit of 10,000 feet. After gassing up back in Baker, Hans Solo split off from the group and took his own path back to SLC. Darth, Obi-Ben and Moto did about 240 miles in the dirt, saw some ghost towns, an amazing sunset, then rolled in to the Best Western at 9:00 PM local time. No cell phone service the whole trip, so no road posts. Today’s route takes us to Battle Mountain, Nevada, where we expect to have cell.
All is good.
Spent much of the day today getting gear sorted. Made two small repairs to the KTM 640 Adventure:
1. Adjusted steering bearing. First I had to lift the bike up on a crate to get the front wheel elevated. Then had to loosen five bolts on the upper double clamp of the fork, then adjust a tightening nut (very much like the process on a mountain bike!), then check for play, then finally tighten everything back up to spec.
2. Replace bent clutch lever. This was a little dicey, as the KTM dealer didn’t have an OEM prelacement lever in stock when I was there, but had one “they thought would work.” So precise, these guys at motorcycle shops. It fit just fine, and it seems to eliminate the leak of mineral oil from the seal on my clutch master cylinder.
Now for the bad news. Rode the bike into Park City to run some errands and make sure everything was running tops. Came out from the post office and when I saddled up and pressed the starter, nothing. Definitely electrical. Called Bartman, he said try to get it rolling down Swede Alley and pop start it by letting the clutch out while in gear. Nothing. I scurried off into a parking lot and tried to kick start it. Nothing. Called Bartman again to bail me out with his trailer. While waiting a few minutes, I tried the ignition button again just for the hell of it and it started right up. When I got it home, I turned it off in the driveway, then tried to start with the button and got denied again. A few hours later, I cycled it on and off and it started every time.
You can imagine this is putting a serious damper on my enthusiasm to depart on a 10-day slog westward, through some remote road and trail on the way to Oregon. Bartman says definitely don’t go unless you know what the problem is. Darth Nater says what’s the worst that can happen? He always says that.