KTM is doing fine, it’s the biggest motorcycle manufacturer in Europe. BUT…
It just has totally too much of debt! It’s too early to say what will happen for this giant company.
Maybe BMW will buy a part of the factory/ brand? Who knows?
Here’s a video to watch:
“KTM mechanics have been specially trained to remove a few thousand dollars from your wallet…”
This time it was very interesting! There was so many new models it felt like there’s no time enough to get to know all of them. Luckily I’m not a big fan of sportbikes… So few bikes wasn’t so interesting to me.
1. KTM 790 Adventure
Maybe the biggest group of interested viewers was around this bike. It’s no wonder. The bike looks very good! It has hew parallel twin engine that KTM introduced last year. The engine has little bit less power than in 790 Duke but of course the torque is better is all rpm’s. Bike has almost all possible electronics: traction control, cornering abs, offroad abs, ridemodes and so on. It has 20 litres tank that gives the bike easily more than 400 km’s range on the road. Tank is placed around the engine so the center of gravity is very low. Price for this bike is 18500€ in Finland!
2. Yamaha 700 Tenere
Another adventurebike but totally different kind of idea! This is simple, not too much electronics and it looks more ready for an OffRoad ride! It’s almost 6000€ cheaper than KTM! The final price is still open but they said it will not be more than 12800€! 200mm travel is not much but they’ve tested this bike quite long time so I guess they think it’s enough. 16 liters tank gives this bike more than 300 km’s range.
3. BMW R1250GS
And here is another adventurebike but yet again totally different kind of thinking. This is legend of all touring/ adventurebikes but now it has bigger engine, more power and torque and it’s again more expensive. It has simply everything you can ever imagine the bike could have… -Ok, no reverse gear or automatic gearbox but anyway.
The price for adventure version is more than 31000€ in Finland
4. Suzuki Katana
Suzuki makes a nice return to interesting and “modern” bikes. But the funny thing is that the design is very retro when it is based on 80’s Katana.
The engine they take from GSX-S1000F so it delivers very nice power and easy riding. And the way it looks it will always give strong feelings to all pure motorcyclists!
5. Triumph 1200 SpeedTwin
Triumph presents new line with 1200 Twin engine. The bike still looks totally retro but the engine is now more like modern and sporty. It delivers 96 hp with 112Nm torque in 4950rpm. Compare this with T100 engine: 64hp and 80Nm in 3800rpm -you can say that there is a big difference.
Last sunday it was three KTM 690 Enduro bikes testing the forestpaths in Kirkkonummi and Siuntio. The roads are mostly dry but the forest has much more shadowplaces and it means more snow and ice!
The first video is a track I found last summer… But in the summertime it’s too wet, now it’s mostly ice:
I fell through the ice there and it’s not easy to move the bike away from the hole with the boots that has no grip! But I did it…
Second video is a ride near aluminium factory in Pikkala:
And third video is a very nice track under the powerline between Karskog and Evitskog:
I did not have any spikes in my tires so for me it was very slippery and I had to be very careful!
I bought this KTM about year ago. I have almost zero experience of changing tyres but now I’m going to learn this! Just because these enduro-bikes eats the tyres so quickly I need to change them even 2-3 times per year. First I needed to get my bike back to the garage:
I have MB Sprinter as my working car and I can easily fit my bike in there!
Front rim was removed in about 10 minutes!
And rear was removed 5 minutes later.
I’ve seen it done many times so maby I could say that I have quite a lot of experience! But I didn’t do it myself ever! This was now my first time! Tomorrow I will have new tyres in my bike and the trails are calling again!
Soon all the snow will be gone! And I haven’t done almost anything to my KTM yet. Ok, yesterday I did install the protection shield by touratech under the engine, but it was easy installation!
Then today I was at the garage again and desided to take a short ride even there’s some ice and snow on the road! I rode about 5-600 meters and took one short video of the sounds. Remember it has the LeoVince silencer now!
Before the season really starts I still need to install the extra tank. After that the bike is ready for all the adventures to come… in the season 2017!
My riding season ended in november when I rode my KTM to the garage.
My BMW is there on the back (left) and then I have 3 bikes who are renting the place from me (and yes, I get some money from it!)
I already removed some parts from my KTM and installed new exhaustpipe:
Now I have LeoVince aluminium pipe… and even with dB-killer it makes such a nice sound!!
Then I will install Touratech engineguard/plate under the engine. This I ordered already in may but I had to wait for the delivery until november!!!
And finally I will install RallyRaid additional Rear Fuel Tank (I don’t have a picture of it but here is the link to the product!)
So in 2017 I can ride almost 300km’s without filling the tank and I can make some nice tours with it! I am looking forward to that…
I could do some demonstration of the bikes (and I probably will do later) but here are all the new interesting bikes for season 2017, shown to us by 44teeth.com (with BaronVonGrumble and his face! -You don’t see that too often!)
Today I took a ride with some best paths I know nearby. Temperature was +3 c but I had enough clothes and didn’t feel cold at all.
Here’s some videos from todays rides:
This path is only 7km’s away from my home!
In this path I meet some moosehunters but they say that they’re on the break so it’s no problem that I’m riding here…
Here I take a detour to the forest.
These paths goes very near to Turku higway and under it.
The longest video I took today. With some quite hard part in 17:00.
This is from the sand-pit in Ojakkala.
Here in 03:10 I try to make a jump from the small sand-pit but I fail. Then I’ll try to do it again, still too slow speed but I made it all the way up.
This is mainly gravel, with a shortcut path to another gravel…
This is a sandpit very near to Myllylampi (Vihti) and then a path just beside a railroad.
Again a sandpit (This one is in Lohja) and there’s a motocross track too. After that some forestroad with nice speed.
This is a nice path under the powerline.
And another path under the powerline.
Then finally some paths very close to my home.
I did one weekend tour with my BMW in the end of september and then I put it in the garage. Now I’m only searching for nice trails for my KTM Enduro. Luckily the autumn has been very dry and quite warm too!
Finnish magazine (Bomber Magazine) takes KTM 1290 SD GT for a test. The main things they wanted to test were wheelies, drifting and braking with rearwheel up! Like this:
GoZa Mite 