The Bike

2005 KTM 950 Adventure

The KTM 950 Adventure

After finishing the rebuild on the Yamaha XTZ750 and not really gelling with bike, 

I was looking for a new bike but unsure of what to go for, I did quite a lot of research and had got my choices down to two options either the Yamaha XTZ 660 a good light weight all rounder, or the KTM 9*0 Adventure a not so light great all rounder

After much deliberating and coming across this fine example of the KTM 950 Adventure,  at a really good  price considering that it had many of the necessary mods and upgrades already done.
1. Clutch master cylinder upgrade Oberon.

2. Side stand relocated
3. Remus 2:1 exhaust
4. CJ designs auxillary fuel tank
And being the 950 meant the carb version I understand carbs and can work with carbs EFi i have trouble with guess I am just that age.

The KTM and XTZ side by side i was surprised how small the KTM was when next to the XTZ

It came with the standard Gobi panniers and an unfortunately fucking ugly GIVI top box that I sold on very quickly.

Mods

Over the years I have modified the bike further to suit my needs the Gobi boxes are now gone and been replaced with a set of aluminium ARD case these have the same capacity as the Gobi's but much narrower and easier to pack.

Also fitted a Rade Garage screen  gives me more room for Sat Nav etc very little difference in wind buffeting and the KTM touring screen (ugly and obtrusive especially when off road)
http://www.radegarage.com/parts/ktm-990-evo6-screen/
Besides this looks shit hot  and vision isn't obstructed as much as some believe.

I have upgraded the front springs  thanks to  http://www.revsracing.co.uk/aboutus.htm  as the standard KTM ones are very soft and now the bike is much better off road and on road even when loaded up when touring.

Having also done the high mudguard conversion on the bike although it looks better I am not convinced it is a worthwhile mod.  I may revert to the low mud guard at some stage mainly due to overheating issues associated with these bikes, having said that I have fitted a lower temp thermostat switch. But i would need to repaint the low mudguard as the old pint had bubbled one of the reasons I did the high mud guard in the first place.

This really is a go anywhere do it all bike just wish it wasn't so fucking heavy  at over 200kg it can get very tiring picking it up several times a day when she has to have a little lie  down.

Tyres

I use MT21 front tyres and Mitas EO9 rears as a general combination  for off road and day to day work. 

For touring the Mitas EO9 front and rear are better

I do all my own servicing, as i like to get my hands dirty and i believe that you should at least know how to maintain your own bike especially if you want tour and off road after all that is what having an adventure bike is about.

Fuel

Fuel consumption on these varies a lot depending on how you ride, ragging it around Salisbury Plain  on very wet muddy trails I will be lucky to get 35mpg, but on a recent trip just taking it easy and fully loaded I managed 55mpg, over all I have average 45mpg over the last 4 years.

Gearing

To give better low speed control on the trails I changed the front gear to 16 teeth and rear cog to 45 t this effects the top end speed but by a very minimal amount I can still cruise at 80mph with only 5000 rpm