Seeing how you asked yes. If you can swing it keep the SG and get the GSA. I've wanted a GSA for years and had demo'd them a number of times. Everytime I rode one I was more impressed than the last. It's a funky looking bastard, but like a swiss army knife it does many things very well. Like a Sportster its a 1200cc. For an engine that's far older it's way ahead performance wise. Like 35hp at the rear whell ahead. It is a hoot to ride. I'm pretty lucky in that I feel I've got the perfect 2 bike combo in my garage. This is the first time I've owned 2 bikes at the same time and one won't collect dust.

 

Glad you like your bike. Your experience with KTM is atypical based on every review I've read of the 990, and just about every KTM thread on ADV Rider. The 990 was (to me) outrageously uncomfortable on the street, and was a non-starter for me due to the chain drive.

I'd own one of their smaller dirt bikes in a heartbeat, but I'm not convinced they make a viable option for a road bike that sees a little dirt (like the GS, the Tiger, or the S10).

 

I'm talking about the 990A... you're talking about other KTM's. Different bikes.

You've got to take the 990A freakin thing apart to do the valve adjustment! This aint no short term job for the average or good home mechanic! The BMW's valves are easy to get to and easy to do.

Glad you like your KTM. However for MY money, I'm no way going near a 990A... ADVENTURE, remember... this is what the thread is all about... ADVENTURE bikes.

 

"K"-Mart "T"rail "M"achine as they are called at the track.
http://arkansawmx.com/

 

Up until recently I owned a KTM 990 Adventure. It is probably the most off road capable of the big adventure bikes and has lots of torque and power. These bikes are not true enduro bikes though, they are made for travel on mostly pavement with gravel and dirt roads thrown in, not traversing narrow woods trails or motocross tracks like a 250. The 990 was a good contrast to my XR1200. The one downside is the off optimization means it is slightly less sporty on pavement than say a BMW 1200 GS or Ducatti MultiStrada. As for KTM quality - while the finish on my Harley (awesome paint, power coating and chrome work) is way better than the KTM, the KTM outfitting (is this the right word?) was better than the Harley (higher quality brakes and suspension components, better engine).

 

Well yeah those are my words, that's why there's no quotes around it. But a pretty accurate summation imho

KTM makes very high-spec, high-performing bikes, just had a spin on a friend's 690SMC and it was much faster than my Dakar. But the peeps I know with KTMs have all experienced reliability issues. That's why I personally would go for the Super Tenere. I don't have the talent to push it anywhere near its limits offroad anyhow and it'd be low maintenance and turn-key reliable.

Awesome pic btw, wish I could ride my Dakar in that kind of scenery...

 

Tell that to DeCoster or to Dungey. If you can catch them.

 

While there are certainly threads from people complaining about the 990 (and the GS, along with many other bikes) on ADV, it is far from the consensus over there..... or on KTMtalk - both forums I have been a member of for years. Every bike has it's internet Achilles heel. If you were to believe all the net complaints, you no doubt would have avoided buying a bike notorious for final drive failures - something that doesn't happen on a chain driven bike.

I see where you're coming from on the last comment - out of the box the 990A is uncomfortable on the road. But, so is the GS. I spent thousands making my GS comfortable for extended range. You have to do the same to the KTM. Also, if your Adventure bias is towards blacktop, the BMW is definitely a better choice. If it's off-road, the KTM is the way to go. The Tenere is obviously another option one should investigate. The reason I like the KTM is that a bike that isn't optimal on the road will still get you were you are going. A bike that isn't optimal off-road can get you injured or worse. To me the 990 is my best chance of getting home in one piece. Of course, that isn't a factor if one's adventure is a ride down a gravel road.

No - I am specifically speaking of the 990 Adventure. I refer to other KTMs in general, however, to make a point. I guess that didn't work.

Lots of bikes require disassembly to get at mechanical components. KTM is far from the only one. I will admit that I haven't taken a 990 apart, so I can't speak first hand on it. But, I can say that any other KTM I have worked on THAT AREN"T ADVENTURE BIKES, are super easy to work on.

I have adjusted valves on my BMW and you are correct, it's very easy. Probably the easiest I've ever done.

And I disagree that this thread is about Adventure bikes. It's about a guy who was probably one too many Scotches into the evening and asked about buying a $20k bike when he should have been asking about a $500 seat.

That doesn't even make sense. Must be an "Arkansas" thing.

I get the lure of the Tenere. It fits between the BMW and 990 so it covers a lot of ground. But, like I said before, for my purposes, I want my Adventure bike to be more off road worthy than the BMW or Yamaha. The 990 does that. As far as reliability of KTMs in general, my experiences, as well as the experiences of people I know and ride with, have been the opposite.

Thanks for the compliment. A group of us trailered out bikes out to Moab, from Wisconsin. One of the nice things about your Dakar is you could ride it there. Nice bikes with the right mods.


I bet you all thought I went away Nope - just working too much.
To be clear, I'm not saying any of the bikes discussed are bad. I just know what I like. The GS is a nice ride. It does a lot of things well. B ut, in my experience, for the kind of riding I do, the KTM 990 Adventure is the way to go.

My GS at the end of the notorious Warloop Rd (it's not really a road) in Arkansas.



Somehow this qualifies as a "road". It was a bitch on the GS.

 

Since this is officially an adventure bike thread, how does the Ducati Multistrada compare to the GS, S10 and 990? I assume it would have an even greater bias toward pavement use than the GS.

 

I used to have a KTM 990 Adv. While it was fantastic for what it was designed for, I found that with the exception of 2 very distant trips - to remote locals I did not need all the off pavement capability it offered and it sacrificed some of the on pavement performance I wanted to get this off pavement capability. Basically the suspension was too soft for high speed pavement running (it wallowed in high speed sweepers) and the 21inch front wheel made for slower steering on pavement. Most dirt roads where I live are only a few miles long, they are just the less traveled tail ends of paved roads. You can also ride a dirt road on pretty much any bike if you slow down enough.

A lot of my riding though is on the frost heaved and patched, poor quality pavement found on most local back roads. For this the harsh, short travel suspension of my HD pounds you into submission after only a few miles or forces you to slow way, way down. At this time the most appealing future bike seems to be a sport touring bike based on an adventure bike like the Ducatti MultiStrada or the new Kawasaki Versys 1000. Something that has comfortable adv. bike ergos, sporty on pavement handling and compliant long travel, but not underdamped, suspension with decent power. The Ducatti is out of my price range so I may have to settle for a Versys 1000 which seems a better value. Ironically HD helped pioneer this type of bike with the Buell Ulysses but then threw it away - this is currently the fastest growing segment in motorcycling - go figure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpvlqdnkFe4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckTnSt94CmA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k_ejs2Fhz0