Wyte Lightening, a KTM 690 "Adventure"

So as I mentioned in my other moto thread, I decided to sell Big Orange, my beloved KTM 640 Adventure for some new hotness, a KTM 690 Enduro that's been "adventurized". 

KTM never made a 690 Adventure, despite the fact they had all the necessary parts and would've sold the snot out of them.  Instead the aftermarket has come up with solutions, which work well but are commensurately priced.

This bike popped up on advrider and was 30 minutes from my house.  2017 690R with 1325 miles on it, orginal owner who'd done all the work and then just never ridden the bike.  So I test rode it, gave the guy a deposit and sold my 640.

This morning I went out to his house, gave him a fat wad of cash and he gave me multiple boxes of parts, including a brand new set of tires and I rode it home.

The tires on it are basically new, so I'm going to sell the ones he gave me.  I'm trying to work a trade with a guy that has brand new touratech pannier racks for sale, hopefully that happens.

In digging through the box of goodies there are a few things I want to install.  One is the offroad ABS Dongle.  Right now if you turn the ABS into off road mode (turns the ABS off on the rear wheel only) and turn the bike off, it'll reset the ABS and it'll be back on again.  This dongle keeps the ABS setting off until you hit the ABS button again.

He also gave me the stock side stand, right now it's got a Warp 9 side stand meant for the 690 Super Moto, which means the bike leans over too much.  He mentioned that the stock stand is too long, so I might have a friend take 3/4" out of it and weld it back together again.  I need to put it on the bike as is and see first tho.

The bike has a Scotts steering dampener mount but the seller kept the dampener itself.  Luckily my friend had a spare one and grabbed it.  I need to flip the arm on it 180 degrees, then I'll install it, swap the bushings in the mount out to the softer ones, add a set of 1 1/4" bar risers and that should be all set.

He also gave me a LED Light bar that mounts underneath the headlight.  So need to mount that and wire it up, need to pick up a switch for that...

Lastly is put on my tank bag (just did it!) and then mount and wire the Garmin Montana GPS. 

I dropped by Performance Cycle and ordered the bar risers and linkage arm removal tool, I'll try and mount the side stand, ABS dongle and GPS tomorrow.

Lastly, this bike is a hoot!  Much lighter feel than the 640, which still catches me out in turns, it really falls into the turns in a way the 640 didn't.  WAY more power, easily pulls at highway speeds, which is nice.  Good air control with the Yenkro fairing.  I feel it's easily as good on the freeway as the 640, if not better.  Doesn't vibrate as much, more power, modern EFI and ABS.  Really happy with it so far!

Oh, one totally lame thing is KTM never released a center stand for this bike and nobody makes one.  My plan is to use a bike stand with spools to lift the front and rear of the bike so I can work on it.  I'll lift the rear when I store it for the winter in my shed.

Time to get to work, seller gave me a few items I wanted to install and I grabbed a Scotts steering dampener that my friend had kicking around.  I wanted to get started early because it was going to be blazing hot today, but I first had to make a way to attach my shed to my house to make my HOA happy.  That done, I started on the bike.  It was hot...

First off, lets get rid of this incredibly short super moto side stand.

Pull off the spring, take out a torx bolt, bolt on the stock enduro stand, reattach the spring.  Much better!

Now lets take off the seat and install the offroad ABS dongle.  This lets the bike remember what setting you have the ABS in, ie, if you put it into off road mode, it'll stay in off road mode if you turn the bike off.  Easy install, find the plug, take out the blank.

Plug in the dongle

And tuck it away

Seat back on, lets install my Wolfman tank bag.  Pretty easy, just a coupla straps.  Note how the proper side stand doesn't have the bike looking like it's about to tip over.

Next up is the steering dampener and swapping out the bushing from "medium" to "soft".  This should kill more vibrations through the bars.

First thing is I had to flip the pin arm 180 degrees.  BRP makes a tool for this but you can use a few bolts to pop it off.

Bolt it on, then swap out the bushings

Button it all back up.  I'm waiting for some bar risers, so I'll have to get back into this area again next week...

Time to install my GPS.  I mocked it up, then popped off the fairing, drilled holes, mounted the RAM plate, mounted the GPS, then wired it into the bikes spare AUX switched power that's behind the headlight.  Got it all done.  No pics, did I mention it was HOT?

Next up is installing the LED light bar the bike came with, but I'm waiting for the switch.  Then the bar risers and probably a beefier skid plate and a set of pannier racks...

OK, so help me out with wiring the LED lights.  Power and ground come out of them, I have an aux power and ground 10 amp circuit already on the bike I'm going to use.  Switch has two wires, power and ground.  So I assume I need a relay?  Power and ground from the lights go to the relay, same with the switch and to the circuit on the bike?  Which poles on the relay for which thing?

Also discovered that KTM abs dongle has three settings and uses the kill switch.  One setting is for street, ABS on both wheels, the other is off road, with ABS just for the front wheel, then if you use the ABS switch on the dash, that turns ABS off completely on both wheels.  Interesting, I thought all this did was remember your ABS setting, not add a third setting...

Went out for a ride yesterday after lunch.  Filled both tanks and am happy to report that with the front tank full and the damper installed the front end is far less twichy.  I wanted to head into the hills and some dirt but could see a storm brewing, so stuck to slab. 

At the extreme southern end of my loop I passed a Porsche shop that'd I'd heard of, so I decided to pop up their driveway and see if they had anything cool parked outside.  I was surprised to find a few people sitting out there having a BBQ!  Met the owner, he gave me a water and we shot the shizz for awhile until I could see the storm rolling in more.  So I said my good byes and headed north for home.

Felt my way home and wanted to stop for a coffee and a cookie when I felt a few rain drops.  Uh oh.  Luckily I was almost home and I'd just popped the kick stand down and stepped into my garage when the skies opened up.  Torrential rain and some hail.  Good timing but I really wanted that coffee and cookie!

Glad you were able to get out for a ride yesterday, and missed the storm! We went out in the 350Z (roadster) for about 4 hours yesterday, went the back way into Woodland Park through the Springs and then up 83 home to Parker. Beautiful drive, and we got home about 30 minutes before the weather started.

The new bike is looking really good, and I really like your approach to improvements and maintenance. Your posts are always full of information and good details on what you're working on.

Dan

In reply to HikerDan (Forum Supporter) :

Thanks for the compliments, appreciate it!  Yesterday I went down 85, hooked up with 105 to Palmer Lake, then cut over to 83.  From there I starting working my way West to the Castle Rock Outlets and then up north through Daniels Park to home.

This morning I went up through Sedalia and Rampart Range to get to the S Platte River.  Ran along the river north, then up the hill to Pine Junction.  285 to split to Evergreen, N Turkey Rd (which is excellent twisties!) back to 285, then hooked up with C470 and home.  I wanted to take S Turkey Rd all the way down to Morrison but made a wrong turn.

I'm testing the range of the bike, have over 200 miles on the tanks and still haven't hit the low fuel light yet.  If the bike gets ~50mpg, I should pop the low fuel light somewhere around 250 miles or so...

In reply to docwyte :

Sounds fun! 105 has been a favorite for a long time. Deer Creek to Turkey Creek (left at the end of Deer Creek), then 285 towards Denver to (I think) Parmalee Gulch which drops you onto Morrison Canyon is another nice loop, but lots of cyclists on Deek Creek and these days Morrison Canyon gets really busy.

Having 250 miles of range will be great! My butt hits reserve before that :)

Pic from my ride the other day. 

In other news I've decided that the stock side stand is too long.  It's impossible to put down if you're on any kind of uneven surface/hump.  So I took it off and am giving it to a friend to have him cut 1" out of it and weld it back together.  Then I'll add a side stand foot which will put 1/4" back into it, so really taking 3/4" out of it.  For now the super moto stand it back on, which makes the bike look like the leaning tower of KTM.

My bar risers came in yesterday, so I installed them. 

See that braided line?  That's the clutch line and it was routed in front of the forks.  I needed to move it to behind the forks...

No big deal, 11mm nut on the line, pull it off, stick my finger over the hole in the reservoir, route the line, plug it back in.  The bike still shifts gears but the engagement into 1st isn't all that smooth.  I need to bleed it.  No big deal, open the bleeder, pump the clutch lever a few times and you're all set, right?  Well, no.  KTM wants you to back flush it by putting a syringe full of fluid onto the bleeder and forcing the air up through the line to the reservoir.  Ugh.  No syringe at home, no center stand on the bike, doing this solo.

I'll bring a syringe home from work today and see if I can lean the bike up against my garage and pull this off solo.

In other news it was pretty damn hot yesterday, like over 90F and the bike was running fairly hot.  Apparently this is an issue with 690's but no one has come out with a second radiator fan kit like on my old 990.  I'll install a lower temp fan switch and see what happens...

Ok, 100F today, great day to work on the bike! Haha, not so much.  Have I mentioned that this bike doesn't have a center stand?  Or that nobody, including KTM makes one?  Ugh.  I have to lean the bike up against my garage to make it somewhat level, I've got a bike stand for both the front and rear axle coming but they won't be here until next week.

Anyways, here's my home made syringe so I can back flush the clutch slave

Here's the problem, see that little black bootie?  That's covering the clutch nipple.  (hahaha!  Yes, I'm 13 years old)  Anyways, that thing is tiny, the hex on it 8mm and not only is it not particularly long, so the hose doesn't have much purchase, it's also buried behind the exhaust header.  Awesome.

So this created the inevitable swearing session as I tried to get the hose to stay on the nipple (haha!), loosen the hex and then push down on the syringe, all the while watching the clutch reservoir up on the bars for bubbles.  That, um, didn't work out the way I wanted.  I ended up having the hose pop off a few times, the reservoir emptying, brake fluid getting on the skid plate, the header pipe, my hands, my watch, basically everywhere.

Did I mention it was 100F?  Anyways, I wiped the sweat out of my eyes, regouped and overcame.  I managed to get the hose to stay put long enough to push a bunch of fluid up through the reservoir.  Many large bubbles came out, then just as I ran out of fluid in the syringe, a bunch of small bubbles came out.  I called it good. 

Closed everything up and went for a quick test ride around my neighborhood.  Thankfully the clutch works, I can get all gears fine and have some feel when engaging 1st that I didn't have the other day.  Hopefully as I work the lever some more air bleeds out and up the reservoir, as the clutch feel could still be a little bit better.

In other news I discovered that the 190F fan switch is from a 1993 Geo Metro LSi!  I've ordered it from my local parts store, it should be in tomorrow morning.  To install it I have to pull the Safari tank, which should be largely empty, so hopefully not a big deal.  Between replacing the stock 220F fan switch with this 190F one and then putting in a little Redline Water Wetter hopefully the bike will run a bit more cool.

In other news, 275 miles so far on the odo and still no low fuel light!  Seems like range is at least 325 miles and maybe more...

In the future if you have to bleed the clutch again a cheap Shimano disc brake bleed kit off amazon will probably do the trick nicely. The bleeders on Shimano MTB and road brakes are 8 mm and you use the same method forcing fluid up from the caliper to the reservoir (if the fluid is all fresh and clean I'll actually push it up and pull it back into the syringe as that seems to get the most air out of the system going back and forth), they use mineral oil but it's just a plastic syringe and tubing so it will be fine with the brake fluid. 

In reply to adam525i :

OK, I'll probably buy a kit as I feel like I should do this again.  If the hose stays put on the bleeder it'll make the job much easier...

Took a ride yesterday with a friend and bagged some passes.  First up was Gerogia Pass.  We briefly considered taking the Jeep trail down the back side of it to Breckenridge, but it looked a little sporty.

So we back tracked and went up and over Weston Pass instead.  Been awhile since I've done this one, I remember a shorter, easier run up and a much more technical descent.  Instead it was a longer run up that got choppy near the top and the descent was easy, clearly it'd been graded earlier this season

Then it was slab to Leadville to grab lunch, then slab to Copper to pick up I70 to Breckenridge, then up and over Boreas Pass.  Boreas is super easy, a corolla can do it.  Lots of traffic, but a good ride

My hair got crazier as the day went on, lol!  From Boreas we picked up 285 near Fairplay and slabbed home.  That valley from Fairplay until you hit the mtns of Kenosha Pass is a total wind tunnel and it was annoying getting shoved around. 

I almost could've made it on "one" tank of fuel, I hit reserve at around 245 miles.  Decided to splash 2 gallons into the factory tank in Bailey.  So the bike gets close to 60mpg in street riding, trails and fighting head winds it seems to get closer to 50 mpg.

The bar risers are perfect for riding on the street, but I would like a little more rise for trail riding.  I know I'm supposed to have an "attack" stance on the trail standing, but I'd still like a little more rise.  Not sure I have the wire harness length for that tho...

Got it home, nice and dirty.  My bike stands showed up last night, plan today is to pull the Safari tank so I can install the lower temp fan switch, wire in my USB port and LED light switch and have my friend template out the tank and fairing for graphics.

More work on the bike today!  Friend came over and templated my tank and fairing for graphics.  Then helped me with with the wiring of my LED light bar.  So I was thinking of this the wrong way, the switch on my bars acts like a power interrupt switch. 

So power comes in one pole and out the other.  So power to the LED light goes to one pole on the switch, power from the switch goes to unswitched/fused power on the bike, ground from the LED light goes to the ground on the unswitched/fused link on the bike.

Success!

I tucked the LED Light bar plug up in the rally tower where I can get to it easily

Light bar is very well integrated and extremely bright.

Here's the switch panel, left black button is for the lights.  Right button does nothing but fill the hole right now.  I also have a dual USB power port with voltmeter I wanted to install into the larger center hole.

See the issue with installing the USB port?  It hits the dashboard mount.  Even with spacers installed, it still hits the dashboard mount.  I'm going to have to machine that portion of aluminum away from the mount, ugh.

My friend also took my side stand, he's going to cut it down some and weld it back together.  I got my bike stands yesterday but the bobbins haven't shown up.  Unfortunately the front fork stand is meant for a sport bike and its too short for my bike.  I gave it to my friend to see if he can lengthen it, we'll see.

Once the bobbins show up I'll put the bike on the rear stand, take the Safari tank off and install the lower temp fan switch.  Other than reinstalling the side stand and figuring out a way to mount the dual USB plug I've basically got the bike done now.

Got tired of waiting for the bobbins to show up so I could use the rear wheel lift.  Just shoved a block of wood underneath the side stand.

Stripped the bike down.  Off came the tank bag, seat, fairing and Safari tank.  Tank was really easy, turn off the petcocks on each side of the tank and the main one to the factory fuel tank.  Remove the fuel feed hoses from each side of the Safari tank, leaving the hoses in place.  Take off a 6mm allen bolt on each side of the lower part of the tank, then two 10mm nuts near the key.  Pull Safari tank towards the tail of the bike and off.  I was surprised to see it still had fuel in it.  The bike had hit reserve yesterday and I'd put two gallons into the main tank.  I didn't think the fuel intermixed?  Hmm..

Anyways, I took all that stuff off to get to the stock fan switch.  It comes on at 220F and I wanted to swap it for one that comes on at 190F.  Here's the switch

24mm pops it out, I did as quick of a swap with the new one as possible but I was glad I'd shoved a tub underneath the bike to catch the flood.  Oddly enough it was clear?  Definitely smelled and felt like coolant tho.  I topped off the radiator with Redline Water Wetter.  Hopefully between that and the lower temp fan switch the bike will run more cool.

I eyeballed that cockpit mount and almost went at it with my dremel but I'm going to wait.  I sent pics of the interference to the place that makes the stuff, maybe they'll have an idea for me, or can machine one for me with the clearance already in it and I'll swap them out. 

Ironically what was waiting for me when I came back in after cleaning up?  Yup, the bobbins for the rear tire lift.

Well, I got my shortened stock side stand back and decided to throw it on.  Great chance to play with the rear lift stand and bobbins!  After setting the width of the rear stand feet properly, I gotta say it works great!

I also scored a deal on a set of touratech pannier racks with Perun side plates off advrider.  Guy used them once!

The Perun side plates will allow me to easily attach soft bags, tool tubes, etc, etc.  This was a great pick up as Touratech is out of stock on the racks...

OK longer side stand is installed and I moved over the RAM ball to help me pop the stand up/down.  I went to install the large foot and discovered that the machined space in it was too small to accept the stock side stand foot.  Luckily Amazon just gave me a credit back and said don't bother returning it.  I'm waiting for the credit to actually come through and I'll buy a different one.

Ok, so onto grips.  I have large hands and the stock grips were too small for me, plus were kinda hard.  I picked up a set of Pro Rally grips.  I had a helper today, first we used compressed air to pop the stock grips off without damaging them

Then I wrapped the bar end and throttle tube with some electrical tape to fatten them up even more

Then I put hair gel on the tape as well as inside the grip.  This lets the grip easily slide into place and when it dries up it acts kinda like glue

Slide the grip into place

Cut the end off and reinstall the Highway Dirt Bikes hand guard end

Almost done with my plans.  Still need to order a side stand extension foot, Black Dog skid plate, Vanasche billet rear brake pedal with larger foot and a Quantum fuel pump.  My friend is coming up with the graphics and his friend is lengthening my front wheel stand so it can be used on a tall bike like my enduro.

Ordered my last few parts, got a Black Dog skid plate and Enduro Star trail stand, Vanasche rear brake lever/pad (stock one likes to bend and I wanted a larger pad so I could find it easier while riding standing up) and a quantum fuel pump.

I talked with Konflict about the suspension, it's setup for someone who weighs 50 lbs more than me.  Need to send it back to them this off season, they're going to swap the fork and rear shock springs out for 3 step lighter ones and redo the valving to match.

Happy to report that the water wetter and lower temp fan switch seem to have knocked the coolant temp down 1-2 bars on the gauge, out of 12 total.  That makes me more comfortable, I didn't like seeing the gauge sitting at 10 out of 12 bars...

After dinner last night I decided to put the touratech/KTM Power parts racks on the bike.  Only difference between the two is the touratech are polished stainless steel and the KTM ones are black.  Mine are black, which works better with the way the bike looks.  I picked them up used off advrider and they also came with the Perun side plates, which make it really easy to attach soft bags to the racks. 

As with most used parts, I didn't seem to get everything, the hardware he sent me was a mixed bag of stuff that clearly didn't come with the rack and some that did.  More importantly he should've included two brackets that relocate the passenger pegs and they weren't there.  I've texted the guy but no response, so he probably doesn't have them.  Oh well, I don't really have plans to carry anyone on the bike with me, I'll see if I can dig up a set in the future.  The hardware he sent me was enough to work since I had the Perun tail rack and am reusing those bolts.

I luckily found a video on the Tubes of You where the guy had these exact racks and the same Perun tail rack as me.  That was useful as I discovered I needed to swap out spacers on the Perun rack for a set of shorter ones.  That led me to go into my basement, drag out the enormous box of stuff the seller gave me and dig thru it.  I not only found the Perun rack spacers (score!!) but also a set of Highway Dirtbikes mirrors, sweet!

Not a big difference in size on the tail rack spacers but clearly smaller to allow for the additional stack height of the pannier racks

Here's the stock rear foot peg bracket, need to take it completely off. two T25 torx I believe

And off the bike!  These were much shorter bolts than I expected and cracked free very easily

Ok, loosen these two long bolts on the Perun tail rack and remove them.

Pull out the larger spacer, put the pannier rack in, then the shorter spacer on top of it.

Drop the Perun tail rack bolts back down into place.

The lower pannier rack mounting points are to where the passenger peg brackets mount.  Spacer, then the pannier rack, then bolt with washer.  Use loctite!  Even though this bike vibrates nowhere near as much as my old 640, it's still a Thumper!  Now attach the bar that acts like the back brace, linking the two sides, easy nut and bolt.

Job done!  I really need to get a high quality 3/8" drive torque wrench.  I've got two from the Hammer Store, one being their expensive Icon brand and they both suck!  They don't "click" when the torque value is hit, so they're essentially useless.

Got my Tusk side stand foot yesterday.  Tossed it on today, easy install.  Remember to use your best friend, Loctite!

I'm curious to see if this makes the side stand too long now...

More goodies arrived yesterday!  From Black Dog I got their bomber skid plate and an enduro star trail stand, from Rottweiler I got the Vanasche rear brake lever and a quantum fuel pump.

My plan is to install the skid plate and rear brake lever and keep the quantum fuel pump in my work bench until I need it.  Enduro star trail stand goes in my tool kit to take on rides so I can remove a wheel to change a flat if I need to.

When looking at how to remove the stock side stand I realized the spring attached to the stock lever is broken.  Motorcycle shops are closed on Mondays, so that'll have to wait.  I'll call the dealer today and hopefully swing by on the way home from work to grab it.

Skid plate then!  The stock skid plate is a worthless piece of plastic, really odd that KTM put such a bad part on an Enduro, this thing isn't protecting anything.  Black Dog plate is thick metal and also covers the rear brake master cylinder and rear shock linkage.

Anyways, remove the stock plastic skid plate, remove the front through bolt and replace it with the Black Dog bolt and bracket.  The bracket only matches up with the skid plate in one orientation but the directions don't tell you what that is.  Unless you also hold the skid plate up to the bracket at the same time you won't know.  So, yup, I initially installed it backwards.  Doh!

that's the wrong way, this is the correct orientation

Once the bracket is on, don't tighten the thru bolt.  Remove the plastic dowels and rubber bushings from the rear lower mounts.  Replace with the Black Dog bushings.  Slide the mounting pins on the Black Dog skid plate into the bushings, lift the plate up and put in the front bolts.

Snug down the front bolts, now torque the thru bolt to 54 ncm.  Done!  Ready to wang this thing off some large rocks on the trail!

Well, I found that rear brake lever spring in town.  Unfortunately not at the dealer near my house but one about a 25 minute drive from my office.  Luckily I was able to go grab it at lunch yesterday.

So, starting here, take off the skid plate I just put on the day before...

Remove that entire assembly, 1 19mm bolt, 1 T30 torx, one long 5mm allen and the two grunged up 5mm allens holding the pannier racks on.  You need to get to the back side of that bracket

You can see the broken return spring on the stock lever there.  One 10mm bolt up top, one 8mm bolt (already removed) on the bottom and the stock lever pulls off

Here's a comparo between the stock pot metal, noodle bending lever vs the Vanasche billet one

Ok, pop the new spring onto the Vanasche lever, put it into place first, lever the arm into the correct spot and drop in the two bolts.  Make sure to use your friend Loctite!

Alrighty then, lets put the bracket back on.  I've got all the bolts back in but the pannier rack ones, plus I still have to put the foot on the rear brake lever

The 5mm allen bolts that came with the used rack I bought were a little chewed up.  Soft metal, not deep for the allens.  I decided to replace them with hex head bolts and I found some in my stash.  When I went to install the top on here, the bracket was stripped.  Ugh!  I was super careful installing and removing it, not sure what happened.  Luckily I was able to retap it in the same size and install the new bolts.

I reinstalled the skid plate and put the much larger foot on the rear brake lever.  Super happy with it, I can reach the rear brake much more easily standing on the pegs now and don't have to worry about bending the rear brake lever if I hit a rock.

So I thought I'd do a little review of the 690 and compare it to the 640 I had before a bit.

I'll start this out that the bikes are very different, the 640 is a true dual sport and comes equipped with a windshield, fairing, big fuel tank and rear subframe to carry stuff.  While KTM has all the parts to "adventurize" the 690, for whatever reason they decided against that, they only sell the 690 as an Enduro.  You can "adventurize" it using numerous aftermarket parts but you obviously have to pay for that. 

Ok, that said, the 2nd Gen 690 (2012-2018) thoroughly wipes the floor performance wise compared to the 640.  It's leagues more powerful, the fuel injection works and feels great, brakes are powerful, bike is lighter and more nimble.  It easily falls into the turns and changes direction quickly.  Transmission is a short ratio 6 speed that really keeps the motor on boil.  You do have to be deliberate shifting it, if you don't give the shifter a decent whack you'll get a false positive shift.

Ergonomics are similar on both bikes, they're both quite tall.  I suspect the 690 will sag more once I've sent the suspension back to Konflict to get reworked for my weight.  Right now its setup for someone 50lbs heavier than me and it doesn't really sag when I sit on it.  The 640 has more suspension travel out of the box and probably a better suspension setup stock to stock.  I can flat foot one foot on both bikes and two feet down on the balls of my feet both bikes.  Like I said before, this will change a bit when Konflict softens up the suspension on the 690 for me.

Parts availability is better on the 690, it's a newer bike and some of the stuff for the 640 isn't available to purchase anymore. 

The 690 has a hooligan feel to it that the 640 just doesn't have.  Between the power and short gearing it just rips and is a ton of fun to ride around.  I'm happy I made the switch...