school me on a ktm 690 enduro r

[breakdirt916]

alright!



lighter



8mm plastic and durable

Side engine protection, linkage, and brake reservoir.

now I can go off-road again!

but I've got a 250ish mile street ride planned Sunday

gonna try +1 on the front sprocket

and I know you guys will hate me...but I wanna add the top case.

I'm using it to zip around town for landlord duties



and want a place to store a helmet/jacket, carry do-dads/documents, and carry food. I'd eventually like to put on a surf board rack, but I can't quite figure it out yet. Saw this company called MBB (moved by bikes) on amazon and they have some pics of a GS w' a surf rack; but they mounted it to the engine crash bars, which I don't have. Rode down Pacific Coast Highway and loved it. Rode 230 miles in 2 days and saved $75 in gas, so it pays for the top case.

[Kurlon]

I'm a huge fan of top cases. No objections here.

[MattR302]

Once you go top case, you don’t go back.

[breakdirt916]

ugh...ordered!

Sunday ride



just aired up to 30psi front/rear...it helped a little at higher speed shakes

240ish miles...80ish miles of slab...

some twisties, meadows, desert, freeway

stopped in Julian:



and stopped at A13x's knife shop!



but he wasn't there...he went to get the dog

desert was 94 degrees...doable on a street bike



buffalo burger was also satisfying



aaaand...the front tire is toast



1,500ish miles?

summer months are mostly pavement; so I'm committing to a shinko 705/741 street-ish setup



switch back to knobbies by October

if I need any summer riding trips to the local mountain, just use the YZ once the top end is done

[breakdirt916]

uh, wow...Chaparral Moto is FAST

like, order Sunday evening, & after work Tuesday it's delivered!



it felt a little odd dropping off at Cycle Gear, but they do it for $32ish off the bike

and they're closest to me. And I can pickup at 5:30pm on a Sunday. And they're open til 7 Mon-Fri.

not gonna lie, 322lbs was felt a wee bit much to grab a side and lift onto an MX stand.

It's doable, but borderline sportbike stand territory

I also tried: (trail stand) + (kickstand) + (1 wheel at a time)

I kinda liked that.

The trailstand stays in my Kriega & it makes me relatively independent & carrying the tools I'd need for trailside repairs. But just using a trail stand also means I can only pull one wheel off at a time at home to get a tire swapped.

I eventually just need to change my own tires...maybe October during the knobbie switch. Maybe w' a Rabaconda.

Rear has been dropped off. My Dunlop 606 was a 130 width & the Shinko 741 is a 140; so going back to stock width.

2022: Knobbies January - April/May. Street tires May - Oct (use YZ for local mountain dirt runs). Knobbies Oct - Dec for desert season.

[breakdirt916]

oh gawd



but ngl, I love these amazon cases. only...$75...pretty light...fits 2 helmets...

the hardware is actually pretty solid



@ $4.69/gallon, if I commute or run 300 miles of errands instead of the the truck the top case is free.

Rear wheel pickup after work tomorrow!

then step up to a 15 or 16 tooth front to help the highway slab a wee bit

also - my buddy is STILL arguing the 350 was the right bike for me & if I changed the gears on the 350 I could do the same 85mph cruising and 96mph passing. idk man...67 hp is just barely enough on the 690 for my version of street duty/mobbing.

[breakdirt916]

oh yeah



uh huh



and her conversion to the commuter side, is complete:

[R1]

Don’t know what made me check NESR today.

Great bike and Julian is great as well. Usually camp up there at KQ ranch with family. (Pre-Covid. Lol)

I picked up a Husky 701 in 2019 and fucking love it! I mostly hit up Palomar and some trails that run through Ramona into Mesa Grande. Have stopped at the bar there for food a few times. Live bands are hit or miss.

Next time you are out this way let me know. I won’t be going to the desert til fall though. Way too hot right now.

Also great riding through Ocotillo Wells and also on the other side in Ocotillo near superstition mountain.

The only thing I hate about this bike is the fucking ABS. Damn near gone off a few “hills” when I was first getting used to it. Scared the shit out of me as I expected the ass end to slide out and instead I felt like I was just gonna shoot off the edge. Haven’t used ABS since. Lol

[breakdirt916]

duuuude...where you been?

100% on all counts...we should definitely ride out sometime. San Diego county has some neat stuff...north county has a good amount twisties and there is plenty of dual sporting to be found. on the ABS...I have the dongle and just leave the rear off all the time. I'm also training myself to pick terrain based on the limits of the bike; if I really want to get gnarlier, get the YZ and truck over.

but yes...too hot in the desert right now...should cool down by October

summer is for street riding



pretty happy with the street tread for pavement this summer

was able to ride up for landlord duty, and no issues for me finding parking



was a little tricky with a window screen



but nice when taking the long way home and there is dedicated motorcycle parking:





bikes on a boat?!? what??



and took a mellow zip down a kinda twisty road

the street tires are somewhat confidence inspiring...but I'm a little suspicious of the front.

just gonna keep riding it like a dual sport and it should be fine

also saw a used Rabaconda for sale for my October knobby swap for $250

offer $150?

[R1]

Dude I am 20 days away from kid number 2. I have been all over the place at this point lol.

I’m down for a ride up to the mountains around October.

Definitely thinking about picking up a set of those street treads now.

How often are down in San Diego county? Looks like you are in the Irvine area. I work with a bunch of people that commute from there. Seems crazy to me but hey if you like driving and traffic I guess…

I didn’t realize you moved out here. The only person I met up with out here was hammadown and he moved back years ago. We had gone on a ride through some good roads down near the border off the 8. Also rode through there with Scottie and his buddy that lived in Mission Valley several years ago.

Since then got rid of the bikes, bought a house, had a kid, couple job changes, bought a Duke 690 loved it and finally got the 701 and hands down favorite bike. It does it all.

Anyway I’ll shoot you my contact info and next time you are planning a trip hit me up and I’ll see if I can make it. I have a couple buddies with dual sports that would likely come along as well.

[breakdirt916]

that explains it

we'll hook up when things settle down. I honestly don't come to SD county too much other than rides and casinos. It's akin to everything in SoCal is "not that far and only an hour...ish". Couldn't imagine commuting that far; I did in a truck for a month and bought a bike immediately. But yeah, once I moved here, I don't see too many NESR people. Last I remember from you, you were saving for that house and had a near miss on the hyper and parked it. I bumped into Jen and Alex from time to time randomly at bike events, and maybe a few dm's here and there, but I still think everyone from NESR that loves to ride needs to come out here to ride.

rode out to LA last weekend and spent the weekend



kinda sketched out about theft parking in LA in apartments...carry comprehensive insurance. Rotor lock.

but still loving the top case

I was able to fit a weekend's worth of clothes/shoes/laptop and not have to carry a backpack. Could definitely rock it for overnight trips.

easy bike parking in the tight neighborhoods of the Venice canals



obvi not as cool as actual Venice

still found myself cruising at redline on the freeway and passing on the rev limiter.

I want +1 or +2 on the front sprocket

until a sneaky cop passed me and turned on his lights at night on the freeway.

Maybe I don't need to go much faster than this gearing allows

[Paul_E_D]

Holy hell, how short did you gear it? My SMC topped out at 122. Or is that passing speed in socal?

[Kurlon]

Yeah, something seems off... I've not ridding an LC4, but am slowly getting more and more seat time on my 500XC W and I'm absolutely amazed with how little it cares about being over geared for anything I've thrown at it. It's geared for Loudon currently, 110mph topped out maybe? I've not ragged it all the way out in 6th so no idea. This weekend I ran it at Boxshop, the polar opposite of Loudon. It makes kart tracks look large and spacious, Loudon guys on 450 that don't change their gearing complain about basically riding the track in 1st. This thing, 2nd and 3rd gear depending on section and it's happy, and when I goofed and was lugging it in 3rd and 4th... it just didn't care. I swear I had the thing down to about 2RPM in the hairpin and no problemo whacking the throttle and pulling away cleanly with no drama. In the dirt, even at my pathetic pace 2nd was fine, it'd still bring the front up with just a twist while chugging out 5 words per minute in morse code out the exhuast. If the 500 can pull that off, I'd be floored that the 690 isn't anywhere near as flexible?

[breakdirt916]

Fam...I went -1/+4 for desert/sand riding...it's now 0.28...it's 15% different from stock

Pretty sure stock (15/45 = 0.33) would get you to 110-115ish mph tops

-1/+4 worked great in the Mojave road, but lately I have been doing a lot of street & after I changed the tires, I didn't change the gearing...so it’s finally bugging the crap out of me now.

If I go +2 from where I am now, I will get get close to that stock ratio (16/49 = 0.326)

Btw...it's a suuuuppper fun bike to back it in...you don't even have to clutch it...*click*click* SQEEEAALLLLLWEWEWEWE

top case: perfect for zipping up to the machine shop in Anaheim to grab the YZ cylinder/head.

[breakdirt916]

Yeah, something seems off... I've not ridding an LC4, but am slowly getting more and more seat time on my 500XC W and I'm absolutely amazed with how little it cares about being over geared for anything I've thrown at it. It's geared for Loudon currently, 110mph topped out maybe? I've not ragged it all the way out in 6th so no idea. This weekend I ran it at Boxshop, the polar opposite of Loudon. It makes kart tracks look large and spacious, Loudon guys on 450 that don't change their gearing complain about basically riding the track in 1st. This thing, 2nd and 3rd gear depending on section and it's happy, and when I goofed and was lugging it in 3rd and 4th... it just didn't care. I swear I had the thing down to about 2RPM in the hairpin and no problemo whacking the throttle and pulling away cleanly with no drama. In the dirt, even at my pathetic pace 2nd was fine, it'd still bring the front up with just a twist while chugging out 5 words per minute in morse code out the exhuast. If the 500 can pull that off, I'd be floored that the 690 isn't anywhere near as flexible?

aren't they kool!!?!?

when did you get an exc500?!? are you in sumo trim?

yes both motors don't care about the gearing. linear torque....the LC4 will do it. I just did the -1/+4 for desert trails. Really sucked hitting some of our regular hills revved out in 2st. With -1/+4 we were able to run low in 3rd and work the gears for the conditions.

[Kurlon]

Picked up a 2016 500XC W in Feb already done up in sumo trim for LRRS. Nice thing about the XC W, no smog garbage choking it down other than the muffler, and that's been swapped for a 450SX unit so she breathes freely end to end. I'm loving it more and more, I can absolutely feel the 40lbs more it weighs vs my 150SX but at the same time it just rides soooooo well. And yeah, torque for days, no point to really winding it out. Far better off short shifting, and that limiter kicks in way earlier than I was expecting so bit of a learning curve there but I'm figuring it out. Only thing I don't like about it, lifting it onto a stand.

[number9]

Picked up a 2016 500XC W in Feb already done up in sumo trim for LRRS. Nice thing about the XC W, no smog garbage choking it down other than the muffler, and that's been swapped for a 450SX unit so she breathes freely end to end. I'm loving it more and more, I can absolutely feel the 40lbs more it weighs vs my 150SX but at the same time it just rides soooooo well. And yeah, torque for days, no point to really winding it out. Far better off short shifting, and that limiter kicks in way earlier than I was expecting so bit of a learning curve there but I'm figuring it out. Only thing I don't like about it, lifting it onto a stand.

Pics?

[Kurlon]

Pics?

[Paul_E_D]

Geez, that's a collection of newish, barely bastardized bikes right there. Who are you and what have you done with Kurlon?

[Kurlon]

Geez, that's a collection of newish, barely bastardized bikes right there. Who are you and what have you done with Kurlon?

To be fair, my 92 WR250 has been pretty modded, the 2016 250XC was going to become a 500cc supersingle monster till I rode it in the woods and noped out of that plan, prior owner heavily worked it over for NETRA duty, the forks no longer resemble 4CS units internally it appears... the 500 has an 06 SMR front end but I paired the FTE by Beringer four pot caliper with a TTR 125 11mm master for feel so, it's a little frankenstiened? The desire to build crazy things is still there, but now through extensive experience I know the time required to get something usable, plus the money burn involved so things are really tempered. That's how I ended up with the 500, already mostly setup for Loudon while not being yet another FS450 vs nothing ready for a year or two at best. It's been a long learning curve. Added bonus, I've got spare wheels for days, including a set that will sport ice tires this year.

[breakdirt916]

Super rad dude, happy for you. You’re mostly riding instead of wrenching

Paul’s comment wins the day and hits the nail on the head...that’s how you know you’re loved Josh

[breakdirt916]

rode out roughly 55ish miles to check out a maverick and the 690 started hesitating on the ride

was surging/hesitating at freeway speeds, then would not fire when I got to my destination

let it sit 20 mins, and it started, but still hesitated under throttle.

power down 10-15%...hesitates more past 65mph, and tops out at 87ish mph

guessing it's a fuel pump/filter issue

gonna have a dealer check it out, and maybe do the 6200 mile service

[Kurlon]

Take the gas cap off, fire the bike up, see if you see bubbles in the tank.

[breakdirt916]

I did pop off the gas cap hoping there was a fuel supply issue triggered by vents blocked. No help.

Update: they want to do a top end inspection. The paper filter allegedly doesn’t work as well as an oil type filter and was very dirty (to be honest - I don’t check the filter every ride...I had a new air filter put in April, did 20 miles of sand on a long ride in April, then 4 local fire road rides and they want to inspect the top end to make sure dirt didn’t get in.

[breakdirt916]

UPDATE: top end is toast

$1,700 for machine shop to service head/valves, top end, new oil filters, oil change, new air filter, and all the labor involved. He said it's mostly labor.

dammit...the air filter - cleanliness is godliness!

kinda bummed because I thought that going from a maximum maintenance YZ250 to a long service interval 690

and I've read posts were people have gone 20-30,000 miles on the stock top end

completely over generalizing based on emotion on this individual data point: but people that complain that my YZ "needs rebuilds so often" - well here ya go. 4 strokes can require periodic rebuilds as well.