/Prequel

Problems started, noticed white smoke on cold starts coming from the front of the motorcycle. Interesting, might regret my decision to risk it with KTM and 890 platform. Even though dealer said no issues on 24+ models, that might not be the case. Well joke is on me.

Guess you can see the radiator fluid drips on lambda sensors, so we know why the white smoke 😉 Called the dealership, told to bring bike in and leave it for them to inspect and “fix”. Yeah, 400km there, 400 back – not gonna happen, especially since it is not a permanent fix, given that it is known to happen often on these bikes – instead ordered Samco hoses and clamps, will fix it on my own, properly – once.
Let’s hope it’s the only issue with this bike (we will not mention it got delivered with broken left hand guard and leaking front brake master cylinder oil tank). Again, joke is on me.

So, buddy of mine decided to buy Ducati Desert X Discovery and join on Morocco trip, and he also wanted to test his bike, decision was made for a shakedown ride, let’s call it #01 and see if coolant leaking is my only problem.

/Let’s ride

Visiting me in Croatia, it made for a good long shakedown for the bikes before heading to Morocco. Especially true to help see what parts we are missing, how the bikes behave on and off-road and most importantly how we handle it.
Good news, KTM handles amazingly, on and off-road, definitely much more capable then I off-road, so before leaving for Morocco, an offroad training school is definitely a must, otherwise I might not return the same as I have left.

It is a heavy bike though, brakes on road are shit; I do understand the decision, having too much braking power on front wheel might be a problem off-road; but braking power is shit. Kudos KTM for that, not sure how every journalist keep saying the brakes are amazing? What kind of brakes other bikes have?? Might be problem since I come from the world of sportbikes, but Ducati definitely wins there.

Ducati, very pretty to look in mirrors, but this model (perhaps rally is better) -in my opinion atleast- is too pretty to take off-road. It does not look like it likes to crash and you kinda feel sorry for anyone dropping and damaging one. It’s low ground clearance while being top heavy, don’t know it just feels more like a road bike. Definitely will need lot’s of Loctite, but that is a story for another day.

So we gave them hell, pushed KTM much more then needed, trying to see if it will break; 1727km -changed oil and filter on my own (something that will cost me my warranty most probably due to missing first service) and the bike just purrs and goes, did not leave me stranded so far.

Well, first test passed, decision to stick with KTM might have been good one after all.

/Where we at

Luggage might not be so optional, not a lot more needed, but some more then planned, potentially even some soft side cases – protecting the exhaust. Big metal ones are not an option since they add a lot of weight and it becomes wide as a bus, not to mention any serious offroad becomes unrealistic.

More fuel is must as well, initial plan was Rotopax 4L reserve fuel at the rear rack, but it just doesn’t look clean in my opinion, and takes quite some vertical space – something I’d rather leave for luggage.
After bit of research decided instead to go for RP Endurocell 1.8/Intake combo which adds 6.8l of fuel underseat and integrates their airbox neatly. More grunt and more fuel, but most importantly looks almost factory while adding a bit of redundancy; more on that in separate post later on.

25mm steering riser kit is a must, potentially even higher, standing position must be improved upon, given most of offroad will be done standing.

Buffeting is a big issue on fast roads. Anything over 100km/h is a pain, at 120/130 wind noise is almost painful after 10min of riding. Definitely must find time to test Rade Garage windscreen I bought and see if it makes a difference. And try without mirrors to see if they are the actual culprit.

Should go back to plastic mounted handguards I guess, scared a bit of horror stories with metal ones. From what I understand first issue is they usually bend the bar, and in some cases can break fingers during crash, not something to risk for sure.

Protections and maintenance simplicity are everything. KTM already did lot of good work out of the box, but I do believe there is more to be done for such a trip. Ordered as well:
– fuel pump protection from RP
– fuel line kit from RP that allows for easier tank removal
– billet fuel spigot from RP
– kickstand sensor delete (to have on me in case I break kickstand sensor or kickstand itself)
– evap canister removal kit
– should look into skidplates option as well

Problem with all this is how to keep the bike light since I keep adding weight with the protection? There is a limit of when it becomes stupid to add parts; at some point making it too heavy will affect offroad handling; do I worry too much? it’s not a rally after all.

Perhaps offsetting weight a bit can be achieved by lithium battery and doing a de-cat – at same time de-cat should add toward grinfactor ?

Something to be decided soon enough.

– John 117