04 950 Adv

hi All,
I've been thinking of picking up a ktm 950, I'm tall, they seem to have plenty of poke, space for 2 up and it sounds like if you can live with the maintenance they're a beast. Few Guys I met in enniskillen at a biker meet really liked theirs.

The question is, how much heed should I give the occasional tale of woe I've read online about engine failure? A guy I know said they were not the easiest to maintain yourself either.

Can any past or present owners comment, I'm looking at the 04 model
Info like how the are on the motorway / about town / back roads
How often the service intervals are, etc would be great.
Any common faults I should look out for too,
Thanks,
Ronan.

Ran an 03 for a couple of years, motorways are a breeze though if using a peaked lid you might get buffetting but I think its the fastest of all the big DS bikes bar the new Duc, the Yam XT12 runs it close though. Engines wise oil change is doable and no worse than having to pull fairings on tourers etc to get to all the drains etc. Valve clearances seem to be a labour of love and water pump shafts/seals can wear leading to water contaminating the oil filters, symptoms are low oil pressure at startup which can be detected by rattling cams chains as the tensioners are slow to pressurise and flicking oil light.
some complain of self destructing clutches and cracked cases if the side stand mount takes a twatting.

I only got rid of mine as I was hankering for something sharper steering

Check out the 'Orange Crush' section of ADV,RIDER.
But it could make you a bit paranoid!

I think they are great bikes,if you make regular checks and pay attention in general, i can't see why they would be worse than any other bike.

As for riding, the only bad area i found/find is strong cross winds on motorway /dual carriageway.

Cheers Ianmac,
great to hear from an ex owner, spot on, thanks

I've had a look at advrider, hard to gauge how good or bad the bikes are from that forum as the posters are hardcore ktm devotees and seem happy to put up with problems, that said the known problems list is useful.

i find the 950 issues are common to the f650 dakar, why???? engine was designed by same engineers.

no real show stoppers more items your check and change during service

i too am looking for a ktm adv but all very expensive

to maintain them, look similar set up to the f650 again funny enough.

people say they are both hard to do, i looked at the guide on how to do it and didnt look too bad.

all hard 1st 2 goes. after that it would be a breeze