Quandary

[steforsh]

950 sm

i recently took advantage of ktm's test ride day at robinsons rochdale. of all the bikes i rode the 950sm was the one i liked least, it felt very skitish at the front, and when reading up about this on a supermoto forum it seems i'm not the only one to have noticed this wobble. alot of owners are fitting steering dampers. also i've seen a few for sale very cheap so they don't hold their value as well as a bm.
i bought a 1200gs.
iv'e not regreted it yet.

 

[Tobers]

Tobers,

Thoughtful and balanced response - thanks. Having had both the 1200GS and the 950 Adv, would you go back to BMW - assuming the bugs had been ironed out?

At the moment, no, but I haven't done a winter on the KTM yet. I had too much of a bad time with the 1200GS to forgive BMW.

I've got my heated grips and my heated waistcoat socket all wired in & ready to go on the 950, and I plumbed in the Autocom on Saturday, so I've got all the usual "BMW comforts" except for a rather hard seat of course

 

[Patventure]

ewan and charlie

getting back to the ewan and charlie issue, i was going to buy a KTM on account of KTM telling 'em to bugger off! 'Please give us free bikes!' then those 2 primadonnas throwing a tantrum! Ha!

I heard some bad stories about the KTM and gasket failures, not to mention magazine roadtests which reporting a 'whirring and clickin' noise that came from the starter motor from time to time. Not what you want when on a long distance trek!

i went for the beemer 'coz of the reputation (never read this site before then, mind you...), shaft drive, tank range and resale issues. Not that I want to chop it in the foreseeable future.

Whilst the problems of the bike seem to be many (and it is certain that the attitude of BMW dealers can be a stinker), i think that there is a heck of alot of info here that would not be circulated about other bikes and manufacturers. Can you imagine an equivalent site for, say, Ducati 10 years ago!?!?!?

Keep up the good work!

Patrick.

 

[El Minky]

Woke up this morning feeling less inclined to change my GS, even though by part exchanging it I'd have a brand new KTM and change in my pocket.

You have found a dealer that will do that? where?

 

[JAC]

El Minky,

Sorry for slow response - been out of earshot for a while. With regard to your enquiry I'm afraid I have been guilty of a little hyperbole. In fact it would cost £600.00 to chop in the GS for a new 950SM, but the same dealer does have an 06 demo bike with 600 miles on it, which would give me £1005.00 back in my pocket. Not sure if I should tell you in case you buy it before I've made up my mind. They're in Greater London!