KTM 1050 Adventure - Commuting into London

Jhock

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I am looking for a bike I can commute into London on all year round. I can't use my R1150gs as the ULEZ will cost me £12.50 a day. I want something that will be fun to ride but won't fall apart in winter.

Does any one have any experience of the 1050? I have not owned a KTM before so I do not know if they will be any good for what I am after.

The commute is about 30 miles each way, half motorway and the rest all city riding.
 
What's wrong with a late Deauville, or something similarly bland, if it's purely for the commute?

The trouble with a 1050 is that you will never bother with the old GS.
 
You sure your 1150 isn't compliant?

I think it may be.
 
I'd say perfect for what you need - try and get a later model with the painted sub frame, the early ones had bare alloy which would suffer all year round - the stock single piece seat is dire and needs to be junked immediately - budget for KTM Power Parts 2 piece seats - night and day in comfort terms....

the bike is very planted and handles well, the finish is great and KTM parts very reasonable......

Service costs can be a little high due to bodywork removal etc but OK

The 1050 motor spins up fast - but....... at 6,000 RPM it drops off like a stone and on the odd ride I was left a little wanting......for commuting this isn't an issue but for fun riding I found it lacking in "buzz" factor..... the 6k brick wall was ECU controlled and at the time I could find nobody to derestrict it... the newer 1090 is the exact same engine/ cams ECU etc but has a KTM map to release another 30 bhp....

1050's are a great buy...... but, if you can afford it get a 1090
 
Try the 1190 for abit more fun

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What's wrong with a late Deauville, or something similarly bland, if it's purely for the commute?

The trouble with a 1050 is that you will never bother with the old GS.

+1 - the Deauville is perfect for the commute, it'll take a mad amount of punishment and will attract exactly zero attention, you could quite literally leave the keys in and and it'll still be there at the end of the day :D park it in the sea every night and it'll rot no less than a GS!
 
+1 - the Deauville is perfect for the commute, it'll take a mad amount of punishment and will attract exactly zero attention, you could quite literally leave the keys in and and it'll still be there at the end of the day :D park it in the sea every night and it'll rot no less than a GS!

Yes, the bike would undoubtebly still be there but yup'd have lost your dignity and any modicum of self respect you may have had...........

Andres
 
Yes, the bike would undoubtebly still be there but yup'd have lost your dignity and any modicum of self respect you may have had...........

Andres

Once you have been a London commuter for a few years, that kinda pales into insignificance TBH.

Bullet proof reliability, with the minimum of service need/cleaning & bland appearance to avoid taking the eye of any thieving scumbags is paramount. A bike that can be knocked over in the parking bay & still comes back for more time & time again. No cheap Reveres/Maggots left these days, so best go Deauville IMHO. Why ruin a nice KTM?
 
Once you have been a London commuter for a few years, that kinda pales into insignificance TBH.

Bullet proof reliability, with the minimum of service need/cleaning & bland appearance to avoid taking the eye of any thieving scumbags is paramount. A bike that can be knocked over in the parking bay & still comes back for more time & time again. No cheap Reveres/Maggots left these days, so best go Deauville IMHO. Why ruin a nice KTM?

I’m from London, ex dispatcher and my bike was my sole transport, I never owned a car.

They are all valid points that you make but, a Dullsville? Paaaaaalease.......one must always maintain a modicum of style ;) and there are lots of bikes that will fulfil the above AND raise your pulse a bit as well which, after all, the whole reason we ride bikes (I hope)......

Andres
 
I had a 1090 which is is significantly better - in that it has more power...

....but for commuting and nothing else a cheaper 1050 might be a better bet.

I did a bit of commuting on the 1090 and it was pretty good, easy to top 50 mpg with some restraint (and the 1050 does not have a top end rush to tempt you away from frugal riding) and with a 23L tank 250 miles is easily managed between fill ups.

The 9,000 mile service interval should help a bit with overall running costs, but watch our for the 18k service (Tappets) as this is expensive at dealer prices so try and find one well below that mileage or that has had it done- or knock the price to take it into account.

They do not come with a centre stand when new, about £160 from KTM IIRC, so a bonus if you find one with this already fitted.
 
I own a 1050 and don’t seem to have any wall at 6000rpm? In fact on a recent Scottish tour a friend on a late model GS told me that it was a “very fast bike” after a ride. I found his GS with allegedly superior power rather gutless. Having said all that I don’t think it’s an ideal city bike as it’s lumpy at low revs although smooth over 3000rpm and much prefers the open road. A really addictive torquey engine and absolutely secure handling. Has taken me all over the continent without a hint of trouble.
 
I have two Hondas, a 2000 Transalp 650 and 2004 650 Deauville (now for sale) that with minimal legwork are now ULEZ exempt, I've just applied for a 56 reg cbf500 so lets see if thats exempt too.
Its a simple and free process (well it was free to me, that might not always be the case).
Surely worth a go before shelling out lots and ruining a good bike commuting?

Looking at various classifieds there is a heck of a lot of 'non' ULEZ exempt bikes for sale in London, that could well be exempt from the charges.

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I saw a guy who rode a 1290SA-T right into central London everyday (although he seemed to have trouble keeping it below 45mph in a 30!) so it’s certainly not a problem. I wouldn’t want to park anything nice on the street anywhere in Central London - not just because of theft but all the dickhead scooter riders scraping your bike trying to fit their shitty old Vespas into an impossible gap. Then again I could never have commuted on a crappy old bike - if you have to go into London you might as well enjoy the bike. I came very close to buying a 1090 and it is a lovely bike.
 
I don’t think it’s an ideal city bike as it’s lumpy at low revs although smooth over 3000rpm

It has six gears, in the very first one of those 3,000rpm is pretty low speed, and it will not be lumpy if you are using smaller throttle openings typically required when crawling through traffic, although a smaller engine bike may work a bit better.

My old V-Strom 650 was probably a better commuter in many way, as is my CB500X (which easily tops 70mpg) but going back to the original question of if the 1050 would make a good commuter then yes it would.

The V-Strom was quite good fun to ride, but when I looked to upgrade mine I found the morons at Suzuki had made the tank 4L smaller on the later (post 2011 IIRC) models so it now has a much shorter range than the KTM 1050.

The CB500X easily does 240 miles per tank (what I need for 2 days return trip) and is very cheap to run, but it is certainly not much fun, I think the only bike on the planet even more boring is the NC 700 / 750 - and they struggle to top 200 miles on a tank....

...I could easily average over 230 miles per tank from my 1290 Adventure on my current commute, and the 1090 would of managed 250+ in the same conditions.
 
.......and if you still find the bike lumpy at low revs use rain mode (do the 1050/90’s have modes?). I often use it on mine in gnarley city centre commutes as I’m lazy and it smooths our the throttle beautifully at low rev stop/starts in heavy traffic.

Andres
 
.......and if you still find the bike lumpy at low revs use rain mode (do the 1050/90’s have modes?). I often use it on mine in gnarley city centre commutes as I’m lazy and it smooths our the throttle beautifully at low rev stop/starts in heavy traffic.

Andres

I’ve had my 1290 set on rain mode since our first full day in Norway. It means I can stick the cruise control on at about 54mph in 5th and it’s not as lumpy as it would be in sport mode. Same goes for the 70kph limits in 4th where it fuels quite nicely in rain mode.
 


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