690 E was it designed by the college graduates

The plan,
RR tanks,
Nomad screen,tower.
41mm fcr carb.
Bespoke wiring loom and ign system( or go 450 rally.)
Rally exhaust ( if it will fit with std tank)
An attempt to increase flywheel weight.(any advise welcomed)
Whilst I’m not going to strip the motor at 4/5 k
A plan to fit later crank and late piston to take it out to 730cc is being pondered( any info welcomed)
 
When one of them had to go there was never any doubt which one was for the chop :D
 

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The plan,
RR tanks,
Nomad screen,tower.
41mm fcr carb.
Bespoke wiring loom and ign system( or go 450 rally.)
Rally exhaust ( if it will fit with std tank)
An attempt to increase flywheel weight.(any advise welcomed)
Whilst I’m not going to strip the motor at 4/5 k
A plan to fit later crank and late piston to take it out to 730cc is being pondered( any info welcomed)

That’s what I meant - not another airhead but build your own ktm variant.
 
Geoff has a 730 piston in his, great bike!
 

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I’ve sussed the plan to pay for it all.
I’ve done a warlord!
We’ve dug a huge pit on the farm and buried 16 sea containers.
We’ve tapped into a local farmers wind turbine,and stealing leccy.
Powering 8 weed grows
And 8 Bitcoin miners.
The excess heat is being sold to the local COE primary school.
Co generation at its finest..
This Time next year I’ll be a millionaire:D:D
 
He,he,
You’ve hinted on other forums about the 701/690.
You’d be be more than welcome to borrow mine for a week,
For sure the new bikes are a bit more refined,but.,the basics haven’t changed much at all,hence the OP

I have tried one a few times, thanks for the offer

All bikes have compromises, as you know more than most

If there was a perfect bike then we would all be riding it

I think you have to work out your usage and what realistically suits you and it

I bought the T700 for trail and back road riding on wide & stony trails in uk, plus trying some trails in the Alps or Spain (those wide free flowing ones) this sort of stuff

9095eda325562e9a7f9f6061819c07ec.jpg



I didn’t buy it for gnarled & narrow trials type wet & muddy uk trails (although lots are riding the bike on those)

Anything like that I will use a smaller bike
 
We just had a TRF group weekend in South Devon around the Exmouth area.

Most of us took our smaller bikes in vans down there, but we had three 701s and four 690s turn up which were ridden down (with luggage fitted) and then used for all the same trails as everyone else rode on the smaller bikes, including some of the more difficult stuff. We would also have had one chap on a T7, but sadly he had a bad fall earlier in the week and broke his wrist.

That, for me, just shows how versatile the 690/701 concept is, in that it is long legged and comfortable enough to do big distances in a day on the road or the trail, but can (in the right hands) cope with some pretty technical off-road when needed.
 
As an extra bonus, it also makes a pretty good every day commuter and I find mine is huge fun for B-road scratching too!
 
We just had a TRF group weekend in South Devon around the Exmouth area.

Most of us took our smaller bikes in vans down there, but we had three 701s and four 690s turn up which were ridden down (with luggage fitted) and then used for all the same trails as everyone else rode on the smaller bikes, including some of the more difficult stuff. We would also have had one chap on a T7, but sadly he had a bad fall earlier in the week and broke his wrist.

That, for me, just shows how versatile the 690/701 concept is, in that it is long legged and comfortable enough to do big distances in a day on the road or the trail, but can (in the right hands) cope with some pretty technical off-road when needed.

Of course they can do it all, but as we get older I would prefer not to struggle
I had a 150kg 650cc bike for green lanes for 7 years and it went everywhere everyone else did, but it either took more effort or more skill, than a smaller bike
If I lived in Devon I would ride one of these, for sure

Those lanes would be a breeze on a 85kg bike

24665106c699817ef2db845c641c888d.jpg
 
Of course they can do it all, but as we get older I would prefer not to struggle.

Always a consideration JB, but on this weekend all the riders on 6590/7801s were in their late 50’s or 60’s and one was a lady who is 5 ft 4 inches tall (her’s is lowered).

The oldest rider we have in our group (although not on this weekend) is 87 and he rides a small capacity Fantic as he struggles a bit with the weight of anything bigger (but then again he is nearly feckin 90!)

So hopefully there’s a few years left for us all :)
 
Always a consideration JB, but on this weekend all the riders on 6590/7801s were in their late 50’s or 60’s and one was a lady who is 5 ft 4 inches tall (her’s is lowered).

The oldest rider we have in our group (although not on this weekend) is 87 and he rides a small capacity Fantic as he struggles a bit with the weight of anything bigger (but then again he is nearly feckin 90!)

So hopefully there’s a few years left for us all :)

Indeed and you are right
There’s a chap who rides Trials up here and he’s 92, still kickstarting his bike at every section
Personally I prefer the smaller bike option, for trail riding and still think the 4Ride would be a fun ride on technical trails
As with any bike, it’s about the rider’s skill and not the bike’s ability
 
Great photo,
The 690 looks more lithe
Did you ever weigh them?

Yes that was quite a few years ago and the 640 does look quite 'lumpy' there by comparison.
For me the difference in weight between the two would be just a number, but it was noticeable as was the power.
These days my 640 has gained both strength and power as well as being lighter.



One other thing I wasn't keen on with the 690 as a travel bike was the gear ratios although I know Lyndon Poskitt does a conversion.
 

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IMO,if the bike had evolved from this,
It could be the best enduro,greenlaner or overland platform ever produced.
Instead ktm built a compromise and have not really improved it.
A new 690/701 is £9 k but needs another £3/4 k to make it fit for purpose.

Mine's fine, now I've added tractive rally shock, had fork revalve and insert kit, fitted Rally Raid Evo 2 tanks, Rally Raid tank bolts, subframe bolts, gear lever and rad protector, fitted a case saver and a replacement fuel filler, also HDB hand guards, Samco hoses, Led indicators, Ralle Moto starring damper, bar risers, Vision X headlights, Nomad Adv rally tower, Oberon clutch slave, changed the rocker arms, fitted a custom seat, fitted a side stand eliminator, replaced most of the side stand parts, fitted longer Venhill brake lines, changed the fuel pump, fitted Golan filters, fitted lovely MG levers, added Touratech pannier rails and Perun rack, fitted some Kriega OS 32 bags, GPS and mobile phone mount, fitted a Fuzeblock, added an ADVspec bash plate, fitted a lower temperature thermostat. And some new graphics.

Dunno what all the fuss is about:green gri
 
Good point,very well made,
However,we should ask andyb how much the 501 cost.:bow

It’s mentioned in the thread about the build but I’ve thrown it away amongst some cobwebs in a hidden recess between my ears.

It is a fun bike to ride but when it’s got stock enduro gearing it’s a lot wilder than a 690 or 701 because it’s not a compromise between road/dirt. Even though all the Covid shit wrecked my plans for last year and almost certainly this one I don’t regret throwing money at it because having two sets of wheels and a change of gearing available means it’s a riot on enduro gearing with minimal effort to change though I suppose I should admit that I had to pick it up off the road after being a bit too stupid sliding the back end on a single track road with a ridge of gravel (and grass) up the middle a couple of weeks ago :blast
 
It’s mentioned in the thread about the build but I’ve thrown it away amongst some cobwebs in a hidden recess between my ears.

It is a fun bike to ride but when it’s got stock enduro gearing it’s a lot wilder than a 690 or 701 because it’s not a compromise between road/dirt. Even though all the Covid shit wrecked my plans for last year and almost certainly this one I don’t regret throwing money at it because having two sets of wheels and a change of gearing available means it’s a riot on enduro gearing with minimal effort to change though I suppose I should admit that I had to pick it up off the road after being a bit too stupid sliding the back end on a single track road with a ridge of gravel (and grass) up the middle a couple of weeks ago :blast

There’s so much good stuff available for the EXC’s now and the septics have been turning them into dual sport bikes for years. If I hadn’t had a 690 already I might have done a 500 like yours.


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You rarely see good used parts for doing a conversion which means it’s an expensive game but I genuinely believe I could recoup at least 75% of my outlay if I stripped everything off the bike and sold it separately.

Nomad are terrible when it comes to delivery so you’re stuck with either a long wait with no promise of when your parts will get to you, take the bike to them so they’ve got to do it to get it out of their very small workshop or search for used parts and pay the asking price but my extremely biased opinion is that they’re market leaders in that field.
 
I agree, I look at the tower on mine and it's really well thought through, as light as it can be. Even their soft luggage racks look really nice.

Luckily I wasn't in a massive rush as we were just into 3 weeks to flatten the curve, 15 months ago and everyone was closing down thinking it would only be temporary, which gave Mike a chance to clear some backlog, I think. He shipped it straight to Martin Wittering at Torque as soon as it was ready.

You rarely see good used parts for doing a conversion which means it’s an expensive game but I genuinely believe I could recoup at least 75% of my outlay if I stripped everything off the bike and sold it separately.

Nomad are terrible when it comes to delivery so you’re stuck with either a long wait with no promise of when your parts will get to you, take the bike to them so they’ve got to do it to get it out of their very small workshop or search for used parts and pay the asking price but my extremely biased opinion is that they’re market leaders in that field.
 


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