Mr Scheffer and his 690 Enduro at the Alps

Photo courtesy of Peter Scheffer

Check out a fellow 690 rider Peter's trip report from the Alps! Peter and his friend Roel did four day rather epic ride in Liguria and Piemonte and the photos sure are awesome.

Go check it out! >  http://allroad-in-liguria-and-piedmonte.blogspot.nl/

Husqvarna 701 Enduro

As expected Husky has introduced an Enduro version of the 701 Supermoto. It's essentially a white KTM 690 Enduro R with a ever so slightly larger tank. What this means for the 2016 KTM 690 Enduro R... I don't know. No info of the 2016 Enduro R has yet been released, but people have apparently succesfully placed orders for the 2016 models. Rumour is that the 2016 690 ER, will have little changes compared to 2015 model. I suspect we will see something new from KTM sooner than later. For 2017 the latest. There is no point two marques having the same bike, just rebadged and recolored.

KTM 690 Enduro R 10000 km review

Two summers and 10000 kms ( or 9930 kms to be exact) later it's time to do a small review update. I have ridden the bike enough now to form a proper opinion. Me and the 690 are no longer newly weds and the rose tinted glasses have been off for a while.

Two years later the 690 E is still occupying a space in the motorcycle market that no one else has taken a proper stab at. The Husky will most likely make an attempt, but so far the Huskys competing models appear to be rebadged 690s.

Likes

I still like the things that originally made me buy the bike. It's light, made out of quality components and as I said offers a combination of qualities no other dual sport does. With some tinkerking this bike can be turned into Rally bike, extreme adventure bike or a supermoto AND it's pretty darn capable and versatile bone stock too.

Niggles

The gas cap location is not ideal but other than that there is not much to complain about. I personally still don't like the agricultural noisy engine, but thats my personal problem. As a functional machine the engine works very well. I really can't complain about touring comfort or tall seat height etc. as they arent things that would not be blatantly obvius before ever doing a single mile on the bike.

The head shake is that often gets mentioned when one reads about the 690 E was absent until late summer of this year. A simple adjustment of tire pressure fixed it, but I suspect that the TKC 80s also played a part as the issue never came up with the OEM tires.

Reliability

The bike has done "only" 10000 kms so maybe there are some major mechanical issues that appear later on, but quite frankly the bike has been very reliable and relative trouble free. The fuel breather hose issue is the only thing that has caused any grief and all things considered that's a rather minor issue. People riding the bike harder and/or in harsher conditions can of course encounter issues that candy **sses like me will never see.

Comfort

Other than the narrow hardish seat comfort can't really be criticized too much. It's about as comfy as a 150kg dual sport can be. Vibrations never were nor have they become an issue for me.

Caveats

The 690 E is a bike that shines when you have to ride the more challenging places. In other words if your adventures limits to pot holed gravel roads you MAY be better of getting something a bit more touring/asphalt oriented. The light weight and nimble character does not work in your favor on those long asphalt stretches. While the middle weight "adventure class" is somewhat crowded and varied,people with somewhat limited access to good adventure territory will likely get more bang for buck with a less hardcore bike.

For more in depth opinions, read my one year review.

Test riding the Yamaha XV950 / Star Bolt R Spec

Yamaha XV950 / Star Bolt R Spec test ride

The Bolt is a nice looking bike, there's no denying that. While the Bolt is not exactly my dream bike, I have been wanting to test ride one for a good while now. As a former Sportster owner I was dying to find out what Yamaha has come up with. I've read several test reports comparing the Sportster and the Bolt and apparently at least the suspension is better along with the brakes. Both of which are not hard to beat on a Harley Sportster.... All in all, most of the reviews seem to come to the conlcusion that technically the Bolt is the superior bike.

The Bolt has been around for a couple of summers now and while I don't know the sales figures, it is interesting that the recently announced 2016 Sportster models now have improved suspension on both ends...

Yamaha XV950 / Star Bolt R Spec factory cowl at the front (2014)

Ok, let's ride (This particular bike is a used one ridden only about 5000 kms.)

Sound
First thing I noticed was the sound. It has a nice deep thumping very Harley like sound without being too loud. This particular bike has an Acrapovic factory accessory exhaust and while I like all my bikes quiet, this wasn't too bad. I would not feel embarrassed to ride this around town. One thing I absolutely hated on my Sportster was the loud Vance & Hines pipes. TOO loud.

Comfort & ergos
The seat is shaped nicely, but much harder than I expected. Some of the video reviews claim that the seat is very plush, I don't think so and I ride an enduro for god sakes. The airbox cover on the right side is annoying as hell, I don't think I could live with that in the long run. It feels that even if the bike had highway pegs I could not get my legs comfortably extended because of the airbox. (may not be a problem in reality). I'm 5,8, but one would have to be very short legged not to have the right leg hit the airbox. On the other hand, it may be that if you have longer legs the airbox is actually less of a problem.

The left side is not nearly as bad even though the engine protrudes out a bit from that side. Whether I could extend my legs comfortably from this side either is a bit of a mystery. It may bee that the protruding engine would produce a problem.

Yamaha XV950 / Star Bolt leg ergos

Yamaha XV950 / Star Bolt airbox

Yamaha XV950 / Star Bolt engine heat guard 

Yamaha XV950 / Star Bolt engine & airbox

The bars feel a bit thick but otherwise very nice. The only problem is that they are a bit too far away resulting in too much forward lean for my taste. The BIG problem is that neither Star/Yamaha or anybody else for that seems to sell extended cables for the ABS models so changing bars will be problematic. While the ergos are quite ok for short rides, I was not 100% happy with them and especially the apparent limitations to getting them fit me is a bit of disappointment.

Engine
I've read that the engine is solidly mounted unlike the on the modern Sportster that have rubber mounted engines. One would expect a lot of vibrations, but there were absolutely none that I felt unpleasant. The V-twin is supposed to have some. The bike felt alive, but cruising speed at 100km/h was an absolute pleasure. The was enough power for everything one would ever like to do with a cruiser.

Star/Yamaha Bolt with Acrapovic exhaust

Suspension & handling
The Bolt has a good, slightly firm suspension for this type of bike. To me it was plenty comfortable and performed as expected. Handling is cruiserlike with good slow speed manners. At 100 km/h the bike feels planted and engine unstressed. Clutch, brakes and gears all work without drama. Predictable and a bit cruiserish as they should. Changing direction is very sluggish compared to the 690, but then again high speed stability is much much better in return. Scraping the pegs was not really an issue unlike on my old Low Sporty.

Overall
Overall the bike feels very solid and well made. Nothing feels cheap or "out of parts bin". I've read a lot about the speedo being hard to read in the sunlight, but I ques the day wasn't bright enough to highlight the problem. If the ergos were right for me, I would not hesitate to buy this bike as far as performance, handling and build quality.

Ergos part II 

The Bolt ergos bothered me so much that I made a stop to another bike shop that had a Sportster on the floor. I had a Sporty in 2009, but I didn't remember a having that much discomfort on it than I had on the Bolt. After sitting on the Sporty ( 2009 883 R) it was immediately clear that the leg ergos are much better (for ME) on the Sporty. The airbox is still on the way but much less so and the left side is clear of anything that might bother me.

Sportster airbox

Sportster leg / knee room

High speed wobble / head shake

On the way to see the races I noticed that the bike started to have the shakes at around 110 - 115 km/h. This was a new issue as it never happened with the Sahara 3s. The TKC 80s have now done around 2000 kms, but they still have plenty of thread left in my opinion.

The head shake on the 690 is an interesting phenomena as some people suffer from it and some people don't. It's usually "solved" by adjusting the suspension, adding a steering damper, changing tires etc. None of which seem to be the end all solution to the problem.

As I didn't have any tools or time to mess with the suspension I decided to check the tire pressures on the nearest gas station. The front had 1.2 bars and I decided to up the pressures (to 1.8) on the front first to see what happens.

Interestingly the head shake disappeared and the bike became instantly less twitchy at high speeds! You might want to try messing with the tire pressures first before buying expensive dampers etc.

ABOUT HEAD SHAKE

Reading the reports around the net from people experiencing head shake blames the problem on several different things or a combination of them. Which ones you believe in is up to you.

1. Bad tires: some tires when worn will start to induce head shake and some seem to do it even when new.

2. Incorrect tire pressures for high speeds. Raising front pressure made a big difference for me.

3. Suspension not adjusted correctly (preload, sag etc.)

4. The amount of load (luggage) on the bike and how it's placed. Mine seems more stable the more suff I pack on. This is ofcourse related to suspension setting.

5. The bike's steering geometry in general. (I don't agree as the problem is not with ALL the 690 Es)

6. Wheels not balanced correctly

7. Wheels not aligned correctly (rear especially)

8. Heavy inner tubes. I personally find that the heavy Michelin UHD tubes feel a lot different than regular thin ones and might very well be a contributing factor to the problem.

Many people attempt to fix the problem by installing a steering damper which in my opinion only mask the original problem and is not a proper fix.