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#Post#: 2652--------------------------------------------------
Do you plan on riding long distance on your 690 enduro?
By: Dane1960 Date: April 12, 2015, 8:20 pm
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So the discussion came up about taking a trip on my 2014 690
Enduro the other day, and I'm talking about a 1000 mile or over
trip. I am also going to add I have a couple of certified iron
butt certificates not from riding the 690 though.... I did buy
this bike to ride a few short touring trips and have plans to
ride into Arkansas from southeast Texas which give or take at
least 500 miles one way. My buddy Dr.Blackbird thinks I'm a
little touched in the head for wanting to do this, LOL. I have
ridden from Texas to Nova Scotia and back and don't think I
would attempt that distance but a 2000 mile trip sounds like
fun. So the questions is....do you have plans to take your 690
on a trip or just trailer it to the area you want to ride? If I
trailered every where and that was my plan, I would have
purchased a 500exc, I bought the 690 because it had more of a
touring set up. Post up what you are doing with your 690!
#Post#: 2656--------------------------------------------------
Re: Do you plan on riding long distance on your 690 enduro?
By: Scutty Date: April 13, 2015, 12:47 am
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We have trips planned this year down through France and Spain on
our 690s. The whole reason for getting them was for long
distance off-road trips.
#Post#: 2659--------------------------------------------------
Re: Do you plan on riding long distance on your 690 enduro?
By: Rusty Shovel Date: April 13, 2015, 11:03 am
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Hey Dane,
I second your observation that as a trailer-to-the-trail bike,
the EXC would have been the way to go.
While some on this site have modified their 690's off road
specialists (and that's awesome too), I've chosen to go the
lightweight touring bike route. I've installed Touratech racks
and have Wolfman Expedition bags. I still need a more
comfortable seat and a small windscreen.
My dream use for the 690 is to run the Trans-America Trail. I
see it as the perfect bike for this kind of ride; strong enough
to carry weight at speed, and light enough that I (hopefully)
won't be forced to avoid tighter sections of the trail.
But, when I DO trailer it to far flung locations, I can strip
off the camping gear and do ALMOST everything I could do on an
EXC.
I'm a one-bike guy. Mostly because I don't have the money or
space to have several "specialist" bikes. We all can't be
DrBlackbird!
#Post#: 2665--------------------------------------------------
Re: Do you plan on riding long distance on your 690 enduro?
By: Drblackbird Date: April 13, 2015, 7:28 pm
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[quote author=Rusty Shovel link=topic=484.msg2659#msg2659
date=1428941010]
Hey Dane,
We all can't be DrBlackbird!
[/quote]
I knew there must be a reason that my ears were
ringing..........
.
Let me first address my traveling partners question......"To
Trailer or Not".....Well that depends on where you live. Let me
explain. Some lucky 690 owners on here, live in Colorado,
Montana, Calif, Australia, Germany...etc....where there are
mountains, and less populated areas, so ripe for open
exploration. These Blokes can leave their garage and in a few
miles or Hrs, be off the asphalt and deep in the thick of
things......Now don't get me wrong, I Love my 690 and think it's
the best Dual-Sport machine money can buy. True, this is only my
opinion....but I base my opinion on many Adventure
trips...Canada-to-Mexico (CDR), most of the (TAT), deep travel
into Mexico, Utah BDR, Colorado BDR....and all of these trips
were trailered to the start point.
.
Now where Dane, Myself, and this "Shovel" that needs some
"WD-40" live, is deep in south Texas, Flat, Hot and
Boring.....Yes, Texas does have mountains (10hrs) away.......If
you wanted to get out of Texas in any direction, you're looking
at a full days ride on hot asphalt. You should have bought a KTM
1290 Adv, GS1200, Yam Tenere, Triumph Tiger......etc
.
The 690R can do it, sure....But if you have access to a trailer,
WHY NOT ?.......The 690 = A Small narrow seat, not so great wind
protection, some vibrations at speeds, the wind blows you
around, Soft knobby tires wear right before your eyes, the Wear
n tear on a single cylinder thumper motor at freeway
speeds........
.
The Alternative....You hop up in the comfy truck, put some tunes
on, watch the sun come up over the "Flat Texas
Countryside"...Drone on in comfort across Texas to the start of
a great adventure, Fresh and ready to ride.......And here's the
most important point....After a week of hard core
Exploring,..... you must turn your dirty, tired self south and
head home, all the while thinking about work on Monday, bills,
unpacking, cleaning the bike, and the nagging thought keeps
popping in your head..." Why didn't we Trailer"...?????
.
.
By the Way, I own a Trailer Rental company.............. ::)
.
Not Trailering is so,....GAY...... :-*
.
.
.
.
.
#Post#: 2670--------------------------------------------------
Re: Do you plan on riding long distance on your 690 enduro?
By: ShakeWell Date: April 13, 2015, 10:41 pm
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With OP's credentials, he and the 690 would be just fine imo.
I've only managed day rides so far and our first scheduled long
ride will be the LA to Vegas in November. I'm taking the slow
route to setup the bike toward that ride. If you dial in the
controls, seat, pegs, tires, gearing etc and get your gear
planned/packed, there's guys running 690's across Africa, South
America, Russia... a bike of many uses.
I end up doing the trailering thing about half of the time as
well but by trailering, I mean a truck (sry Dr!). Get to the
adventure, have it, change and hit drive-thru on the way home.
However, these bikes are ideal for getting from 'here' to
'there' when there's mostly dirt in between and I'm planning on
using it for that as well.
#Post#: 2677--------------------------------------------------
Re: Do you plan on riding long distance on your 690 enduro?
By: mcrider Date: April 14, 2015, 1:36 pm
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+1 DrBlackbird has the correct idea. ;)
#Post#: 2681--------------------------------------------------
Re: Do you plan on riding long distance on your 690 enduro?
By: Rusty Shovel Date: April 14, 2015, 2:48 pm
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Yeah, Houston is an anomoly: 10 hours from everything.
#Post#: 2683--------------------------------------------------
Re: Do you plan on riding long distance on your 690 enduro?
By: corsaire1773 Date: April 14, 2015, 4:10 pm
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Hi
Last summer I went to Russia and Kaz ..during this long trip I
met few guys in 690
Jussy , that came with his friend from finland ...all off road
..they went to Mongolia and came back to Finland..here his
website..very useful if you want to modified your 690
HTML http://therollinghobo.com/
An other guy name Dave ....Dave is only riding the world on his
690 ..
I was on 990 and I asked how was difficult to do so long trip on
690.. and all fo them were fine
So now, I amgoing to ride my 690 instead of my 990 Adv...I would
like to visit Carpate mountains in 2016 and later go to mongolia
#Post#: 2684--------------------------------------------------
Re: Do you plan on riding long distance on your 690 enduro?
By: ShakeWell Date: April 14, 2015, 4:43 pm
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Yeah, when I was riding to the tip of Cape Town following the
western coast of Africa...wait, no, that wasn't me, I have kids,
a wife, a business, a mortgage... lolz.
Thanks for joining the forum corsaire1773, guys like you and the
rollinghobo (great site, good info) do what I can only aspire to
do one day. Also, the info that is passed on from putting that
many miles on the 690 is priceless.
Meanwhile, I'm working on a two day ride... in November! Next
year, when the little ones aren't so little, I'm want to ride
some of the BDR's
HTML http://www.backcountrydiscoveryroutes.com/
with one in spring
and the other in fall. Trying to get as much time a possible but
I'm shooting for 7 days riding each trip.
So set that bike up and ride 1000 miles or to Mongolia or both,
I want to read all about it! xD
#Post#: 2707--------------------------------------------------
Re: Do you plan on riding long distance on your 690 enduro?
By: JET_690 Date: April 18, 2015, 8:45 am
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[quote]I'm talking about a 1000 mile or over trip....at least
500 miles one way.[/quote]
I'm not a round-the-world "adventure" guy and never will be,
although I can admire those who are. I like to ride moderately
long distance road trips, and am of the type for whom the more
"dirt bike like" any motorcycle is--even the ones I ride only on
the street--the better.
I'm quite willing to give up touring bike comfort to be on a
bike that handles light and nimble like a dirt bike (both on and
off the road), and which is not abused by routinely using it for
single-track trail riding.
In other words, I'm all about a serious (not pretentious)
dualsport bike, and to my mind, the KTM 690 (and its
predecessors) is the only current bike (among the "Big Five")
which takes the whole dualsport proposition seriously. It's a
brilliant bike and I'm proud to own it.
All that said, though, I'm afraid the long-sought "do it all"
motorcycle is still a myth.
[quote]So the questions is....do you have plans to take your 690
on a trip or just trailer it to the area you want to
ride?[/quote]
For example: The kind of trips I actually do are weekend (or
"long weekend") rides from here in middle GA to surrounding
states. I'd love to do that on the 690 and feel free to, on a
whim, explore any off-road opportunities that present themselves
along the way. To me, that's the definition of motorcycling.
That's pretty much what I do with the 690, but on a more local
scale.
If the 690 had greater fuel range (done), a tolerable seat
(doable), and a truly wide-ratio transmission (not so much), it
would be closer to my "single bike" ideal. It already is closer
than any other I've ever owned in my 46 years of riding. But
even with those things rectified, the tire problem remains. As
Drblackbird so succinctly put it, even "DOT" knobbies wear
"right before your eyes." There's presently no fix for that.
So things being as they are, as soon as any multi-day trip
involves any Interstate at all (and they all do), I'm taking my
990 SMT and just have to forego the trail-riding opportunities.
If I'm going to trailer (actually, in my case, carry a bike on
the rear rack of the Jeep) it will be my Gas Gas TXT 321 which
lets me do anything I care to off-road, not the 690.
[quote]If I trailered every where...I would have purchased a
500exc.[/quote]
Like, I suppose, everybody, I also debated long and hard between
the 690 Enduro and the 500 EXC. But a brief test ride on the
street answered that dilemma and I bought the 690. I'd really
rather have the geometry, weight, and handling of a 500 EXC
under me, but the truth was self-evident that its actual use for
me would be too restrictive. With only about 1500 miles on my
690 in the first couple months of ownership, I know I'm using it
more than I would the 500 EXC, even though I'd still love to
have one.
[quote]Post up what you are doing with your 690![/quote]
I routinely take the 690 out on all-day "get myself lost" rides
on secondary state highways. If I encounter dirt roads and/or
trails, I explore them at will. It does well enough on short
Interstate bursts to get to the couple of realistically nearby
offroad riding parks. But truth told, while it's far better
off-road, it really doesn't have more highway capability than
the DR650 Suzuki it replaced, despite its making half-again more
horsepower. It desperately needs the afore-mentioned higher
top-end gearing.
Widely-space high gear(s). 250 mile minimum range.
Scientifically ergonomic seat (I am so convinced the whole
motorcycle industry is intentionally negligent in this regard).
Do that, KTM, and the 690 will have no peer.
But magic "transformer" tires still don't exist.
JET
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